C. Killik Klaw - Chapter 2: Ben

Standing there Ben looked the part of the seasoned traveller and he
knew it. His hair was bleached blonde by the sun and needed cutting,
his face had a ruddy wind blown tan, his rucksack looked as if it would
not survive another trip up a mountain, Ben looked as if he could
survive several. If truth be told he probably smelt the part too but
that hardly mattered in Shilliguri where the thin Himalayan air was
assaulted on all sides by spices, exhaust fumes and the smell of
people.

He stood in line for the kiosk leafing through his phrase book
wondering how to ask for the next train to Patna and if it would be
wiser to get a hotel for the night and try again tomorrow. At least
that way he would get a shower.

'Excuse me.' Said the young Indian girl in front of him in a
flawless English accent. 'Do you have the time?'

'You speak English.' He replied, taken aback to hear it spoken so
familiarly.

'Well yeah. Don't you?'

'Do you speak Hindi too?'

'Uh-huh.'

'Could you do me a huge favour.'

'Maybe.' She said. 'If you tell me the time.'

Ben looked at his watch, a solid lump of plastic that could handle
several time zones at once. 'Just gone four o-clock.' He said. 'Could
you please ask when the next train to Patna is.'

'Oh that's easy.' She said with a giggle that reminded him instantly
of girls back home. 'It's at four thirty, I'm taking it myself.'

For the first time she looked him full in the face and he saw that she
was not Indian at all but a dark haired western girl in Indian
dress.

'You can put that thing away.' She said gesturing to the phrase
book. 'I'll sort you out.'

On the platform she stopped him suddenly with a hand on his stomach
and looked nervously around before leading him quickly onto the
train.

'What was that all about?' He asked once they were seated.

'What was all what about?' She replied, looking out the window.

'That Stop. Go. stuff.'

'Oh nothing.' She said, never turning her head from the window and
the bustle of people on the platform Once the train started moving she
relaxed and leaned back into the seat and gave him that same open,
searching look she had given him back in the ticket queue, only now he
found it disconcerting. How old was she, mid-teens probably, she had a
dark complexion and that same delicate prettiness that typified Indian
women.

'My name's Ben by the way.'

'I'm Kirsten.'

'Pleased to meet you.'

She nodded.

'I've been trekking in Nepal.' He said since it was evident she
wasn't going to ask.

'I figured.'

'Where are you from?'

'Bhutan, in the mountains near Tongsa.'

'How come you live there?'

She shrugged. 'Its where I live.'

They sat in silence for a moment and Kirsten pulled a walkman from
her bag and put it on. Ben did likewise. She sat there with her music
on still watching him. 'Kirsten.' He thought to himself and turned away
to avoid her gaze and thought of the friends he had left behind that
morning, one in particular.

'Do you have to go?' She had asked him last night after too much
wine. 'Why not stay on with us another week.'

'I'm meeting friends in Goa, they're expecting me.'

'You could put them off.'

'I don't want to.'

'If you'd only get a flight there you could spend another two days
with us. It would probably work out cheaper.'

'I want to go by train.'

'Why? Why do you want to travel all that way alone?'

'I want to see some of the country.'

'You've seen it.'

'I want to see more.'

'You like India more than me.'

'I'd like Beirut more than you.'

'Liar.'

She had been right, he was having a good time and he didn't have to
go, but he had been unable to shake the nagging feeling that he was
wasting the vacation just hanging around with friends and walking up
mountains. The point was to see the world wasn't it?

Kirsten shook him awake.

'What?'

'We're here.'

'Huh.'

'Patna. We're here.'

Ben pulled the earphones from his tender ears, the tape had stopped,
probably some time ago. He had the woozy feeling that comes as a result
of sleeping during the day, there was an unpleasant stale taste in his
mouth and he hoped he had not been drooling. He yawned and sat up and
noticed it was dark outside.

'It's ten o'clock.' He said.

'I know. Come on.'

The night was still as hot as the day only without the burn of the
sun and Patna was only just slowing down for the evening.

'Where are you staying?' Asked Kirsten.

Ben shrugged. 'Wherever.'

'We will stay at the same hotel.' She said and hailed a taxi.

In the lift up to their respective rooms he announced his intention
to have a shower and go to the bar.

She said 'No thanks. I think I'll go straight to bed.'

'Are you all right?' Ben asked, noticing how drained she seemed.
'You look a little pale.'

'I'm fine, it's been a long day.'

He agreed and hid his relief, he had not been inviting her.