The Train That Stopped

🚆 The Train That Stopped

It was a grey Saturday in October. Zoe and her dad were travelling north to Edinburgh. Dad was reading a newspaper, and Zoe was listening to music and watching the hills. Sheep were standing in the rain. Everything was quiet.
Suddenly, while they were going through a forest, the train stopped. Nobody moved. A few minutes later, the driver made an announcement: “I’m sorry, everyone. During last night’s storm a tree fell on the track. We are waiting for a team to move it. It might take three hours.”
At first the passengers were annoyed. A businessman was shouting into his phone. Two babies were crying. An old man said, “Typical!” But then something changed. A woman with a big bag stood up. “I was taking these cakes to my sister’s wedding,” she said. “But I made too many. Who wants one?”
Soon everybody was sharing. A student played the guitar, and the businessman started singing. The old man taught Zoe a card game. Dad, who never talks to strangers, was laughing with a family from Canada. Even the babies stopped crying.
At half past four, the train started moving again. When they arrived in Edinburgh, it was dark, and Grandma was waiting on the platform. “Oh, you poor things,” she said. “Was it terrible?” Zoe smiled. “No, Grandma. It was the best train journey ever.”