It was night. I had just arrived at the station and the train wheeled into the station slowly, just as the clouds pulled away from the moon. It was a full moon night and I planned to watch it for the entire trip. The train was quite long. By the time I found my compartment the train had started moving. The clouds seemed to surround the moon now, like a ring of bodyguards. So I looked at the people in the compartment.

            There were the four of us. An old lady with a nice bag, two hefty, sailor-like men, and me. The lady seemed disinterested in talking, so I turned to the sailors. I asked,” So, where to? I’m on my way to London.”

They laughed heartily.

“Sir, I believe either we are you are mistaken, for we are off to Alaska.” Aghast, I checked my iPad, while they talked about their recent trip to France. They talked about Paris, the Eiffel tower and champagne.

            They talked about the cuisine. Their knowledge made my mouth water. One talked about the tasty dish, Ratatoillie. But the other said it was called, “Mousetoillie”. They started arguing, much to my amusement. The lady was sleeping, in a minute they started shouting, and a floc of pelicans could not make a louder noise.

            In no time at all, they were all over each other, scratching and kicking and punching. I do not support violence, so I attempted to stop them from fighting. The lady woke up by the commotion.

            I tried to threaten them by saying, “I’ll pull the chain!” Almost on cue, the lady pulled it hard. The train stopped. A guard came in with an angry face.

            “Who pulled the chain? I was sleeping.” The three men pointed to the poor old lady. The guard looked puzzled as he took her away, muttering something I could not hear.

            The moon came out, and the window occupied me. The sailors talked about what they were going to do in Alaska, but I did not pay attention. Soon, we reached London.