On the train
By Olga Masters
In the short story
'On the train' a mother and her two little girls leave their home,
one doesn't know exactly why. At first the mother can't really decide in which
direction to go, but once decided, she hurries down the street without thinking
about her little children who can hardly follow her. They reach a train-station
and the mother buys three tickets, still not noticing her girls. The passengers
look at the small family noticing the children don't wear warm enough clothes
and want the mother to notice their disapproval about the way she treats her
kids.
They get on a train, the
mother not helping her small daughter getting up the stairs. When trying to
find a seat the mother chooses a single one and lets the two girls sit together
on the other side. A female passenger who sits opposite of the two girls takes
a closer look at their mother, noticing the she is a very beautiful woman
compared to the girls and tries to find out more about them through trying to
talk to the children.
Finally the mother and her
kids are getting off the train, and while passing the woman the mother bends
down telling her that she was going to kill her children.
This particular story
could happen in every country. You never get to know anything about the reasons
why the woman is leaving her home or why she wants to kill her children. She
could be mentally ill, or she just couldn't cope with being left by her
husband, it could be anything.
