[1ST PERSON ACCOUNT: First-person narration in the voice of a young telegraph operator stationed near Eden who received the alarm and was among the first to reach the wreck site. The night, the sound, the water still running, the cars in the wash. What he saw in the lantern light. What he transmitted. What he did not transmit because he did not know how to say it. 500–700 words. Voice: young, precise, trying very hard to be official. Shaken underneath.]
[PARAGRAPH: The three passengers he could not account for. He had the manifest. He had counted. The numbers did not match and nobody asked him about it afterward. He kept the tally sheet.]