2019-03-01ReadersDigest_AUNZ

100 | March• 2019

S

HE GETS ON THE TRAINin

Salzburg, Austria. As it pulls

out of the station, I see her

standing in the passage

outside my compartment. A woman

in her late 40s, stylishly dressed in a

peach-coloured suede jacket and a

long black silk skirt. I watch her out of

the corner of my eye, hoping she will

find a seat elsewhere.

Butshelingers,lookingupand

down the corridor. Then, sticking

herheadthroughthedoor,sheasks

hesitantly if the other five seats are

taken. They are not. Except that I ILLUSTRATION: MARINA MUNN

Onajourneythroughthe

countryside, we made

aremarkableconnection

BY RIMA DATTA HOLLAND

Lady

TRAIN

THE

ON THE

have my feet up on one. I start taking

themdown,thinkingitinappropriate

in this oh-so-formal country to put

my bare feet on an empty seat.

“Oh, leave them be. That’s exactly

whatIhadinmind,”thewoman

saysassheslidesherbagontothe

overhead shelf.

After she settles into her seat, slips

off her black patent-leather high

heels and puts her feet up, a little

tennis-match of pleasantries begins.

I ask if she is going to Vienna.

“Only to St. Valentin. That’s where I

live,” she says. “And you?”