Last Stop Willoughby by Michael Ceraolo

There was an episode of The Twilight Zone

that first aired May 6, 1960

titled A Stop at Willoughby,

                                         and

the city of Willoughby has an annual festival

called Last Stop Willoughby,

                                           with a parade

and an airing of the TV episode

and several other festivities

                                          But

there was an episode of real life

that could also be called Last Stop Willoughby

much more interesting than either

Christmas Eve 1933

A Sunday,

                 so

the churches would be doing double duty

Josephine Kilmczak,

                                5'4" tall,

with auburn hair and hazel eyes,

                                                known

as Sophie to her family

(parents, five sisters, three brothers)

had arrived here yesterday

(or possibly even before that;

                                           in

the aftermath of subsequent events

there would be tales of reported sightings of her

before her confirmed arrival,

                                         including

one that she had been kicked off

a streetcar in neighboring Kirtland

two days earlier)

She had found lodging

in a boardinghouse on Second Street

(or Third; accounts differ)

run by Mrs. Mary Judd

                                   (or Miss;

either way Ms. hadn't been coined yet),

                                                          and

when she awoke on this day

she asked Mrs. Judd about church services

and wished her a Merry Christmas

When she left the boardinghouse

she was carrying a suitcase

and was dressed appropriately

for the seasonable weather

                                         (for good reason

she would later be called The Girl in Blue),

                                                               wearing

a blue dress

a blue sweater

blue shoes

a blue coat

a blue scarf

She was carrying a blue purse

that had in it ninety cents

and a train ticket to Corry, Pennsylvania

She walked about a quarter-mile,

                                                 then,

when passing the Willoughby Village Cemetery,

authored two mysteries,

                                    one of which

was never (and will never) be solved

She suddenly dropped her suitcase,

                                                      then

sprinted a half-mile to the train tracks,

where she was struck by a passenger train

and sent flying onto the gravel siding

No blood

No visible wounds

But dead nonetheless

Since she had no ID on her,

who she was was Mystery Number One

The town's residents unofficially adopted here,

a local funeral home preparing the body for burial

and letting her lie in state for two weeks

in the hopes that someone would ID her

and claim the body,

                              then,

when no one did so,

                               raising

the money for her tombstone

               IN MEMORY

                  OF THE

             GIRL IN BLUE

           KILLED BY TRAIN

        DECEMBER 24, 1933

UNKNOWN BUT NOT FORGOTTEN

                                                        and

then buried her in the village cemetery

Five years later her brother Leo

showed up and ID'ed her,

                                      but

the cemetery sexton didn't write down

her last name,

                      nor could he remember

the correct spelling or pronunciation,

                                                       and

The Girl in Blue resumed her anonymity,

                                                            where

she remained for the next fifty-five years

When the local rag wrote a story

on the 60th anniversary of her death,

the story made its way

to a paper in Corry, PA,

                                    where

it was read by one Edward Sekerak,

a realtor who,

                     providentially,

was at the time involved in selling the Kilmczak farm

Mr. Sekerak remembered Leo had said in an affidavit

that his sister Josephine had died

on Christmas Eve 1933

When this information made its way to Willoughby,

the mystery of her identity was solved,

                                                         though

it took another decade for a second headstone,

this one bearing her name,

to be placed lying flat on her grave

And today,

under a mulberry tree

in the center section of the cemetery,

people of all ages visit her grave

and leave

                 flowers real and plastic

                 coins

                 toys

                 and other mementos

in order to connect with her,

                                          some

contemplating the unsolved mystery

of why

               And

I wonder if Serling,

                            who

was nine at the time of her death,

used Willoughby in the title of the episode

for the same reasons

Bio:  "Michael Ceraolo is a 59-year-old retired firefighter/paramedic and active poet. This poem is from Book Three of his encyclopedic epic, Euclid Creek:  A Journey, about the place where he lives. Book One was published by Deep Cleveland Press and Book Two is forthcoming from unbound content press."