train

A freight train rolled slowly through town, sounding its horn. Each time it buzzed the horn for longer, until it was a solid roar and I turned to look.

The train had stopped just short of a crossing. Cars were stopped on both sides of the barriers. "Why doesn't the train just go?" I wondered.

As I kept watching, I finally saw a man slowly rise to his feet and stumble off the tracks. 

By this time the train had been still for long enough that the barriers at the crossing were going back up. The cars crossed the tracks, and the man ambled on, not looking back at the train that could have killed him.