He grinned to himself and strode up to her. ‘Do you want some water?’ he asked in English. She blinked at him from under her hat that resembled a pith helmet.
Thank you,’ she sighed, taking the bottle from him. After gulping down a large swig she exploded into complaints. ‘What the bloody hell has happened? The train was late leaving and now we’ll be late arriving. Nothing goes when it says it will in this country.’
Ramon laughed. ‘This is India,’ he said, looking her up and down.
She narrowed her pale blue eyes and scrutinized him back. He could have been Indian but his accent gave it away.
‘Angela Tomlinson,’ she said, extending her hand and looking at him steadily-
‘Ramon Campione,’ he replied, taking it.
‘Spanish?’
‘Chilean.’
‘More exotic. I’m afraid I’m from England,’ she said, smiling at him. ‘That’s
not very exotic.’
‘Only to the British,’ he said. She laughed and wiped her freckled face with a firm hand. ‘I think England’s very exotic.’
‘Well, you must be the only one. Aren’t I lucky to have found you!’ she chuckled.
‘I imagine it’s an animal on the line, or a person,’ he said, squinting into the sun but he couldn’t see past the multitude of Indians clamouring to see for themselves what had fallen onto the track.
‘How horrid. Will it take long?’ she asked, screwing up her nose in distaste.
‘Why are you in so much of a hurry?’
‘I’m meant to be in Bikaner already. Meetings, you know. I’m boringly punctual, I’m afraid. Hate to keep people waiting.’
‘What’s your business?’
‘Hotels. I’m a consultant. We’re constructing a new hotel, the one I’m to stay in will be much less glamorous I should imagine.’
‘But infinitely more charming,’ he said, imagining the kind of monstrosity her company was constructing.
She smirked flirtatiously. ‘What takes you to Bikaner?’
The tides.' he replied. She looked at him, impressed.
‘That’s all?’
‘That’s all.’
They stood chatting for a while, during which time a dead cow was dragged off the track and laid out on the sand for the flies and birds to peck at. Slowly the weary passengers wandered back to the train and into the throbbing heat of the carriages. Ramon followed Angela into her first class carriage and the train lurched back into motion once again. First class wasn’t all that different from the crowded carriage he had been travelling in before, the aroma of spices and wafts of dust invaded the compartment, which was also overcrowded with chattering Indians and desperately hot. Angela sat beside the window allowing the wind to cool her down. She closed her eyes and let it wash over her. She reminded Ramon in a strange way of Helena and he found himself wondering about her and his children. He was so far away it was difficult to imagine them in England, settling into Polperro, forgetting that he ever existed. But Angela possessed the same gracelessness as Helena, that very same directness that belonged only to the British and he found himself, in spite of his efforts, missing her.
Angela had arrived too late for her meeting. ‘God, I’ll be hung, drawn and quartered,’ she complained, fiddling with her watch in agitation.
‘You’re not going to change the time by playing with it,’ said Ramon, ushering her past the throbbing crowd of people and into a taxi, where a wizened old man sat at the wheel of a dusty car embellished with tinsel, carrying on his shoulder a small grey monkey who played with the swinging pack of plastic gods that hung from the mirror.
‘I know. It’s just so unlike me,’ she whined.
‘Look, this is India. They’ll know the train was late - nothing runs on time. You can have your meeting tomorrow. One of the many reasons I could never work for anyone else is because I couldn’t hack someone controlling the way I spend my time,’ he said.
‘Lucky old you,’ she exclaimed.
‘Why don’t you branch off on your own?’ he suggested.
‘I’d be far too lazy and irresponsible.’
‘Sometimes it’s fun to be irresponsible.’
‘Yes.’ She sighed and caught him looking at her intensely. ‘I suppose you’re going to invite me out for a drink now?’
‘If you like.’
‘I think I need one.’
‘Good.’
‘Let’s go to my “infinitely more charming” hotel,’ she said and laughed.
‘Good idea. I hadn’t thought about accommodation.’
‘Just going with the tides.’