The woman sitting opposite Dani looked at her curiously.
“Imagine your mother letting you travel so far on your own!” she said.
“My mother is dead,” Dani replied.
“Oh, poor child!” cried the woman.
“And my father has gone to Rome,” Dani continued.
The woman frowned. “That’s hard for you.”
“Yes,” sighed Dani. It was quite hard.
“And your grandmother looks after you?” the woman went on.
“Only if she has time. Today she has to make dinner for her bridge ladies.”
“Well I never!” said the woman. “That doesn’t sound good. Do you often have to look after yourself?”
Dani remembered her promise to Grandma and she stopped talking. When the woman wanted to know more, she pretended not to hear.
They journeyed on in silence. After a while the woman took out a small paper bag.
“Would you like to try one?” she asked.
Now Dani could hear again. She nodded.
“Thank you,” she said, and looked into the bag.
It was full of raspberry drops, licorice allsorts, jelly snakes and chocolates.
“How many am I allowed?”
“Three to start with,” said the woman.
Dani took three raspberry drops and put them one by one into her mouth. They tasted very good. She looked expectantly at the bag.
But it stayed closed. The woman gave a huge yawn and put the bag in front of her on the little table.
And seconds later she was asleep.
That was a shame, but worse things can happen, Dani thought, and she looked out through the train window.
The sky was no longer holiday-blue. It had turned a heavy gray and, after a while, big flakes of snow came swirling down.
What did it matter though? Dani tried to calm herself. She was nice and warm, on a train that was rushing towards Northbrook, where a whole welcoming committee was waiting for her.
This is going really well, she thought. So far, in any case. But to be on the safe side she picked up her cell phone. She had to be ready if anything happened.
