The train tracks from Boston to New York were laid through the western pine barrens of Rhode Island in the 19th Century. The pine forests grow on deep sand deposits left over from the glacial melting of the Ice Age.
This desolate region has resisted civilization, however on a winter afternoon in 1979 I was sitting on the left side of a Amtrak carriage heading south. Trees after trees after trees formed a long curtain of green. The monotony lulled me into a nod. I spotted a red sports car parked at a rural crossing. The train rattled past the car at 80 mph. A young blonde woman lay on the ground. Her body was naked and she spread her legs for a show. My head whipped back to watch her until she disappeared from sight. I stood up in my seat and examined the faces of the window-side passengers. None of them showed any sign of having seen the naked woman, but she was no mirage.
She was the real thing.
An exhibitionist in the Pine Barrens.
