Train Feast

What a Feast It Would Have Made

There were many people on the train from Vladikavkaz to Mineralnye Vody. It kept stopping and starting. Stopping and starting. As it rested on the tracks, people became restless. More than restless, they became hungry.

A woman with jet black hair pulled out a big bag of clementines. That's all she had but there must have been at least twenty inside.

A man with a grey cap pulled out half a giant wheel of white cheese. That's all he had. That and a knife to cut it with.

A young girl with a royal blue sweater pulled out a loaf of freshly made black bread. That's all she had.

An older man with messy gray hair and a puffy stomach held his left palm over his face, but peeked out from underneath it with one eye. He had nothing but his glances.

A young woman with a baby in a yellow jumpsuit had a few bottles of water in the bottom of her stroller. That's all she had. That and her baby.

"Wouldn't a piece of cheese go well with that black bread?" said the man with messy hair under his breath. Thinking no one could hear him.

"That and a clementine," he muttered.

The man with the gray cap took another bite of the salty cheese. He was parched. "I could use a swig of water or at least a clementine," he muttered, thinking no one could hear him.

The woman with the baby was busy breastfeeding. She could smell the aroma of the black bread and white cheese, hear the woman with jet black hair behind her sucking on clementines.

The young girl with the royal blue sweater watched the man with the gray cap cut his cheese.

The train started rolling on the tracks again.

Everyone ate their food with one eye on the plates of others.

The man with the messy gray hair and a puffy stomach dropped his face in both palms.

Together, what a feast it would have made.

A story by Pemba Umoja