4.

Dr. Black Jack finished treating the last victim pulled from the tunnel and breathed a sigh of relief. It had been a long night, and exhaustion had started to set in. Pinoko already succumbed to sleep, and she lay on a station bench, snoring.

"How many?", the doctor asked the mayor who had never left the station platform.

"The police have set up a makeshift morgue in the lobby of Ebbet's field," he said. "At last count there were 97 bodies."

"Horrible," the doctor replied. "Back home, JNR would never allow untrained engineers to captain a train, even to break a strike. Then again, the railroad workers would probably think it was against their honor to strand their passengers by resorting to such a labor action."

"I guess things are different in your country," the mayor voiced. "I think I'd like to visit Japan some day. Perhaps I could learn something."

"You know the motorman of that train ran past me earlier," the doctor continued. "He seemed to be in shock, and didn't realize that he was still gripping the control handles from the train as he wandered past me. It's my opinion that he had been forced into operating the train without the necessary instruction. Don't blame him for this, he's suffered enough."

"You're probably right, doctor," the mayor nodded. "My office's investigation of this tragedy will concentrate on the management of the BRT."

The mayor looked around. "It seems to have suddenly become deathly quiet here. The police have sealed off the area. I guess we'll have to get a taxi to take you to your destination, Coney Island, right?"

"Yes," the doctor sighed. "Would it be all right if Pinoko and I just sat here for a bit. I don't want to risk waking her quite yet."

"Sure," the mayor nodded. "I'll have a cab waiting for you up on the street level. You can leave the station when you're ready."

The doctor sat down on the bench next to Pinoko, who was sound asleep. He closed his eyes and leaned back to nod off himself.

The sound of an air horn startled the doctor awake. He rubbed his eyes as a Q train roared into the south bound express track of the station. "Wake up Pinoko!", he yelled as he shook the sleeping girl, "Here's our train!"

Pinoko grabbed her small carry on bag, and the doctor pulled the three connected suitcases along with him. They managed to board the Coney Island bound train just before the warning bells chimed. "Ding Dong!"

The train doors closed behind them and it slowly accelerated out of the station. Pinoko spotted two seats next to a window facing the front of the train, and she grabbed the doctor's hand and pulled him towards them. They sat down and relaxed.

"Where are we now, Sensei?" Pinoko asked.

"Finally on our way to Coney Island," the doctor sighed. He looked at his watch and scratched his head. "I must have lost track of the time," he muttered.

"Why, Sensei?", Pinoko asked.

"It felt like we were at the Melbone Street station for several hours, but according to my watch, it was less than fifteen minutes."

"Don't you mean the Prospect Park station?", Pinoko asked. "That was the name on the sign, I saw it out the window as this train left."

"Yes, that's what I meant to say," Black Jack agreed. "I must have been more tired than I thought. I think I fell asleep with you on that station bench waiting for this train and had such a crazy dream."

"So did I," Pinoko said. "I don't ever want to hear any more ghost stories, they give me nightmares!"

They sat quietly during the rest of the ride. The train pulled out of the Brighton Beach station, and the announcement over the PA informed them that the next stop would be Ocean Parkway. "That's our stop, Pinoko," the doctor sighed. They walked towards one of the middle doors of the car and watched through its windows as the station slowly slid by as the train arrived. The doors opened up and they got out.

The doctor looked at the expanse of stairs heading down to the street and complained. "There doesn't seem to be an escalator or an elevator at this station. We're going to have to be careful getting our bags to the street level."

"Acchonburike!", Pinoko burst out. "What a pain!"

The night air was cool with a moist, salty smell from the ocean. Dr. Black Jack and Pinoko walked along the pedestrian promenade between the inner six lanes of Ocean Parkway and the north bound service road. They passed by the tall towers of the apartment houses to the west, and an Orthodox Synagogue to the east. Just before reaching the belt parkway overpass, they walked by Abraham Lincoln High School to their left, and could see their destination ahead of them, the Coney Island Hospital was just beyond the highway.

They entered the hospital, and walked up to the front desk just past the main entrance.

The doctor showed his ID to the receptionist. "I'm Dr. Black Jack, a Dr. Redner is expecting me."

The woman behind the counter looked at the doctors drivers license. "I can't read the Japanese, but I can see from your photo that's you," she giggled, as she typed something on a computer terminal. "I hope you had a good flight. Did you have any problem getting a taxi?"

"They were on strike, so we took the subway," the doctor said shrugging his shoulders.

The doors of one of the elevators opened and a young man wearing surgical greens rushed out. "Black Jack, Sensei!", he cried out in greeting. "I'm so glad you could make it. You're just in time, the patient is crashing and we had to rush him to surgery!"

"Let's get to it then," the doctor replied.

"Leave your luggage at the desk," doctor Redner suggested, "and follow me!"

Black Jack took his medical bag with him into the elevator, followed by Pinoko. They were rushed up to the fourth floor O.R. where their patient had already been prepped for surgery and was under anesthesia. The doctor and Pinoko donned their greens and scrubbed in.

"Do you require me to assist?", Dr. Redner asked.

"I usually work alone, with my assistant," Black Jack spat back, "but you may of course observe."

Dr. Redner and the staff of nurses gawked in amazement at the speed and precision of their guest surgeon. Black Jack quickly located the tumor and removed it. He then repaired the affected organs, and neatly closed the incisions.

"You're right," Black Jack sighed as he removed his gloves and cap. "Less than an hour later and we would have lost him."

"I'm envious of your skills," Dr. Redner said bowing. "Arigatōgozaimashita."

"I don't need any thanks, just pay my fee," the doctor replied.

"It's already been transferred to your bank account, as you instructed," Redner replied.

"Excellent," Black Jack nodded. "Now I think Pinoko and I need to crash for a few hours."

Dr. Redner led the doctor and Pinoko to a doctor's lounge area. There were some sandwiches and cold drinks set out on a serving table, and a few cots were located along the walls. Pinoko jumped onto one of the cots and closed her eyes. The doctor sat down in a large comfy arm chair located between two of the cots. He noticed a newspaper lying on the floor and picked it up. The paper was open to an article on the subway crash that occurred a century ago.

"So, that dream of mine was really a historical event," he laughed, showing Dr. Redner the paper.

"Yes, my great grandfather once told me about it," he said, "Great grandfather was on that train in the first car when the accident occurred. He told me that he had helped a Japanese doctor treat an electrocution victim that night."

"Really?", Black Jack questioned, raising an eyebrow. "What was his name?"

"Irving," Dr. Redner replied as he walked out of the lounge, "Irving Melton."

"That can't be!", Black Jack gasped, as he quickly scanned through the newspaper story. He noticed several black and white photographs that had been taken at the time of the crash, probably reprinted from old newspaper archives. The last of these images showed an Asian man with two toned hair wearing a top coat and a ribbon tie, and a young girl who was assisting him. The pair were treating victims of the accident. The doctor recognized himself and Pinoko in the photo.

"It wasn't a dream?", the doctor gasped out loud.

"What wasn't a dream?", Pinoko asked, now looking over the doctor's shoulder. She spied the photo in the newspaper. "Acchonburike!", she yelled at the top of her lungs.

"I think we'd better keep this to ourselves," the doctor told Pinoko as he folded the newspaper and slipped it into his coat pocket. "No one would ever believe us!"

"Happy Halloween!", Pinoko voiced.

The End