Gemotions

He stared at the model train tracks snaking across the living room floor. It was a replica of the Prussian rail system, complete with meticulously detailed stations and miniature figurines. His son, Ethan, now sixteen, had surpassed his own dedication to the hobby, building elaborate dioramas and researching train history with relentless fervor. Richard had always found it soothing, the clickety-clack of the trains. Now, he felt oddly displaced, as if his own space, once comfortably familiar, had become a foreign land. He had wanted this connection, this shared interest, but this seemed… different. Ethan’s latest project, a near-perfect recreation of the 1883 Berlin to Vienna express, seemed to mock his own skills.