“A Writer’s Book of Days” Prompt, July 2: “Riding the all-night train”
The click-clack of the wheels on the tracks lulled Max half to sleep. He hadn’t purchased a berth because as a soldier, he had learned to sleep even standing up. Sitting on this train, going from Rome to Venice, wasn’t that inconvenient. He would be able to read the reports, arrive relatively fresh in the morning, and be at the office before the managers even showed up. He loved to do that to them.
Max heard someone bark something in Italian, and he sat bolt upright. A woman answered in a hushed tone, “Frederick, not here–”
“Where is it? Where is the key?”
“Frederick–”
He watched as a man grabbed a woman and hauled her out of the seat. He bent down and grabbed her purse and poured it out into the seat next to him. He rummaged through it, making a lot of noise and making …
Poof.