The Delay

The display showed that the train from Budapest was running late, but not just any late, 120 minutes late. How on earth can a train be 2 hours late?  Kyle looked up at the screen in disbelief and then down at his phone which was stubbornly silent. Surely it was some kind of joke, April Fools Day was last week maybe this was Czech Railways having a late practical joke. Jess had sent a message 5 hours ago saying that they had left Budapest on time but since then he’d heard nothing. Now he was at the station, waiting for her, staring at a screen that told him somewhere in the 5 hours between Budapest and Brno the train had got lost. He looked at the flowers in his hand, they seemed to have wilted along with his mood at the news.  

It’d been 4 weeks since he’d last seen Jess, four long, lonely weeks. And after this short weekend there would be four more weeks before she’d come home for good. He texted her again but nothing, the messages just weren’t being delivered.

Brno Station was at its run down worst in the Friday afternoon rush hour. It had always been the meeting point of the down and dirty but for some reason today there seemed to be more homeless, more shady characters and more dogs on strings than ever before.

‘You got spare money?’

Kyle looked at the elderly woman looking at him. He shook his head.

‘Spare money for me and my daughter?’ she repeated.

Kyle again shook his head trying to move away from the two women.

‘You want sex?’ The other girl had spoken. She looked about 13. Kyle felt a shiver of sadness down his spine. He shooed the pair away and looked at the board again. He blinked and rubbed his eyes, surely that couldn’t be true. The display was now reading that the train was 180 minutes late.

Kyle was going to have to ask someone; that meant using his terrible Czech and more than likely get a non-committal unhelpful answer. He was just about to take the plunge and join the queue for information when he felt hands go over his eyes and a sultry ‘guess who?’ whispered into his ear. Kyle spun around to see Jess standing there smiling. He smiled back instinctively, pleased to see her, happy he didn’t have to use his Czech and relieved he didn’t have to hang around for 3 more hours being accosted by beggars.

They kissed a kiss that only lovers who’ve not seen each other for a month can do. Oblivious to their surroundings, they kissed like no one was watching but many people were. Once they’d unclenched and the prying eyes had gone back to the display boards and newspapers the pair wandered off towards the trams, holding hands and talking excitedly.

‘So there  must have been some kind of replacement bus was there?’ Kyle said.

‘What do you mean?’ Jess said.

Kyle looked at Jess, his mouth moving but no words coming out?  It wasn’t just that something didn’t add up here, it was that someone had stolen his calculator.