‘Why do people laugh at these stories?’ Julie thought. ‘They’re so boring!’ But Bill liked
it. Then he told a story about an old woman and a cat, and the man in the brown
hat laughed again. ‘That’s good, too. I don’t know. How do you remember
them all?’ ‘Because’, Julie thought, ‘he tells them every day.’ ‘I
don’t understand,’ the little girl said suddenly. She looked at Bill. ‘Why
did the cat die?’ ‘Shhh. Be quite,’ her mother said. ‘Come to eat your
sandwiches now.’ ‘That’s all right,’ Bill said. ‘I like children.’
The man in the brown hat looked at the children’s sandwiches. ‘Mmm, I’m
hungry too,’ he said. ‘You can get sandwiches in the restaurant on this
train.’ He looked at Bill. ‘Let’s go down to the restaurant, eh? I need to
drink too.’ Bill laughed ‘You’re right. It’s thirsty work, telling
stories.’ The two men stood up and left the carriage. The little girl ate her
sandwich and looked at Julie. ‘But why did the cat die?’ she asked. I
don’t know,’ Julie said. ‘Perhaps he wanted to die.’ The little girl
came and sat next to Julie. ‘I like your hair,’ she said. ‘It’s
beautiful.’ Julie looked down at her and smiled. For some minutes it was quite
in the carriage. Then the tall dark man opened his bag and took out a book. He
put it on the sit next to him. And looked at Julie with a smile. Julie looked
back at him, and then down at the book. Famous towns of Italy, she read. Venice,
Florence, Rome, Naples. She looked away again, out of the window at the rain.
‘Two weeks in St Austell,’ she thought. ‘With Bill. In the rain.’
