Strangers on the Tube 2 (2 page)

    In those heady early days, no one took the time to explain to her how quickly it would all pass.  And since her fall, time had raced by, years flowing into one another like water.  The shock of seeing herself on television on an eighties show three months ago had been like a slap in the face.  Where was that pretty young girl now?  With tears running down her face in front of the television screen she had decided that at forty three, it was now or never.  If she didn’t try for musical success again, the time will have passed.  Her friend Vivien says
that
time did indeed pass a few years ago, but Sandrine won’t hear that.  She was on the cover of magazines and at the top of her game.  She was in demand and famous.  She was loved, and she wants that again.  She craves that again.  She saw herself in the floor to ceiling mirror as she was leaving the studio after an audition and thought, I look like a fucking pork sausage!  But she won’t give up, she decides.  If Madonna can do it, so can I.  

    Nothing came of that audition but her new agent soon called with another lead.  Desperate not to give up or be despondent, she accepted the audition for an advert to promote Chinese bicycles in London.  But after two days of riding a bicycle up and down a street on a shutdown film set, she just knew by the director’s face that she hadn’t gotten the part and went home with a bad case of saddle lip.  Those Chinese must have wooden backsides!  She spent the next two days walking like John Wayne without his horse.  Her agent called again, this time with a singing part in an indie movie by a hot new director.  Why did he always have to oversell everything?  But she had agreed, she was after all lucky that he had taken her on.  She knew for a fact that he was still in diapers in
her
heyday.  The indie movie sounded interesting and would be a way to be seen and heard again, for no matter how many years had passed and how much weight she had put on, she knew she still had a good voice. 

    She wonders whether she is wasting her time?  Why can’t life be simple?  She wants to cut a record and make a video.  That way she will have a chance to compete on her own turf.  If it fails, well, at least she tried.  But she can’t even get that far.  The doors are firmly closed and the music industry that she knew no longer exists.  Today it’s all about being seen, multimedia, and the cult of celebrity.  If the bastards she knew at the top are still around, they are plying their trade in new and very different ways.  But she will give this audition everything she has got and hope for the best.  Trust the universe, she tells herself.  She gets up and heads for the train doors.  MIND THE STEP… MIND THE STEP…  Just trust it, she says to herself, as she steps off the train.

    Ten year old Britney has become separated from her older sister.  Tuber, if we had psychic hearing, we would clearly be able to discern the mental roar from the corner of the carriage.  The mental  roar of a man with his eyes on the child, like a sniffer hound scenting blood.  God help her.  And now we see that Pedo has vacated his seat and is making his way toward her, excusing himself as he pushes through the crowded carriage.  He is dark haired, with a weak chin, wearing a sports jacket and a pair of blue jeans.  He is twenty nine years old and works at a bus maintenance depot.  Today is his day off and he was on his way to the London museum when the little girl caught his eye.  All thoughts of antiquities and ancient civilisations are now gone.  He has become mesmerised by her and the endless possibilities.  He sees the panicked lost look on her face and it excites him.  We want to stand up and shout, “GET AWAY!  GET AWAY FROM HER!” but we can’t.  We cannot intrude into the situation for to do so would violate our special all seeing privilege and have disastrous consequences.  So instead we have to watch, as the train slows, and the worried young girl gets ready to exit, no idea that she is being stalked like a lamb.  Her concerns are with the whereabouts of her sister.  Sarah’s indecision led to this situation for Britney was already on the carriage, while Sarah was checking out the map on the wall of the platform.  And then the doors closed and the two frantic girls could only gesture to each other in the few seconds before Britney was carried away.  One station on, and Britney exits the carriage, unsure of where to go and what to do.  All she knows is that she doesn’t want to get taken anywhere further from her sister who must by now be ill with worry.  We see Pedo follow her and we can only bow our head and pray that she is okay.

    Wait a minute, isn’t that… smelly jacket Pete who we last saw leaving the train with a knife in his pocket on his way to meet with a man who owes him money?  We have overlooked him.  But why?  How?  What has changed with him?  Why didn’t we immediately sense his presence?   We’ll have to look more carefully in future because something about the man has changed.

    Travel carefully and safely Tuber.  As we have seen, there are some strange characters sharing our carriage.  You look at these people and usually cannot tell much about them except for the obvious things like clothing, perceived social status, their facial expressions etc.  But what you cannot see when I am absent is what is in their minds.  Don’t be surprised that a man can smile at someone while he imagines killing them, or that a lady can seemingly shake off an advance when she secretly might be interested… or not.  But don’t be despondent.  There are many with love in their hearts and goodness in their souls.  And we wish them well.  Join me in Strangers on the Tube 3, where we will meet a couple of familiar faces and discover a few more truths.

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