It was a stunning sight liveried in the black and gold
of the DCRN, Downshire County Railway Network, pulling the Prix Deluxe first-class
coaches, dining carriage, and sleeper cars, as well as second and third class
wagons, and it ran from Abbeyvale to all points North via Abbottsford,
Finchbottom and Nettlefield
Best friends Lilian
Baggott and Amelia Bryan had been holidaying on the Isle of Skye when they heard Neville Chamberlain on the
BBC announcing Britain was at war with Germany and immediately made plans to
travel home to Downshire to be with their families.
Two days later they
were in a second-class carriage aboard the Downshire Star heading out of Glasgow
in the late afternoon sunshine, their budget didn’t run to first class and a
berth in the sleeper was out of the question for the same reason.
It was to be a much
longer journey home than the one they took at the beginning of their holiday,
as it was to be, by necessity a stopping service, as so many troops had to
return to their various military bases.
It was still the
quickest way for them to get back to their destination of Abbottsford and they
both enjoyed the train.
As most of the
passengers were aboard for the same reason there was a tremendous atmosphere on
the train, patriotism, stoicism, defiance, even pride.
To anyone who didn’t
know them they would have sworn they were identical twins, but they would have
been wrong, they weren’t even the same age.
Lilian was the older
of the two, by two months and was five foot two with bobbed flame red hair and
a pale complexion, green eyes and had cutely freckled cheeks.
Amelia was two inches
taller than her friend and had fewer freckles, but more hair, she was also the
quiet one of the two and relied on Lil’s boldness to help her in social
situations.
Also aboard were
cousins and best friends, Steve Matthews and
Bill Prendergast, who were also
heading south from Scotland, they had also been on holiday, but in their case,
they had been ordered to return to the Downshire Light
Infantry barracks in Nettlefield.
Despite the fact the
four of them were all from Abbottsford and had all been on the Isle of Skye for
the previous two and a half weeks, and at the same hotel, they had never
crossed paths.
But when they did meet
up, aboard the train, they hit it off immediately and the guys were instantly
attracted to the girls, not a love at first sight kind of thing, but close, and
that was before they’d even heard the girls speak in their posh Carrington
Chase educated voices.
Carrington Chase being Downshire’s version of Roedean, although those
in Downshire thought it was the other way around, and they were voice’s that
made Queen Elizabeth sound common.
The girls were
stunningly beautiful and even wearing their travelling outfits they were still
drop-dead gorgeous girls, and as the journey progressed, they were not short of
admirers, and under normal circumstances they would have flirted along with
them, the good-looking ones at least, but they were both very taken with the
returning soldiers, and they made that perfectly clear to any interlopers.
They were seated
either side of a compartment, with the girls on one side and the lads on the
other, with two elderly couples occupying the remaining seats.
Primarily the four
just chatted, mainly about the declaration of war, but also the Isle of Skye,
and amazed each other with the number of places they all frequented and the
amount of acquaintances they had made among their fellow travellers that they
had in common.
The atmosphere in the
compartment was unlike anything they had known before, but as the summer
afternoon sunshine gave way to dusk and then inevitably to darkness, so despite
the good company and the pleasant conversation, with the rhythmic clickety
clack of the wheels on the track they obviously fell asleep.
When the girls awoke
the next morning, it was to the appetizing aroma of cooked bacon.
Steve and Bill had
woken early and left the girls sleeping while they disembarked when the train
stopped at Doncaster and followed their noses to the cooking bacon.
The girls thought it
was a great start to the day, in Lily’s opinion any day that began with a bacon
sandwich was a great day.
After breakfast the
four of them settled down into the same pattern as the night before.
As the Downshire Star
crossed the county border into Downshire Lilian glanced sideways where Amelia
and Steve were sat facing each other across divide, each resting their elbows
on their knees.
But she had tired of
the conversation even if Amelia hadn’t, so when she slipped quietly away from
the table and took Bill with her and when she looked back the other two hadn’t
even noticed that they had gone.
The moment they left
the compartment Lilian pushed him into the nearest corner and kissed him and
his response was instantaneous.
But the kiss was short
and sweet as there appeared to be a constant flow of people between the
carriages and the buffet.
Bill tried to resume
but Lilian evaded his lips,
“No not here” she said
and walked away “Come on”
And then she ran
giggling down the corridor, and he ran after her until she stopped abruptly at
the end of the car, where she stood fingering her hair and chewing her lip
while she waited for him and then he kissed her.
Amelia suddenly became
aware that Lilian and Bill had gone
“They’re not here” she
said, “Where did they go?”
“When did they go?” he
asked, and they both laughed
They were really
enjoying each other’s company and the conversation but the more they talked the
more she wanted to kiss him, but she couldn’t.
If Lilian was in her
situation and wanted to kiss him, he would already have been kissed, but she wasn’t
bold like her friend, she was the shy one so she couldn’t take the kiss she wanted.
Unfortunately, Steve
was no better, he normally relied on alcohol for his bravery, but he was sober,
so they both carried on and made the best of the situation, and just kept
enjoying each other.
Which they did for the
next five minutes or so until the train came to a jerky disorderly halt, and
they found themselves nose to nose.
“Nice” Lilian said and
kissed him again
“Very nice” Bill said
“I agree, but we’d
better get back” she said
“Ok” he agreed
reluctantly
“Do you think they’re
wondering where we are?” he asked
“Hardly, they probably
haven’t even noticed we’ve gone” she said, “And if they have Amelia will just
say “oh there you are” and carry on with the conversation”
They were laughing
when they entered the compartment but stopped abruptly when they discovered
Amelia and Steve were still sat facing each other across divide, each resting
their elbows on their knees, but were now leant forward engaged in a very
tender kiss.
Lilian and Bill looked
at each other, smiled, nodded, and retraced their steps and resumed their own
kiss.
No comments:
Post a Comment