» Relief

Spine turned to ice
I was about twelve years old and on a fast train somewhere in France. I spent most of the time in the corridor at the window, which was wound down about half-way, resting my forearms on the horizontal bar and watching the scenery whipping past. At the time, I didn’t know that the occasional cloud of water droplets that swept past, wetting my face and lips but soon drying in the wind, was from one of the many toilets further up the train, but that’s another story.

A little girl, about five years old, came along and begged to be lifted up so that she could see out of the window. Eventually I obliged, but to my horror she suddenly leaned out so far out that I almost lost my grip on her. I was desperately pulling her back into the train when, a split second later, preceded by a bow wave of wind like a slamming door, another train screamed past in the opposite direction, seemingly inches away. I looked at the little girl in my arms and was relieved to see that she still had a head.
(Wed 26th Dec 2012, 10:20, More)