‘Hey Carol,’ Melanie said. ‘We’re staying in Bela Palanka for a
day or two. But let’s go over to Sofia this weekend and meet Tom there. We can
meet him on Saturday night at the Hotel Marmara.’ ‘Yeah! It’s a good
hotel,’ Carol told me. ‘Cheap, but good. What do you think, Tom?’
‘Great!’ I said. Let’s do that.’
The train was very slow. We got to Belgrade at six oì’clock in the
evening and a lot of people got off. There were only me and the girsl in the
carriage then. The guard came, looked at our tickets and went away again. Carol
looked at Melanie. ‘Hey, Mel,’ she said. ‘Why don’t you and Tom go along
to the restaurant? I’m not hungry and I want to sleep for an hour.’ ‘Er..
Food’s very expensive on the train,’ I said. ‘I haven’t got much money
just now. I’m going to get a job in Sofia.’ ‘Oh Tom!’ Melanie said.
‘Why didn’t you tell us? Look, you’re a nice guy, right? We’re OK for
money this week. We can buy you a meal.’
'Of course we can,’ Carol said. ‘And look, in Sofia we can take you to
the best restaurant in town. It’s a great place. We love it.’ What could I
say? I was hungry. They had money, I didn’t. So Melanie and I went to the
restaurant and had a meal. When we came back, Carol was still in the carriage.
Melanie put her feet on the seat and went to sleep.
At Niw some people got on the
train and two old men came into our carriage. They looked at Melanie’s feet on
the seat and talked in loud voice. Carol laughed and Melanie opened her eyes and
sat up.
