A Hard Day's Night

Chapter 2

The man got inside the compartment, looked around and didn’t like what he saw. Young men were all around him. And they looked familiar, like one of the groups who were constantly overplayed on the radio. He sat down and put his paper up. Every now and then he’d take it down and one of those blasted boys would smile and wave to him.

“Hello. Morning.” One of them said. He even winked at him a little. The man felt disconcerted by that action.

“All right.” Another one said.

After a few minutes, The Man grew tired of hearing the cranking sound of the wheels on track. So he shut the window. One of the lads said, “ohh…” under his breath and more to his friend who was stuffing his face with food.

“Do you mind if we have it open?” The first boy asked politely.

“Yes, I do.” The Man said.

“Yeah but there’s Four of us and we want it open, that’s if it's all the same to you, that is.” A new lad argued.

“It isn't. I travel on this train regularly twice a week...” The Man bragged. “So I suppose I have some rights.”

“So have we.” One of the boys remarked.

Then, much to The Man’s annoyance two of the boys pulled out a radio and turned it on where it was blasting God-Awful Rock Tunes. The Man reached over and pressed the off button.

“We'll have that thing off as well. Thank You.”

“But-“ one of the boys protested, his eyes growing big.

“Elementary Knowledge of the Railway Acts will tell you I'm perfectly within my rights.” The Man said, talking to these kids as they should be talked to.

“Yeah, but we want to hear it. There’s more of us than you! We're a community, majority vote, up the workers and all that stuff.” The first boy was beginning to get fed up with the rudeness The Man was showing to them.

“Then I suggest you take that darn thing into the corridor...or some other part of the train, where you obviously belong.” The Man said, telling these boys off for talking back to him. Then the next request horrified The Man, “Give us a kiss.”

“Look, we paid for our seats too, you know.” The boy said trying to be reasonable. But The Man stood firm.

“I travel on this train regularly, twice a week.” He continued to brag. “

“Knock it off, Paul. You can't win with his sort. After all, it's his train. Isn't it, mister?” The boy on The Man’s right informed his friend and teased The Man.

“And don't take that tone with me, young man. I fought the war for your sort.” The Man said, pridefully.

“I bet you're sorry you won.” The Boy With The Radio retorted.

”I shall call the guard.” The Man informed his compartment mates to intimidate them.

“Ah, but what? They don't take kindly to insults, you know. Let's go have some coffee and leave the kennel to Lassie.” And with that the boys trooped out of the compartment. But not before trying to get The Man’s attention.

“Hey, mister, can we have our ball back?” They asked plastering their faces to the glass compartment doors.

“Look, mister! Mister, can we have our ball back?” The Man rubbed his eyes because he thought those boys were outside of the train!