Journey Home Part 1.
The train stopped with an unexpected jerk which threw Eddy forward against the opposite seat. He lifted his pack off the shelf, slid down the window and stepped out into a cloud of steam and down onto the familiar platform.
He stood still for a moment adjusting his beret and belt and let the train pull quietly away before lifting his pack and making his way down to platform 4 where the local train stood idly hissing steam. He walked slowly down the platform looking for an unoccupied compartment. He found a non-smoker just behind the engine and was soon settling in the corner seat away from the platform with his back to the engine. As he relaxed into the warm comfort of the seat he became aware again of the dull pain in his back, the numbness in his right arm and a salty taste in his mouth. His mind tried to recap on the journey that had bought him back from France but try as he might the details were a complete blank, there was the vague recollection of a tiring journey and a deep desire to get home.
The shrill note of the guard’s whistle shook him back from his thoughts. Eddy glanced at his watch, which to his surprise, was full of condensation to the extent of being completely opaque, however the station clock was in view and was showing 18.00hrs. Dead on time: home by 19.30 at the latest. Eddy had always taken a pride in being on time even before joining up in early 1940.
As the speed of the train picked up the town was soon left behind and the green open fields again came into view. Eddy contrasted this peaceful scene with the horrors of the previous hours in that other country that now seemed worlds apart. His minds eye overlaid these green fields with the view of a flat French beach partly obscured with smoke, the tide was rising across the golden sand and groups of British soldiers were trying to find shelter from hostile fire from the sea wall and buildings beyond.
Eddy tried to focus his mind’s eye on an area of shore to one side of the main group but it was if he was looking through a fog. In an instant the scene had vanished to be replaced by the rushing fields and hedges and the rising and falling wires of the railway telegraph shredding the smoke of the engine.
Eddy now realised that the pain in his back had returned and he had lost the feeling again in his right arm, at the same time he felt terribly cold. Leaning back in the seat Eddy closed his eyes and concentrated on the warm evening sunshine that was now falling on his body. As he absorbed the warmth the pain diminished and feeling again returned to his arm.
The train was now rushing down the long incline towards the station that he had got to know as a child on family visits to the seaside. The driver was now applying the brakes and the reassuring grind and hiss that signalled their application was soon accompanied by a slow but steady loss of speed until they glided into the small country station.
Squinting against the low evening sun Eddy eyed the five waiting passengers lining the platform. Eddy caught his breath as he recognised one of the passengers as a young man of his own age one who in their school days had been his chief enemy. It was not fear but the reluctance to make forced conversation that caused him to slide further down into the seat. All in vain however, his old adversary strode purposefully directly towards Eddy’s compartment. At the last moment with his hand on the handle the man hesitated. "Thank God" thought Eddy thinking the man had changed his mind. With that the man turned and waved towards a fat woman who was struggling with a large suitcase. "Come on, in here" shouted his old adversary. Eddy’s old hatred welled up as if the battles of school days were only yesterday. He knew that with his distinctive red hair he would be instantly recognised.
The door opened just as the train lurched forward about a foot throwing the man off balance just as he attempted to enter, cursing the man fell into the compartment, stood up and then selected the corner seat diagonally opposite Eddy and sat down. The woman lifted the suitcase up onto the rack opposite, belched and sat down heavily in the seat opposite Eddy’s "friend". Both the man and woman glanced around the compartment, to his surprise there was no look of recognition or even acknowledgement on either of their faces. Perhaps the uniform had effectively hidden his true identity and he was seen as just another soldier going about the business of war. With that the faint sound of a whistle started the last leg of the journey home.
The man reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out an evening newspaper and began to read. The headlines were clear: "FOOTHOLD IN EUROPE Yesterday Allied forces landed on the beaches of France and established a firm foothold against stiff opposition." Eddy closed his eyes as the voice in his head repeated over and over again the words "YESTERDAY, YESTERDAY", again the distinctive taste sea water was in his mouth and the pains in his back and arm.
From the angle of the train Eddy was aware that the train was taking the final tight curve into his home station and again the evening sunlight moved across his face and shone through his closed eyelids. As the train eased to a halt Eddy slowly and painfully rose from his seat, lifted down his gear and exited the train again with no significant reaction from his fellow passengers.