Chapter 1.
She sat in the train train terminal waiting to head back to London with her two best friends, and her boyfriend. An announcement suddenly came over the loud speaker "Mesdames et messieurs, Train 9145 à Londres a été retardé pendant 60 minutes, désolé pour la gêne occasionnée. Ladies and gentleman, Train 9145 to London has been delayed for 60 minutes, sorry for the inconvenience." But it was no inconvenience for her. Sure she was ready to get back home after this vacation, but she had Rory and her friends to keep her company. And a bag of chips, she loved bags of chips and as she sat chatting in the terminal about the discipline of children in modern times, she crunched on handfuls at a time oblivious to the stares from the bald man with four kids sitting two rows away from her.
Finally the train arrived and she pushed through the crowd to find her seat on Cart 4. It turned out, her party of four, got the four seats in the cart facing each other with a table in between. She's just had the best luck. The entire train ride was spent talking of the holiday in Belgium, and teasing Rory about being untidy. He'd have to change that before they moved in together after the wedding. Right now a friend was letting Rory stay with him for only 600 pounds a month, and soon they'd have their own place together in the city. As they pulled up to the next station in Lille, she let her mind drift to wedding plans and made a mental to do list for when she got home.
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Scarlett (sidenote- not Scarlet Friend, but her name really was Scarlett) had had enough of this day. Traveling was the absolute worst. She had already taken a train from Paris to Lille, and just wanted to get home to see George. Her Mom, Dad, and Brother Brody (sidenote- not a joke. Scarlet and Brody.) had just gone on a holiday to Disney World in Paris so she was decked out with a Micky Mouse bow in her ponytail, and a tiara on top. Who said only little girls could be princesses? She made her way slowly down the aisle of Cart 4, only to find out that someone was in her dad's seat was taken. And not just her dad, the old lady in front of him didn't have a seat, and the two girls in the aisle behind her. In fact, most everyone had their seats taken by people who were already on the train. This can't be happening. Someone found the conductor. Apparently most seats were double booked because the train was changed after a delay in Belgium. Great this was going to take another 20 minutes to sort out. So much for a one hour trip across the channel. Finally everthing was sorted out and Scarlet felt the train lurch forward.
Next to her, Brody was playing one of his ridiculous iPad games that all 8 year olds loved. She leaned over and whispered "Brody, not everyone in this cart wants to hear 'It's a Small World' in French and Japanese." The train started slowing and came to a stop. There wasn't a connection until after the tunnel, right? It didn't take long for the conductor to make the announcement. "Ladies and gentleman, our trip has been delayed due to a broken down train in the tunnel. I'll give you more information as soon as I can." This was it, she couldn't take it anymore. Scarlet curled up in a ball and started crying. She didn't care that she was 17 years old, wearing a tiarra, and balling in public, her mom traded seats with Brody and started to comfort her. "I'm fed up, Mom! All I want is to go home and see George! This is ridiculous!" Brody giggled to himself, but added in, "Mother, I'm fed up too, I'm only laughing because of Scarlet's reaction, it's really not funny at all"
It had been an hour, she was not going to see George today. She never should have gone on this trip.
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Another leg of her journey was about to start. With her parents heading back to Brazil, she was heading to London to keep working on her PhD and get some sight seeing in along the way. She remembered when she was a little kid, and she and her best friend had always said they would visit London together one day. Now her friend had been there twice without her, and it was her turn to explore the city, even if she was alone. After a week in Amsterdam with her parents, she was ready for some alone time.
She sat down next to the mother of a family who had just visited Paris, she could tell from all the tourist shopping bags they were loaded up with. It didn't take long for the youngest son, Brody, to start telling Tatiana all about his family's trip to Disney world. It always amazed her how much energy 8 year old boys had. Brody went on and on about his dog back home, who looks scarey, but really isn't at all. Then about school and how he once pulled a red card for coughing and another time for not sitting down properly.
Normally, Tatiana didn't get to know her neighbors this well on train rides, however this train had run into many delays. Once, when everyone had trouble finding their seats, another before entering the tunnel, and now in the tunnel. She didn't mind their company, though. She told Brody's Mom all about her life back in Brazil and how she was learning to speak French and German. By the time the train started moving again, she and Brody had exchanged YouTube channel information and Brody had spent time looking through all of her sketches. She wasn't a professional by any means, but she still enjoyed drawing when she was in the mood. Soon the conversation petered out, and she passed the time by reading through the trip journal she had been keeping.
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THE END of Chapter 1
This story is the result of two things 1. being stuck on a train for five extra hours and 2. being in a country where I speak the language. It's like my ears want to hear all the English they can while I'm here. In the end we made it to the apartment after getting our key from "a blue shop under the bridge" around midnight just in time for bed. Also, everything stated in this story is the absolute truth. The names, the thoughts, the random facts. Nothing was made up. Some people are just very very vocal in enclosed spaces.
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