The Long Night Express

To the passenger who cannot sleep,

The bell rings three times before the train slides slowly from the platform, toward Budapest, into a November night in 1913. The first fine snow has begun to fall outside. This letter rides the Danube Dawn, in a heavy deep teal envelope. The title is set in an ornate railway serif whose long ligatures trail like decoration. Antique-brass carriage filigree winds around it; an oxblood gothic window hides in one corner, along with a cream timetable band and a very finely engraved snowflake.

This month a novel was published in Paris that opens with a single sentence: "For a long time, I went to bed early." — Marcel Proust, Swann's Way (1913)

On this night train, nobody goes to bed early. We will keep you company through the dark, and at daybreak the Danube will slowly brighten outside the window. Welcome. It does not matter if your letter runs long; the night is long.

Good night, until the Danube brightens

Storm Post Office

November 1913 · Bound for Budapest

P.S. Please mind your own luggage; the letter needs no minding.