The Newtown Pentacle

Monday

– photo by Mitch Waxman

To start with, as a humble narrator is punching away at the keyboard and writing this very post – he’s just suffered through a root canal procedure at one of the local Dentists here in Pittsburgh. This wasn’t a bucket list assignation, I would mention, instead it’s the result of me not exactly winning the genetic lottery when it comes to dentition. Ultimately, it’s just pain. I’ve felt worse.

Conversely and regarding the photograph above, captured on an evening during which I was feeling considerably less pain – since I was at a bar – one was lucky enough to witness another parade of CSX freight trains navigating along the CSX Pittsburgh Subdivision along southern side of the Monongahela River. That’s CSX #296, which is positively modern – a General Electric built AC4400CW model locomotive which hit the rails in September of 1997 – or so I’m told. It was pulling carloads of coke and coal in an eastwards direction.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

Next up was CSX #916 – an ‘ES44AH’ model locomotive also built by the guys and gals at General Electric. It was hauling cargo boxes and tankers, heading westwards.

The worst mouth pain I ever experienced was the time that I got kicked in the mouth during a biker bar fight on the west side of Manhattan. This is before the gentrification dealie really got going in the Meat Market zone, and I caught the toe of combat boot as it smashed vertically into one of my front teeth. That one hurt for a long while, mainly as I didn’t have the cash on hand to visit a dentist. I still feel it sometimes, mainly when trying to eat a hard pretzel.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

The life I lead now is quite different, as compared to those days. Back then, when an injury occurred which didn’t involve bleeding to death, I’d just kind of suck it up. I’ve been stabbed, beat up… heck, I once had a guy work me over with a baseball bat back in the Brooklyn days. Once, I broke my drawing hand, during an interval when I was working as a professional comic artist and illustrator. My ‘pay the rent’ job had to get done, so I propped the brush into my swollen digits and then used masking tape to sequester my broken hand around the thing in order to get the job done. To this day, my right hand’s pinky finger still sticks out at an odd angle. It looks like I’m drinking tea from a comically small cup, all the time.

That’s CSX #5206, a GE ES40DC model locomotive. As you can see, it was starting to rain, but I kept on drinking beer and pointing the camera at passing locomotives.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

By the time that CSX #568 came along, hauling cargo boxes and tanker cars, the rain had become steadier just as it was starting to get dark out. My lens got wet, as you can tell from the streaks, but there’s something I really like about that one above.

I’ve got a million injury tales, as a humble narrator is both a real klutz and has a long history of annoying people so much that they are compelled to rain blows upon me. The most recent major ‘owwie’ was that ghoulish crush injury to my left big toe that happened (at home) near the end of 2019, which is the reason why I was limping when the pandemic came around. That was a real joy, I tell’s ya. Thing is, I used to heal like Wolverine, but not so much anymore in my dotage.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

A second shot of #568 was my favorite of the session, with the droplets of rain suspended in the head lamp illumination of the locomotive.

I don’t really talk about the heart attack these days, but that happened too. It’s the ‘levee breaking’ moment for a humble narrator, and the juncture moment by which I divide my life into ‘before and after.’ I guess that moving out of NYC to Pittsburgh is another such moment, and it’s something I’d have never even considered prior to that experience. The experience changed me profoundly.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

After about four pints of beer, I was half in the bag and it was time to head back to HQ in nearby Dormont. Luckily, just after paying my tab, CSX #7271 came roaring through. It’s a GE AC4400CWM model. Frankly, I don’t remember what it was hauling, as I was on my way out.

The Root Canal business has been a real pain in the butt, or noggin more accurately. Expensive procedure, but I’ve been experiencing quite a bit of excruciatingly annoying pain for the last few weeks whenever ingesting cold beverages or eating anything that required serious chomping. It’s part of the whole medical journey I’ve been on since getting to Pittsburgh.

Excellent health system here in Pittsburgh, I would offer. A marked contrast to the rushed experience of NYC’s system. Same science, of course, but the Docs here take their time with you since they’re not as worried about paying their landlord’s an exorbitant rent.

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