MATE - Part One

Ria’s one eye looked down at the tickets, the other up ahead down the corridor.  She squinted to read the numbers near and far, in her hand to match the ones on the cabin door.  With relief she slid the door, entered and set the bulk she carried down on the left berth.  Taking account of her duffle bag, backpack, a small suitcase and a laptop case, she carefully tucked them under the seat.  Extricating her e-reader from her oversize shoulder bag, she cuddled up in the corner, next to the window and soon was absorbed in a world of fantasy or was it a fantastic world?

Her head bobbed when her car pulled and tugged with a jerk as the engine connected.  She placed her feet up on her seat, knees drawn to her chest and relaxed her head back to read the words digitally appearing on her lap.  Cacophony of noise surrounded her as passengers looked for their cabins or seats, coolies harried to shed their loads, children screamed playfully or cried in fear with parents shouting at them to keep up.  A whistle resounded over the humdrum of the station as the train called all to attention.

Ria, oblivious to all activity around her virtually turned her electronic pages as she scanned words after lines after paragraphs.  Passengers boarded and settled in cabins adjoining hers or down the corridor, their chatter floating into her quiet abode.  Strangers introduced themselves all around her, inquiring of destinations, their missions, then divulging deeper into personal matters.  Before their parting each had learned of the other’s life story, their hopes and dreams coupled with all the miseries that befell them.  They had become lifelong friends but in their haste of pouring out intricate details of their lives, neither had bothered to exchange any contact details.  Strangers no more, parting as intimate friends, they remained strangers at last.

Ria ignored all the banter enjoying the recluse of her quiet cabin and the conversations in the fiction on her lap.  The door to her cabin slid open and a young girl breathlessly stepped in.  Ria gave a quick scan with a sideways glance at the new occupant before returning to the glow that radiated words from her lap.  The girl’s neatly braided hair had some escaped strands that flirted with her eyelashes.  Simply dressed in designer jeans that hugged her hips and red V-neck t-shirt that hugged her breasts, she sat down by the window, across from Ria.  Placing her medium sized red, white and blue kate spade bag on her lap, she leaned forward to look out through the bars of the window onto the platform, into the sea of people.  Her fingers fidgeted with the ostentatious red bow on her purse as her eyes darted back to front looking at both lengths of the station.

 

To be continued....