The bus I caught didn`t
go up the hill. I got off and smelt fish and chips and bought some in the
shop. They lasted me till I got to the gate.
The Old Lady and the Old Man were sitting with the table-lamp on watching
television when I went in.
The Old Lady asked if I wanted some
supper or a drink of something. I said I had had fish
and chips on my way home. I went into the kitchen and made a cocoa and brought
it back into the living room. I sat on the sofa and lighted a cigarette. I was
thinking of Ingrid. I was wondering what had happened that she hadn`t come to
meet me.
The Old Lady asked
where I had been. I answered that I had been to the pictures with my school
friend Willy Lomas.
The Old Man wondered
why I payed good money to go to the pictures when I could see them at home for
nothing. I answered that they can`t show colour and Cinemascope on TV. The Old
Man argued that pictures are the same.
I didn`t want to argue
any more and went upstairs to the bathroom. I washed my face and cleaned my
teeth as quickly as I could. As I was coming out, Jim called me and gave me a
letter. He said he had found it behind the front door when we were watching TV.
There was no address, no stamp on it, just my name.
I shut the door behind
me and opened the letter. It was from Ingrid. She explained, that her cousin
had decided to catch a later train and Ingrid went with her to the station to
see her off. The train was late and Ingrid was late to the dating, too. She
said she was going to be at the same place the next day night – Sunday. She hoped
I could come.