‘I wish,’ he said, ‘I had a larger train with an engine that I could run myself.’
He clapped his hands. ‘Is there a bigger engine about? An engine large enough for me to ride in?’
The mechanico disappeared and summoned a large gang of other mechanicos. They laid steel tracks about the garden, and down the walks. ‘This is the life,’ said Raphael, delighted. ‘Come on, Cassie, let’s run the big engine.’
They spent another two hours playing with the big engine the mechanicos had brought them. They rode round and round the garden, throwing the switches, backing for loads of stones they tossed into the dump cars, and blowing the whistle.
‘Let’s never go back to Uniontown,’ said Raphael as he stopped the train by the concrete pond. ‘Let’s stay here and play forever.’
‘Raff,’ broke in Cassandra, ‘it’s my turn. Let me drive.’
‘It’s not your turn,’ answered Raphael. ‘Besides, you don’t know how to run an engine. You’d break it.’
‘Yes I do, too,’ argued Cassandra. ‘You’ve run the train for hours.’
‘Well, it’s mine, isn’t it? I asked for it.’
‘You wouldn’t have thought of it if I hadn’t told you what the Sorcerer said.’ And Cassandra made a grab for the driving throttle.