The Cowcatcher’s Last Laugh — Every evening, Gideon tightened the tiny screws on his handmade brass station mascot while the museum engine cooled with a peppery coal smell and a dignified wheeze. Read the full story →
Every evening, Gideon tightened the tiny screws on his handmade brass station mascot while the museum engine cooled with a peppery coal smell and a dignified wheeze. Until one day, his mascot vanished before the trustees’ tour. Because of that, he crawled under benches, tapped lamp housings, and accused a pigeon with excellent timing; because of that, the tour found him flat on his back beneath the cowcatcher, laughing. Wedged between the black iron slats was his mascot, holding the missing ribbon in its soldered paws. He mounted it there proudly, where nobody thought to look, and the old engine wheezed its peppery laugh.
