Jillian Chantal

This week, the authors of Tuesday Tales are writing to the word prompt plaid.  I am still working on my train story.

Check out the other tales here

Glancing around the car, I noticed Rashmi wasn’t in her spot. “Did Rashmi not get on today at her stop?”

“No. We haven’t seen her. Maybe she’s embarrassed about yesterday.” Jonathan shook his head.

“More likely, she’s still dealing with that kid of hers,” Martin said.

The train moved on. I didn’t know what to say next so I stayed quiet and let conversation float over my head.

At the next stop, a man with a large belly and a short black beard got on. He had on a plaid shirt that made him look like a lumberjack. The rest of his clothing didn’t match the lumberjack look, though. He wore sneakers that appeared to belong to someone from the last century and his slacks were more like something one would wear to a semi-formal wedding. It was definitely a weird look.

The man made eye contact with me. Startled, I thought I recognized something in his expression. I surely didn’t know this man, but why was he so familiar?

He took a seat near the front of the car and didn’t glance up again. He stared at the floor as if it was playing a movie he’d always wanted to see. Odd. Very odd.

Then it dawned on me why I thought I knew him. I sucked in a huge gasp.

Jonathan stared at me with concern. “What’s wrong?”

I shook my head. “Nothing.”

Thinking fast as I could tell he didn’t believe me, I added, “I just realized I left something at home I’d intended to mail today.”

“Must’ve been important.” Jonathan raised his eyebrows.

“No, but now it might arrive late.” I hated to keep lying. All I wanted him to do was stop yakking so I could figure out if I was right about the lumberjack.

Jonathan shrugged and turned to Anita to converse with her.

I needed to get another look at that lumberjack, but how could I manage it without being obvious?