The porter struggled behind me with my luggage as I neared the train. People streamed left and right while the long sleek train sat purring at the platform, ready to carry us on our journey.
I took the conductors hand, adjusted my tight skirt and stepped up onto the train as people bustled past. "Bonjour, Madame," he said and, as he checked my tickets, I checked my hair in the glass door. The conductor led the way to my compartment while the porter followed us, banging into the compartment doors with my luggage. The conductor opened the compartment door and a young woman seated on one of the two bench seats, looked up from her book.
"Qui Γͺtes-vous? I demanded and she looked back and forth between us and shrugged as the porter sniggered in the hallway." Je ne comprends pas," I said icily to the conductor who nervously explained the train was full and even though I had requested to travel alone, it was necessary to share the compartment. Somehow my reservations had been confused and now I had to share my sleeping compartment with a stranger.
I glared at him for a long moment as he wiped his face with a grubby handkerchief." Que tu es emmerdant!" I hissed and stormed into the compartment, arranging myself on the bench seat opposite the young woman while the porter stored my luggage. As they backed out of the compartment, apologising profusely, I ignored them and settled into my magazine while seething quietly with my anger. When the train jolted and started to move, the young woman squealed with delight and leaned against the large window to watch the station roll slowly past. "God in heaven," I thought bitterly to myself, "she is but a child!"
After a while, she lost interest in the passing scene and settled back with her book. Surreptitiously I tried to see what she was reading, expecting some tawdry romance novel but it was covered in a plain loose cover so I slyly examined her instead.
I guessed she was perhaps eight or ten years younger than myself, fresh faced with long blonde hair in a silly ponytail and dressed in a bulky light blue sweater, pleated gray skirt and pink sneakers with white sox. Obviously, no sense of fashion, I thought and as it appeared she was hiding large breasts in that ugly sweater, I guessed she was American.
As I crossed my legs and pushed the hem of my skirt down to my knee, her eyes flickered over me and come to rest on the curve of my thigh. "Interesting," I thought idly to myself, flicking through the magazine, "Very interesting". I tested her again, slipping my shoe off to adjust my stocking around my toes and saw her eyes were fastened to my leg as I straightened the stocking.
Moments passed and we read in silence until, with a sigh, she placed her book onto the seat beside her. Smiling brightly, she leaned forward and asked, "Do you speak English?" My guess was correct; she was American with an accent from the west or somewhere just as provincial and I watched her impassively. "Do you speak English?" she repeated slowly in that loud voice that Americans use when speaking to foreigners.
We sat in silence until she rummaged in her handbag and produced a small yellow covered book. "Sweet Jesus, no," I groaned silently. "Please, not a phrasebook," I thought as I watched her flick through the book, a slight frown on her pretty face as she concentrated.
Apparently, she found the page she wanted and started to read slowly and loudly in an atrocious accent. "Est-ce que vous parlez anglais?" She smiled at me hopefully but when I didn't respond, the smile slipped and she tossed the book back into the handbag. "Arrogant bitch," she muttered under her breath but I heard her quite clearly.
I put my sunglasses into their case and dropped them into my handbag. "Of course, I am arrogant, I am French," I said with a slight smile and she had the good grace to look embarrassed.
"I thought you didn't speak English?" she spluttered, colouring prettily. "Why didn't you say something?"
"I was waiting for you to say something interesting. I feared it was going to be a long wait." Puzzled, she wrinkled her brow and I thought she appeared to be rather cute in a soft way. "You must have connections to someone wealthy. I would have expected you to be using a Euro Pass and seated in economy." I tilted my head to watch her and she seemed a little flushed.
"Well, this is a nicer," she said awkwardly. "My name is Jenny," she added after a moment and my anger began to fade away at her smile.
Smiling, I patted the seat beside me. "Sit here, Jenny so I do not have to shout. And bring your book, I would like to see what pretty young women are reading these days."