By Oliver Barton
The Abergavenny train was incredibly crowded. Gary managed to get his mobile out to see what he could do about his bag left on the Paddington train. The battery was completely flat.
Jammed there among people and cases, he mused. If only they knew he was worth £384 million, what would they say? What would they do? What would he do? After his pitch tomorrow, it was back to London, resign, take his wife out for the most amazing meal ever. Then, he would be grown-up. Make a list. What did he really want? A house in a better area. Somewhere convenient and classy. And a retreat somewhere in the sun. That would do.
Then he would invest enough to give him a decent living wage for the rest of his natural. A million a year was enough for anyone. And with the rest, he would become the great benefactor, the philanthropist. Make people happy. They would all love him. Maybe, in time, a knighthood…
He realized Abergavenny was being announced. A woman in front of him was trying to get her luggage from under a pile of bags. People shoved this way and that. By the time he had climbed over the heap of luggage, the doors had closed, and the train was on its way again. ‘Get out at Hereford,’ said a helpful fellow passenger. ‘Trains back this way every hour.’ ‘On weekdays,’ he added as an afterthought.
This was Sunday. Great…[to be continued…]
Oliver is a member of the Abergavenny writing group THE WORD COUNTS. You will be able to read the next episode of his story in the April issue of the Abergavenny Focus.