Editor,
Not only do children's tales often imitate real life, they also have the ability to tell it from the perspective of those too young to speak for themselves.
The one that follows played itself out all summer in a place you would recognize. It will hopefully soon have a happy ending.
Once upon a time there was a beautiful shining valley with a railway going right through its middle. It was also home to friendly Thomas, the little blue engine that could. Thomas lived at a wondrous park the valley people had built to honour the railway.
There the children could ride a small train, and sometimes a big train, which was on very special occasions even pulled by Thomas himself. They could touch Thomas' friends, the big engines, climb aboard railway coaches and watch toy trains go by.
The children always left with a big smile after a visit to that railway park, and from then on waved merrily at every passing train.
If it had stayed that way, Thomas and the valley children would have been very happy, but it was not to be. One night the valley's peace and quiet was broken by the blaring of an angry horn and then another and another.
And if that was not scary enough, the children living in the middle of the valley also heard frightening grunts and thunders, snorting and vicious hisses, loud squeals and screeching coming from where they used to greet friendly trains during the day.
What could it be, that made such awful noises? The children's parents were awoken too and tried helping them to go to sleep again, hoping the dreadful sounds would go away.
But alas, they did not. They came back night after night, sometimes growling and snorting for a long time right outside a crying boy or girl's bedroom. Since nobody ever saw the long trains during the day again, it became clear to all that the friendly day train had been turned into an ugly rail-monster, coming out only at night to frighten the children and rob them and their parents of their sleep.
The people finally went to the King of the Valley and his advisors to ask for help. The king said he would go and talk to the Great Wizard from faraway, whom he was going to meet at a feast with other kings in a magical village way up in the mountains.
He knew that the Great Wizard had the power to free the rail-monster from the evil spell it was under and make it a friendly train again.
Will the king return to the valley with the good news that the Great Wizard had worked his magic? That would make little Thomas and all the children with their parents very happy indeed.
Will the mayor and the councillors attending the UBCM conference in Whistler come back with a permanent solution after meeting there with senior CN executives to discuss the elimination of excessive railway noise in Squamish? Let's hope so!
Wolfgang Wittenburg
Squamish
