‘Of course she
didn’t!’ Bill said. ‘She’s on this train. She didn’t get off.’
‘Yes she did.’ The children’s mother said suddenly. ‘I saw her too. The
tall man waited for her on the platform.’ ‘He waited for her?’ Bill’s
mouth was open ‘But… But he read his newspaper all the time. He didn’t
talk to Julie.
And she never talked to him. They didn’t say a word.’ ‘People
don’t always need words, young man,’ the children’s mother said. ‘But
she’s my wife!’ Bill’s face was red and angry. ‘She can’t do that! He
said loudly. He stood up. ‘I’m going to stop the train.’ Everybody looked
at him and the two children laughed.
‘No,’ the man in the brown
hat said, ‘no, you don’t want to do that. Sit down and eat your sandwiches,
my friend.’ ‘But you don’t understand. Why did she go? What am I going to
do?’ Bill’s face was very unhappy. After a second or two he sat down again.
‘What am I going to do?’ he said again. ‘Nothing,’ the man in the brown
hat said. He ate his sandwich slowly. ‘Go and have your holiday in St Austell.
You can have a good time there. Forget about Julie. Those green eyes, now.’ He
took out a second sandwich and began to eat it ‘I knew a woman once with green
eyes. She gave me a very bad time. No, you want to forget about Julie.’
