“Choo-Choo!
Choo-Choo! Chuff-Chuff!” It was the train pulling into the train station. Charles said
he had no idea why the sound of the train was so appealing to him. All he knew
was that he had a burning desire to get on board the train. He ran towards it
and was about to climb aboard when the Conductor stopped him and asked him if
he had a ticket. When Charles said no the Conductor told him to go and purchase a
ticket at the ticket office. Charles ran to the ticket office, purchased his
ticket and ran back to the train boarding it just as it began to pull away from
the station. When the Conductor saw him he told him that he was glad he got
back in time because the Train Driver had decided to leave the station a bit
earlier than usual. He took Charles’ ticket and noted that he was going to
Kingston. “You don’t look like a
Kingstonian!” said the Conductor. Charles smiled. As a matter of fact, Charles
had no clue why he was going to Kingston. The clerk in the ticket office told
him that Kingston was the last stop on the line and he decided to just go along for
the ride. Riding on the train felt very familiar to Charles and he knew without a
doubt that he had been on the train many times before. It was night when the train finally pulled into the Kingston train
station and Charles stumbled off the train half asleep. The glare of the
streetlight just outside the train station almost blinded him as he tried to
get his bearings. He was hoping that there would be something at the train
station to jolt his memory but there was nothing. He decided that he would go
back to Spanish Town and try to find his relatives. There must be someone who could tell him who he was! He was getting very frustrated at his situation. The train was not returning
to Spanish Town until the next morning so he decided to sleep on the bench
outside the ticket office until then. He was awoken early in the morning by the sound of persons walking into the station. They were obviously the intended passengers for the train.
Charles got up and stretched his body to get rid of the stiffness in his
joints. He searched his pockets for a mint. A
woman, neatly dressed and carrying a large black bag, was walking towards him. She passed him and then turned back to him and said,
“Mister Charles, what are you doing in Kingston? I thought you said you were
going to Montego Bay?” Charles said he looked at the woman and looked behind
him, thinking that she was speaking to someone else. The woman said, “Mister
Charles! I am talking to you!” Charles
said he became frightened because he did not even know that his name was Charles! He
asked the woman who she was. The woman got very upset. “What do you mean
who am I?” asked the woman. “I am Miss Verna!” Charles said he sat back down on
the bench and held his face in his hands. He honestly did not know this woman.
The woman kept asking him what was wrong and the next thing he knew he was
sliding off the bench to the ground. He blacked out! Stanley Wharbucks laughed
when he heard him say that. “This man is unbelievable,” muttered Stanley
Wharbucks. Charles looked at him and said nothing. "Carry on!" said Charmaine.
He continued his story. He
said he regained consciousness to find the woman fanning him with a piece of
newspaper. She kept telling the crowd that had gathered around them that he was her
employer. Charles said he was annoyed, not at her, but at the realization that
the train had left the station without him! He turned to the woman and told her
that she must be mistaking him for someone else because he did not know anyone
by the name of ‘Miss Verna’. The woman said she could not believe that someone
could be so easily forgotten in the space of six months! Charles then told her he was suffering
from amnesia so she would have to convince him that he really knew her. Miss
Verna began rummaging in her huge handbag and took out an envelope, with a
letter enclosed, from it. She showed the letter to him and told him that he had
written it and given it to her before he left St. Thomas with his daughter.
“Daughter? I have a daughter?” he asked. Miss Verna did not answer him. She
gave him a pen and told him to write on the envelope and let them match the
handwriting in the letter, with what he wrote on the envelope, to prove that he was the person who had written the letter.
Charles said he was skeptical but decided to do it just so she would leave him alone. He took the letter from her and began copying some of what was written on the envelope. When he was finished writing, he noticed the similarities in both handwritings. Maybe
he was this person that Miss Verna was claiming he was after all!
“Miss
Cecelia, I am back!” said Maud as she knocked on the door. I looked at the
clock, it was two o’ clock. I wished I had told her to return at three o’ clock
instead! I closed the diary and told her I would meet with her on the verandah.
I was curious as to what was so important that she needed my advice but as long
as it did not involve Cassie and her children I was good to go. I was still not
convinced that they were gone for good but maybe I was just being paranoid. I
went to hear what Maud had to say.
No comments:
Post a Comment