At the Railway Station

Last Sunday, on a fine sunny morning, Ted Gatewood set out for the railway station to meet Mrs. Cracks, his mother-in-law, who was coming to see her new-bourn grandson.

It was only 8 am, and the train from London was due in at 10, but Ted preferred to come early, just to be on the safe side: his mother-in-law was sure to make a row if he was late.

The life at the railway station was busy, as usual: trains were arriving and leaving, people were meeting and seeing off their friends and relatives, porters were busy carrying luggage from the left-luggage office to the carriages and the luggage vans.

Ted bought some newspaper at the bookstall and went to the waiting-room to while away the time. When he was through with the newspapers he made up his mind to watch TV. An exciting thriller was on and Ted was so carried away with the film that he clean forgot where he was. The chimes of the railway clock brought him back to reality. It was exactly 10am. Ted’s heart sank. He jumped from his seat and hurried o the platform.

The train had just come in, the passengers were alighting from it. Ted ran along the platform to the head of the train where the sleepers were. But he was surprised to see no one either in the compartments or near the carriages. The attendant assured him that all the passengers had gone away. Ted was puzzled. Mrs. Cracks couldn’t have gone to their place on her own – she did not know their new address. Then it occurred to him that the lady must have travelled in a smoker because she was known to be a chain smoker. Ted rushed to the middle of the train where the smokers were, but Mrs. Crack wasn’t there either. The situation was becoming very awkward.

Meanwhile the platform became deserted. Ted was at his wits end. He looked for his mother-in-law all over the station – at the entrance, at the exit, in the waiting-room, at the refreshment room and at the taxi rank –and was just about to have an announcement made over the public address system when he caught sight of the indicator board which informed that the 10 o’clock train from London was 30 minutes late. Ted rushed to the Information Office and there he was old that the fast train from London was indeed running behind time-table and the train he had seen arrive was a slow local train from Exeter.

Ted breathed a sigh of relief. He was about to return to the waiting room but then thought better of it and remained on the platform near the indicator board, just to be on the safe side.