Chapter 29 - Ashland
Gordon chauffeured Hezekiah down Ashland’s Railroad Avenue that turned into Center Street, where the train tracks ran in the middle of the road. Mineral springs were discovered in Ashland, and in the 1840s, the Richmond, Fredericksburg, and Potomac Railroad developed the town as a resort.
But the springs no longer existed, and left beside the tracks were turn-of-the-twentieth-century homes, a commercial center built after a fire in 1893, and
Randolph-Macon College.
Out of New York, a stinking trash train of dirty green and gray containers caught up with Gordon and Hezekiah as they rode down Center Street.
Kim sat on a swing, suspended from the limb of an old walnut tree.
When Kim and Hezekiah reached the sidewalk, they could see the train stopped a half a mile away, dropping off and picking up passengers at the Ashland station.
When the express started back up, Kim stepped out in the middle of the empty street and waved to her father as he pulled by.
Kim’s dress fluttered around her light, lithe form from the wind produced as the train swept past, and she and Hezekiah kept waving until the last passenger car was gone.