I'm on the train! Read Online Free Page B

wine.
    ‘And, if you don’t mind me saying so, you have a quite sensational figure. I like women who are women and have a bit of flesh on them. Most girls these days are just skin and bone – and starving themselves half the time, to try to look like fashion-models. I hope you’re not on a diet? You haven’t touched your soup, I see, but perhaps it’s not to your taste. We can change it for something else, you know – the game terrine, maybe?’
    She’d never heard of game terrine and, in any case, she didn’t want to eat. Her last meal had been dry Weetabix, yesterday, at Sunnyhill (Dave had nicked all the milk), but running away made you scared, not hungry. She ate a piece of roll, though, to stop the man being cross. The bread was sort of greyish-brown, with little seeds on top and, when she bit into the roll, the seeds fell off onto her plate and a few fiddly ones got stuck between her teeth.
    ‘Well, if you don’t want your soup, Jo, shall we move on to our main course, or would you prefer a little pause?’
    She wasn’t used to so many questions. At Sunnyhill, you were told, not asked. But he must have thought her rude, because, when she didn’t answer, he pushed his big, red, flabby face almost into hers and peered at her again – even closer, this time.
    ‘Are you OK , my dear? Not upset or worried or—?’
    ‘I’m fine,’ she said. Safer to pretend, or he might phone Sunnyhill and make them fetch her back.
    ‘If there’s anything I can do, Jo, you only have to ask. I have time on my hands at present and would be only too glad to help. To tell the truth, retirement doesn’t suit me. I was extremely lucky in that I stayed on after Independence for almost thirty years. Of course, it wasn’t only luck. I’d bloody well won my spurs by then! In fact, the president himself sent word that he wanted to appoint me a magistrate – a huge relief, I can tell you. You see, I assumed I’d have to leave the country, which would have really been a blow.’
    He took another gulp of wine, then let out a great sigh. ‘But it couldn’t last for ever, alas. There comes a time when you’re considered just too ancient and no one wants you around. Although it’s damned difficult to take a back seat, when you’re used to being kingpin.’
    She knew all the kings and queens of England, because they were on the wall at school. There wasn’t a King Pin.
    ‘Still, old age comes to all of us, so we just have to accept it. But, listen, Jo, let’s focus on you, for a change. I must admit I am a little concerned as to why you’re alone in London. Please don’t think I’m prying, dear, but perhaps you could enlighten me as to why you’re looking for your mother. What exactly happened to her?’
    She picked up a seed and swallowed it, wondering what to say. Miss Batsby had explained that some mothers couldn’t cope if their babies were born with problems. It didn’t mean Mother didn’t love you; it just meant you were looked after in a home. She wasn’t sure what kind of problems she had, but Dave had called her a halfwit, so maybe it was that.
    ‘Well, if you’d rather not discuss it, I completely understand. Mothers are a tricky subject, aren’t they? My own mother passed away when I was just a little sprog. Consumption, sad to say. Therewere no decent drugs in those days, more’s the pity. And my dear wife died young, as well.’
    He looked so sad, she thought he was going to cry, but, instead, he beckoned to another waiter, who came bustling over to take away their plates. The two seemed to know each other, because they chatted for a while and the waiter called him Mr Hornby-Phillips.
    She wished she had two surnames, or at least a longer first name. Short names made you weak. Josie would be better and Joanna better still. But there was already a Josie at Sunnyhill and a Joseph, too. Sunnyhill was a lie. There was no hill anywhere and the house was so dark you hardly ever saw the sun.
    ‘My wife was