Chapter 1

• “Natasha, the boss is calling you,” Norton warned.
• - What does he want? she asked curiously, lifting her head, interrupting her reading.
• "No way," he said. "But go soon and tell me later," he asked, winking.
• Natasha went to the Director's office and knocked on the door.
• - You may come in. He heard the voice on the other side of the door.
• - Good morning! he greeted mechanically.
• — Hello, Natasha! Sit down.
• Natasha sat comfortably in the soft chair across from his desk.
• — Well, Natasha, I think I have a very important matter for you here. Maybe it's the chance you've been waiting for.
• - Serious? she asked, arching forward in her chair, interested.
• - Yes.
• "Talk soon," she asked excitedly, hardly expecting what he would say.
• “I left it to you to do the story on the last trip on the blue train.
• - As? she asked in disbelief.
• "That's right," the man said excitedly.
• “But this isn't the chance I've been waiting for… This article isn't going to help me at all.
• "How not?" This train is the "breadwinner" of many people, girl!
• "And what does that help me, Jonas?" He knows that this train is of no further importance. What is the relevance for people of a train that will stop working in the year 2000? It has been circulating since 1911... almost a century that this junkyard connects the two states. Let's be sensible: the fact that he stops will not change people's lives at all. Hardly anyone uses it anymore these days.
• — Natasha, you are a journalist. He works for this paper and has to cover any story the boss thinks is important. We know that the story isn't always important... Sometimes you have to tweak it a little to make it more interesting — he spoke in a gentle way, trying not to hurt her feelings .
• "Jonas, look at me!" We studied together in college and today you're my boss and I can't leave the place because there seem to be no opportunities. I feel stuck. Nobody gives a damn about my column. Sometimes I even think I'm working at Jornal Expresso just to write things that no one reads for a column that the owner of the newspaper insists on not wanting to extinguish on a whim.
• “Try to get a good story, Natasha. You need to impress your readers!
• “Please, I don't want to do this story. I don't think it will add to me in anything: neither personally nor professionally.
• “Natasha, I need someone on the last trip on the blue train. You're the only one here who has free time and only writes for one column. Besides, you always ask me that when I have something different I should remember you. I'm sure I'm giving it a chance. If you don't see it that way, then take it as a special request. I want you there.
• “Gee, I'm going to bury what's left of my almost-career. What can I find interesting there? she said almost to herself.
• — I want anything, Natasha, but we need to be there on the last trip on the blue train. I know that some passengers still insist on using it, even though they can make the trip much faster by other means of transport. There is the issue that many people will be unemployed. I also know that there was once that they were about to take it out of circulation, but someone paid the governors to keep it on track. Currently, the managers of the two states insist on “retiring” the old train and completing the highway that connects the two states. They even think about creating a tourist itinerary for this path.
• — I insist that the story is irrelevant for us to publish. No one is interested in this train.
• "That's what I have for you, Natasha," Jonas finished, sorting through some papers and getting to his feet.
• She understood that the conversation was over for him.
• “I wonder what I could write about this train that might interest someone. My first article outside the column and that's all that's left for me!
• — If you have to, make up a story to interest. I want something on my desk in 3 days.
• - Three days? “She was worried.
• "You have to be quick!" The train leaves at 10 pm for Tulipa. The trip takes a little less than 24 hours to go... Plus the time back. He thinks that this train was the most important in the country at the time it started running.
• - Unbelievable! Almost 24 hours inside an old and uncomfortable train. I can't believe I'm going to do this! he lamented, getting up from the comfortable chair.
• — Natasha, a good journalist is good in any situation. It doesn't matter what he's going to write about. If you have talent, and I know you do, you will touch people under any circumstances.
• "Jonas, how did you manage to be so successful?" — Natasha asked curiously to the man who had been her boyfriend, in the not so distant past.
• “I've always written from the heart, Natasha. You know I've always loved writing, researching, investigating. I confess that in some situations I was not as truthful as I should have been.
• “Perhaps I should have gone down this line you followed…police pages. I think people like to know about that the most: people who have died or been tragically injured. Robberies, thefts, shooting and sadness.
• "You couldn't!" I ended up going to this area, but I don't think I like it. I'm always chasing sad news, as you mentioned. Of course, I got used to it. But the fact that I'm always living with death doesn't make me feel good. You still have the opportunity... It's starting, Natasha. You can choose to write about life... Don't spend your life writing about death. You can still opt and choose love over pain. If you want to be happier, this is what you need to do.
• “It amazes me to hear that from you, the best student on the faculty. If I wanted to write novels I would be a writer and not a journalist. I have a commitment to the truth with the readers of Jornal Expresso.
• — I tell you that there are those who don't like to read truths.
• “Um… are you trying to get me to come up with an interesting story?”
• "Wow, how difficult you are!" I'm not trying to convince you of anything. I'm giving advice, that's all. About personal life, I guess! Now I need you to go, I still have a lot of things to do. Buy your ticket and take the last trip on the blue train.
• "Well, it will be the last one on the train and my first," he confessed.
• "Never been on the blue train?" he asked, impressed.
• - Of course not. I was born in the late 1970s, one of the great technological inventions. If I want to go to Tulipa, I take a plane and get there in three to four hours. Whereas that awful train will take me almost 24 hours. “I was still a little irritated.
• “Don't underestimate yourself, Natasha. Don't be so rude to yourself.
• — The one who underestimates me, in fact, is you.
• Saying this, she left, as it was already clear that she would not be able to convince him to give her another subject.
• Found Norton on the way:
• "So what did he want?" asked the curious boy.
• "Throw me a bomb!"
• - Like this? "He didn't understand the joke.
• “You want me to write about the last trip on the blue train and still 'take the trip'.
• “It's not so bad… Try to write a good story. You can research how the construction of the railroad started, interview the people who were there, the employees and ....
• “Why, Norton, I can't believe you're trying to tell me what to do!
• - Sorry! I think I understand why you're upset. There really are reasons for that. He should tell you to write about the road that will appear and not about the train that will disappear - he joked, making a pun.
• Natasha gave a half smile:
• “I'm coming, Norton. I'll make up an interesting story, as he prompted me. See you in three days... If I survive the trip.
• "It's going to be all right, buddy.
• “Thank you,” she said sincerely.
• Natasha walked out of there with her head in a whirl. Very irritated by what Jonas had asked. He really believed that that matter would not help him at all. I had asked him for some time that he would like to stop writing daily in the column about “public utility” in Jornal Expresso. I wanted to go out into the street, make records about other things. But she was the newspaper's last hire, so she had to settle for that, which was what nobody wanted.
• The girl had studied with Jonas in college. They had even had a brief courtship at the time. He was always very dedicated. I was born to be a journalist. He said he always dreamed of this. Top student in all subjects and class valedictorian. Right at the beginning of college, he started to do an internship at Jornal Expresso. Dali never left and soon after graduating he gained a leadership position. Famous for his reports on police pages, he had already been approached by several other newspapers, but for an offer he couldn't refuse in money, he stayed with Jornal Expresso, which was considered a good newspaper in the city, although not the best. She didn't think they could hold Jonas there for long. He was very talented.
• Natasha, graduated in Journalism, with average grades, never stood out in college. He wasn't even sure if that was what he wanted to do his whole life. She knew she liked to write, she was curious... She took an aptitude test and followed. Honestly, it was not seen in anything else ... But at the same time, not even in journalism. All I knew was that I wanted to be independent, leave home and live alone. And went on with his life.
• She was a woman of few friends and many words. Some people said that she should be a lawyer, because she was very challenging. But he never even considered the idea. He tried to find a job in several places: newspapers, magazines ... But he couldn't find anything. When she learned that Jonas was at Jornal Expresso, she imagined that he would help her. And that's really what happened. Their relationship had been brief and tepid, but they had remained friends. They weren't "best friends", but she felt comfortable talking to him about things she didn't talk to other people. They never talked about their old relationship and that made her comfortable.
• As he walked and furtively thought about his life, he didn't even realize that he had arrived at the station. Mechanically he bought a ticket to Tulipa.
• She looked down at the paper ticket in her hand and felt a little ridiculous. But at that moment she promised herself that she would do that report. It would prove to Jonas that he could write about something completely insignificant and make it interesting. So I had to start, perhaps with the ticket seller.
• She returned to the window:
• — Sir, do you know what to say if many people have bought tickets for the last train journey? he asked the man in his late fifties, with a friendly face.
• - Not many. Today people prefer the fastest means to get to Tulipa.
• — And your job, how will it be?
• “I'm going to work on the highway. All railroad employees will be relocated to the road in some way. We will be guaranteed work.
• "Have you worked here long?"
• “Almost 30 years,” he said proudly. — When the train was still very important for everyone: people, city, state, country.
• "I know how it is..." she said. — I'm from Jornal Expresso. I'm going to write the story about the last trip on the blue train.