The Train To Many Places - Chapter 5

The Train To Blackberry Lane

He was excited about the next train trip and what adventure he would find . As he walked along the sidewalk to the train station the cold wind was blowing in his face . There were not many people on the street . He saw a kiosk coffee stop nearby that looked inviting so  he made his way there for a little cup of warm comfort .

He ordered hot coffee and stood in the doorway of  a shop out of the wind to enjoy the moment . The warmth of the coffee took the chill from his fingertips and as he lifted off the lid from the paper cup , steam rose up out of the cup sending smoke signals to the sky in the cool morning air Dave looked into the paper cup before taking a sip . He poured his thoughts inside the coffee cup and acknowledged to no one that life can be hard and sometimes you just have to suck it up . He took a sip of hot coffee and then he thought , that’s not bad , a hot cup of coffee in the winters chill takes the coldness away for a while . So, it made the parting of his last gold nugget coin from his pocket easier to accept . The taste of the coffee was bittersweet because he needed a bite to eat . He was in such a hurry to catch the train that he skipped breakfast . After a few sips , the coffee in the cup was gone  .

He stood there at the break of dawn and the taste of that coffee lingered with him  and he savoured that moment as the sun was coming up and the rest of the day was still in front of him . He had no one to share it with but himself but that was normal for him . A train to somewhere on a winter’s day with no idea of where he was going to and already it started to snow . He was stick there in that moment of time as the wind blew around him .Then he walked out of the doorway and up the street to  the railway station . His looked to the sky where the morning sun had disappeared like a squirrel up a tree into hibernation from life , out of sight from the world .

He arrived at the railway station just as the train was arriving and took a seat by the window . The carriage was empty and the train went through a very long tunnel . After a lengthy time in the tunnel the train emerged out of the tunnel into the bright sunshine and came to a stop . Dave got off the train and stood there amazed at the where he was . It was a summers day and he was standing in the middle of nowhere with no exit gate , no ticket collector and no idea where to go . All he could see was a  country lane in front of him and so he made his way to the lane that was lined on both sides by blackberry bushes . The blackberries were huge and very juicy .

After having a blackberry feast, he made his way along the lane .

He came to a bridge across a stream where he washed the black stains from his hands .Blackberry stains are always hard to clean from the skin and as he was washing his hands he recalled his early childhood days when on Sundays he would go blackberry picking with his family for hours and hours and how they would put them into jars and then into pots when they got home   Thise were happy times when life was simple and sweet .  The mountain were not that far from where they lived and they always had access to wild blackberries and they could eat until they all had their fill . Then for weeks after they had blackberry jam on burnt toast and blackberry muffins for school . They had blackberry jelly on deserts and blackberry biscuits with their tea . Blackberries had been a big part of his growing up .

He walked across the bridge and soon found himself in a little village with several small shops and it didn’t cost a penny to have a look so he went into the first shop called the paper shop . There were people in the paper shop  buying daily newspapers and putting in football pools just like his father used to do when he was lad at school . There were magazines on shelves with pictures of faraway places and comics with superheroes on the front cover . In other places there were false  faces hanging from hooks on a perforated wall and there were some customers that gave Dave funny looks as he wandered through the shop .

He thought that he knew some of the faces in the shop and it seemed just like he had gone back in time to where he had grown up .

He looked at the display unit at the front counter where there were packets of twenty  cigarettes and beside that there was a deep freezer there were ice creams .

In another glass display cabinet, there were packets of peanuts and crisps .

On the counter there were sweets in jars , pens and pencils and even some model kits of aeroplanes and cars .It reminded him of his childhood when everything was so simple and easy then  He walked out of the paper shop and into the next shop was a fishmongers shop and on display there were fresh fish cleaned and gutted all for sale in beds of ice for people at a cheap price .

“How can it be fresh if it’s not still wriggling ?”

One woman asked the shopkeeper .

“It was caught fresh out of the sea this morning “

Said the shopkeeper .

Dave felt like he knew some of the voices that were speaking in the shop .

There were other boxes on display with willeks , lobsters , mussels and crabs .

The fishmonger was talking to the customers about the men who worked on the fishing trawlers and how they towed their catch each day and then he spoke of the he smoked the fish in the shed outside .

Dave walked out of the shop and went in next door to the small post office there which was a combination of shops within a shop . There were people buying groceries , collecting their pensions, paying bills , having a try at guessing how many jellybeans that filled the big jar on top of the counter . A correct guess would win the entire jar . Probably the only man who knew the answer was the man who ran the post office and from time to time when he wasn’t looking some young child would grab a few of the jellybeans out from the jar .There were a lot of things in the post  office going on and from time to time someone would share some liquorice from a bag . The people seemed very friendly , almost like a family .

The shop next door was a butcher’s shop . Waling in the front door gave Dave a really strange feeling . He looked at butchers holding knives in their hands and hanging on hooks from the ceiling were cattle halves that had been cleaned and ready to be cut up or delivered as they were .

The  butchers were sharing jokes with the folk in their shop . It all looked like a familiar scene to Dave and he had this déjà vu experience come over him .

He started to question why he ended up there and looked at the faces of people he thought he knew who were there .

He remembered that his father had a job in the local abattoir’s and he knew most of the butchers who worked around the town where he grew up . He left the butchers and went into the little home bakery as was greeting with a waft of freshly baked bread up his nose . He looked at all the items on display, there were high tops with crispy crusts and other bread not so evenly sliced but as thick as two normal slices . Then there were little buns , scones,  apple slices and other bakers delights for up for sale . The selection of goods looked so delicious .

Dave was having a home coming experience as he went from shop to shop . He took a walk around the village and saw the small school and church . There was a dance hall and a fish and chip shop which was closed .

Time was getting on and he made his way back across the bridge over the stream and up the lane where the blackberries grew . He arrived at the station as the train was already there .He made his way into the carriage feeling contented at everything he saw . The train made its way down the track and came to a stop at the next station . He got off the train and showed his travel pass to the ticket collector who pointed to the bus that was waiting .

“ If you hurry . you’ll catch the bus to where you’ll be staying tonight “

Dave thanked him and ran waving his arms for the driver to see he was coming to get a seat .

End Chapter 5

Link to Chapter 6

https://www.abctales.com/story/mcscraic/train-many-places-chapter-6

The Train To Many Places

A novel

By Paul McCann

Chapter 6