Part II — A Dining Car Christmas Hours passed. The storm deepened; still no cell service, no movement, no certainty. The dining car came alive anyway. Fairy lights were strung along the luggage rack. Someone put on faint holiday music. Hot chocolate reappeared. The passengers—strangers all—slowly began crafting a pop-up Christmas gathering in the early dark of a northern Ontario snowstorm. Margaret, Evan, Kira, and Noah gravitated back to one another’s company. “So,” Evan ask
