Lulled by the gentle movement of the train, Daisy rested her cheek against the cool vinyl seat and stared out the scarred window into the darkness beyond. The carriage was quiet. Three other passengers shared the upper level space with her: a tired-looking fatherly type in a crinkled grey business suit and a couple of teenage Alice Cooper lookalikes more interested in their mobile phones than each other. She fought the temptation to allow her eyes to close. It had been a difficult day, one of many she’d had during the last year, and a bad night’s sleep had left her drained of energy. But she needed to take care of things for her mum, so she’d get through it. That’s just how it was. She yawned widely and stretched. Falling asleep and missing her stop wasn’t an option.
The sharp slap of something hitting the floor brought her back to wakefulness. The middle-aged tradie in the vestibule downstairs picked his phone up off the floor, checked it, then typed something before returning it to a large gym bag at his feet. He crossed and uncrossed his legs before returning his gaze to the lower part of the carriage. He’d been staring in that direction each time Daisy’s eyes had brushed past him.
He swiped an arm across the sheen of perspiration on his brow. It wasn’t cold enough in the carriage to be wearing that heavy drill jacket zipped right under his chin. Whatever. Daisy yawned again, went back to gazing into the night.
The train’s PA system declared the next station was Hawkesbury River. The train stopped and the opening doors blasted cool air into the warm space. They closed. As the train lurched back into motion, a shuffling noise drew her attention back to the vestibule. The tradie had gotten to his feet. He picked up his bag and walked down to the lower level of the carriage, eyes intent.
You’re ready to enter the redactle simultaneous word-guessing world, with lots of fun words for you to puzzle out!