THE DIVIDING RAIL BY GERARD O’NEIL
“My dividing
rail is still here,” he joyfully proclaimed to no none in particular!
For months he
had been saving every cent he could from his pocket money, and those hard won
coins now weighed heavily in the pocket of his shorts.
As he stood
there thinking of all the new possibilities the dividing rail would create for
his clockwork train set something on the ground caught his attention. Just to
the right of his left shoe he saw a ten cent coin lying on the pavement. James
couldn’t believe his luck. Bending down he picked it up and after examining it
put it in his pocket to join the other coins in his precious collection.
Moving
forward to enter the shop, James saw another coin lying on the side walk. His
heart leapt for joy.
“I had never
been this lucky in all my nine years,” he thought to himself as he bent down!
He was just
about to pick up this new find when a horrifying thought caused him to freeze.
Carefully he put his hand into his coin laden pocket, and pushed it to the
bottom of his collection. A finger entangled in a piece of broken thread and
then touched the naked skin of his leg. He immediately recognized the
ramifications!
In a state of
shock, James sat down on the curb and carefully emptied his pocket. It was easy
to see that the pile of coins on his lap was considerably smaller than it
should have been. He began to count the remaining coins.
“Fifty,
seventy, ninety-five,…..four dollars and forty, four dollars and seventy five,
five dollars,” though the tears that were now blurring his vision James reached
the end of his task.
He was three
dollars and sixty five cents short!
James
dejectedly retraced his steps home, hoping against hope to find at least one of
his missing coins. Unfortunately he was not even able to recover even one! Once
home, he went straight to his bedroom and threw himself down on his bed. His
pillow was soon wet with tears.
“How can life
be so unjust,” he sobbed!
As the weeks
passed, James’ dividing rail savings began to grow once more. Then in
December he received some excellent news. His Aunt Sally was coming to stay for
Christmas. She always gave him a good Christmas gift, and so he began to think
up ways of dropping “dividing rail” present hints.
When Aunt
Sally finally arrived, James volunteered to show her to the visitors’ room. He
sort of stayed while she unpacked. To his delight he soon discovered that Aunt
Sally’s suitcase did not contain Christmas presents. This fact was confirmed a
short time later when she invited James to go Christmas shopping with her.
Aunt Sally
and James spent the afternoon going from shop to shop. When they eventually
arrived at the toy shop, Aunt Sally asked James if there was anything he really
wanted for Christmas. James eagerly pointed to the dividing rail in the window.
His aunt smiled and asked him to wait outside with his eyes closed while she
went into the shop to speak Father Christmas.
Aunty Sally
came out of the toy shop a short time later carrying a large box wrapped in
expensive Christmas paper. On the way home they played a silly guessing game
called, “What do you think Father Christmas is going to bring you?” James
played dumb. He was certain Aunty Sally had bought him the dividing rail and
had had it wrapped in a large box to disguise the fact.
James woke early
on Christmas morning and reorganized his trainset. He decreased the size of the
circle and laid out the excess track in the form of a branch line. All he needed
to was the dividing rail Aunt Sally was going to give him, to connect the
branch line to the circle. He could hardly contain his excitement!
When there
were no more postal gifts, James’ father began to pull packages from out under the
Christmas tree. One of the first was Aunt Sally’s gift to James.
“Ho, Ho, Ho,”
James father said trying to imitate Father Christmas.
As James eagerly
took the present from his father’s hands he noticed that the box was much heavier
than it should be. James quickly tore off the wrapping paper, ignoring his
mothers’ pleas to look after it so it could be reused next year. And then he had
the box open! The top layer contained a pair of underpants, the second a shirt
and the third ….. a ball and a metal car. He carefully unfolded the shirt
hoping beyond hope that the dividing rail had somehow got caught up inside… but
there was nothing!
“Where is my
dividing rail,” James almost shouted out loud, but managed to bite his tongue
in time!
“Thank your Aunt for such a lovely present and give her a big kiss,” James’ mother instructed.
James thanked
his aunt and tried not to reveal how disappointed he really felt. Fortunately at
the same moment his father had found another postal package which had fallen down behind the tree. His mother’s public reading of the letter took everyone’s
attention away from James; No one noticed the two large tears that managed to
escape before he was able to wipe them away.
The gift
opening continued until there were no more presents left.
“And what did
we give you,” James father asked?
James had
been so upset that he had not noticed his parents had not given him a present.
“Follow that
piece of string,” James’ father said smiling.
For the first
time James noticed a piece of string that led from the base of the Christmas
tree, behind the sofa and out the door.
“Perhaps
someone has bought me a dividing rail after all,” James thought!
The string
led to the laundry and ended at a large cardboard box. James excitedly tore off
its lid. Inside was a large second hand electric train set. There were three
trains, many carriages, clip together stations and platforms, lots and lots of pieces
of track, but most amazing of all …… seven dividing rails.
James spent
the rest of the day setting up his new train set. He was happy, but not as
happy as one might have expected.
That night, just before he fell asleep, James
came to the conclusion that although he liked his new electric train set; he
would have been much happier if someone had simply given him a dividing rail for
his old clockwork train set.
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The toy shop window no longer reflected back the image of a nine year
old boy, but that of a man in his late fifties. He was returning to the shop for the first time after almost forty years.
Looking past the reflection,
something caught James’ attention. He asked his wife to wait outside with her eyes
closed while he entered. When he came out again he was clutching a
small box.
“I have
waited half a life time to buy this,” James said with tears of joy sliding down
his cheeks!
He handed the
small box to his confused wife, who carefully opened it. The box contained a dividing rail for a
clockwork train set!
“Merry
Christmas,” James said smiling!
COMPREHENSION
CHECK:
(1)
Why
did James want a dividing rail?
(2)
How
much money did James loose through the hole in his shorts pocket?
(3)
Who
came to stay over Christmas?
(4)
What
did Aunt Sally give James for Christmas?
(5)
Why
do you think Aunt Sally did not give James a dividing rail for Christmas?
(6)
Why
do you think James felt disappointed receiving an electric trainset?
(7)
Why
do you think James bought the dividing rail in the toy shop forty years later?
(8)
What
was the best Christmas present you have ever received?
(9)
Does
your family have any special Christmas traditions? If so what are they?
(10)
Describe
the best Christmas you can remember. Why was it so special?
EXERCISE: Do you know the following words related to
Christmas?
GENERAL WORDS: bells, candles,
cards, celebrate, festival, family reunion, merry, parades, party, scrooge,
season tidings, Christmas spirit.
CHRISTMAS TREE: artificial tree,
decorations, lights, pine tree, star, tinsel.
SHOPPING: crowds, gift boxes, lists,
presents, ribbon, sales, toys, wrapping paper.
SANTA CLAUS: chimney, elves,
fairies, jolly, North Pole, reindeer, sled, St. Nick, toys.
FEELINGS: anticipating, excited, exhausted,
happy, sad.
REINDEER NAMES: Blitzer, Rudolph,
Comet, Cupid, Dancer, Dasher, Donner, Prancer, Vixen.
|
ANSWERS
COMPREHENSION CHECK:
(1)
Why
did James want a dividing rail?
James wanted a dividing rail in
order to add a branch line to his clockwork trainset.
(2)
How
much money did James loose through the hole in his shorts pocket?
He lost $3.65 through the hole in
his pocket.
(3)
Who
came to stay over Christmas?
James’ Aunt Sally came to stay over
Christmas.
(4)
What
did Aunt Sally give James for Christmas?
Aunt Sally gave James; underpants, a
shirt, a ball and a metal car.
(5)
Why
do you think Aunt Sally did not give James a dividing rail for Christmas?
Aunt Sally would have known about
the electric train set James was going to receive from his parents.
(6)
Why
do you think James felt disappointed receiving an electric train set?
Because James liked his simpler
clockwork trainset better.
(7)
Why
do you think James bought the dividing rail in the toy shop forty years later?
Because he had the conditions to buy
the dividing rail and he because he was fulfilling a childhood dream.
(8)
What
was the best Christmas present you have ever received?
(9)
Does
your family have any special Christmas traditions? If so what are they?
(10)
Describe
the best Christmas you can remember. Why was it so special?
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