The canned public address announcement is far too loud and the professional speaker's voice, while rich, is wrong for the region and for most of his listeners. He handles "Birmingham" and "Montgomery" well enough, but "Mobile" comes out "Mobil" in his uninformed Walter Cronkite accent.

The Amtrak people evidently do not object. Until the tape wears out, he'll mispronounce the destination of two southbound trains daily.

By the time I reach track level you've already boarded and are seated in the sepia-lit car. From the platform, I locate your window readily enough. Our eyes meet, but I can't hear what you're saying. A squalling infant, being jostled impatiently by his mother, is visible in the seat just forward of yours, but not even that sound penetrates to the outside. Other voices — the milling crowd all around me, that damned PA announcer — are all too audible.