There was something the matter with Mam, thought Marti. It was the way she kept looking about the train, going all in a panic, and smoking the cigarettes called Majors all the while. He wondered was it because Dad was going to be late, but she said Dad wasn’t going to be late and sure didn’t it make no difference at all because he could catch them up at any time. Marti said would Dad be on the train and Mam said it depends, but when he asked what depends she got mad and said she’d had her fill of silly questions and not to be bothering her.
Marti wanted a comic from the front of the train where they sold the newspapers and the coffees in the paper cups like they have at parties sometimes, but he thought that he would be bothering Mam with a silly question. She had already said he wasn’t t
