“Hello. Did the ground just tremble because of the locomotive?” asks Mia boldly.
“Of course! I’m setting off again in two minutes,” the man explains.
“Where are you going?” I ask.
“I’m going to the smelting works. I’ve got to check if everything is as it should be. Do you want to come with me?” the old man coughs. Mia and I look at each other, we grin and jump onto the locomotive excitedly. “Hold on tight, off we go!”
The locomotive jerks along as we ride down the street. All of a sudden, there are big buildings everywhere. “On the left, you can see the blast furnace, that’s where I have to take the iron ore,” the man explains. There’s hammering and chugging everywhere. The air has a strange smell. It’s thick with black smoke. The man seems to read my mind: “You get used to the smell and the noise.”
Gosh, I marvel at this. I’ve never seen a real smelting works before. “Does the iron for the rails come from here?”
“Yes, dear children,” says the old man as he pulls the brakes on the train. “This is where I have to unload the iron ore. It will be used to make metal together with that pile of coal there. But now it’s getting too dangerous. Please walk back now and go behind the office building,” he explains to us and points with his finger to the building that we had seen before from above. Mia and I walk off. The man sticks his pipe back in his mouth and mumbles: “Goodbye!”
Mia and I run off. Once behind the building we lean against the wall, out of breath.
“Hey, Mia, that was so exciting!” I shout excitedly. I turn around and stand there amazed. “The buildings are gone!”
The only thing in front of us now is the office building. The rails and the locomotive have disappeared. The air is clean again and all that can be heard is birdsong.
“Did we dream that all up?” I ask, rubbing my eyes.
“I don’t think we’ll ever get an answer to that,” Mia says.
