The Last Train Home

Chapter Three

By the time the train stopped, Eva had only just visited the toilet on the train.

She had put it off for almost the entire hour until her fidgeting had started to drive me round the bend. I echoed Mark's claim that she could explode, even though I didn't believe it, and watched as she scurried up the train towards the toilet just minutes before we pulled into the station. Although I probably could have dealt with her fidgeting for a little bit longer, none of us knew what we were going to be doing the moment we arrived so her going to the toilet on the train was probably a good thing.

I sat on the seat and peered out of the window but the smoke from the wheels was so thick that I couldn't see a thing. Instead, I slumped back against the chair and reached down for my suitcase, making sure the latches were down and that I hadn't left anything behind. The others did the same, with Mark having to re-pack his entire suitcase since he had somehow managed to empty the entire thing all over the floor in the few hours we were on the train. He could make any room messy.

"We're going to let the younger ones get off the train first. When we depart, I want you all to be on your best behaviour," Mr Martin said.

"What happens next?" Sarah asked from a few rows ahead of us.

"You'll be lining up on the platform, and we'll be walking down to the village hall together. From there, you will be billeted out to the local community who have graciously offered their homes to you in these trying times."

"I doubt they had much choice," Mark said. He stood up and rested his hands on the seat in front of him.

We listened to the younger children in the front scramble to grab their suitcase and gas mask along with anything they may have taken out of their suitcase for the journey. The teachers told them to make sure no rubbish would be left behind, including the glass bottles that contained their drinks and the paper bags that had their lunches. After a few minutes, I watched them stumble off the train and onto the platform where they were told to line up.

Once they had started the walk towards the village hall, Mr Martin gestured for us to follow. I grabbed my suitcase and gasmask from the floor of the train and shuffled down the aisle and through the door that led onto the platform. The village station was small, with what appeared to be one platform with a large, brick building at the other end with a clock suspended in the middle. It looked like some of the bricks had started to crumble.

There were a couple of the Women's Voluntary Services hanging around in their grey uniforms, no doubt to instruct Mr Martin of where he was going and what we were to do when we reached the village hall. After a few minutes of standing on the platform, one of the volunteers blew a whistle and waved us through a stone archway at the far end of the platform. The archway led us onto a dirt path surrounded by trees and bushes that were as tall as we were, if not taller. Mark craned his neck to see if he could see anything.

"All I can see is trees, grass, and more trees. Lots of trees," he said.

"What did you expect? We're in the middle of nowhere. You're not going to see the factories out here, are you?" I said.

"I just thought there would be something other than trees. Maybe a little bit of civilisation. It's just a never-ending sea of green."

"A never-ending sea of green is better than the strange grey haze over London. That, and we can't smell the Thames here. That's a positive," Enid said.

"You sound like you're glad to be here." Mark looked at her.

"A little time out of the city never hurt anyone."

Enid shrugged and took a deep breath of the clean air that surrounded us. I had never been outside of London before and even though we had only been off the train for a little while, I was inclined to agree with her. The air was clean, fresh and the sky was a deep blue. Gone was the haze of the smoke from the factories or the strange fog that covered the city like a blanket. Everything was fresh and clean compared to the city.