MALCOLM BRADBURY

The History Man - fragments
 

The train stands at the platform, a very convenient train, with a buffet. The day's travellers walk down beside it, past the orange curtains. Barbara joins them, passing the coaches until she finds the buffet; she gets in, finds a corner seat, and throws her magazine down on it. She looks around; the coach is not busy; the buffet counter is being arranged by the attendant. She puts her case on the rack; she hangs up her coat on the peg; she sits down, and places the magazine on her knee. She watches the people get onto the train. A young man in a denim suit, with a briefcase, comes and sits opposite her; he smiles at her, and she smiles back, but does not speak. The train whistle blows; the train pulls out of the domed shed of the station. With the magazine on her knee, she stares out at the freight-yards, the dumps of coal, the office blocks in the town-centre, the pillars of the motorway, the view, down through the shopping business of Watermouth, to the sea. The blind of the buffet rolls up; she gets to her feet, goes to the counter, and buys a cup of coffee, carrying it back in its plastic cup held in a brown plastic holder. The man smiles at her again as she sits; he says, 'Off for the weekend?'

Culea Silvia-Mihaela

Malcolm Bradbury
 

Trenul este tras la peron; un tren foarte confortabil cu bufet. Calatorii zilei merg pe langa el, trecand de perdelele porocalii. Barbara li se alatura, depasind vagoanele pana gaseste bufetul; intra, gaseste un loc intr-un colt si isi arunca revista pe el. Se uita in jur; vagonul nu e aglomerat; tejgheaua bufetului e aranjata de servitor. Isi pune valiza pe etajera; isi atarna haina in cuier; se aseaza si isi pune revista pe genunchi. Priveste cum se urca oamenii in tren. Un tanar intr-un costum din denim, cu o servieta, vine si se aseaza vizavi, ii zambeste, iar ea ii inapoiaza zambetul, dar nu ii vorbeste. Trenul suiera; se retrage din baraca acoperita a statiei. Cu revista pe genunchi, priveste fix metrii de incarcaturi, mormanul de carbuni, cladirile de birouri din centrul orasului, stalpii autostrazii, privelistea, in jos spre afacerea de cumparaturi, pana la mare. Jaluzelele bufetului sunt trase; ea se ridica, merge la tejghea si isi cumpara o cafea intr-un pahar de plastic care e asezat intrr-un suport de plastic maro, cu care se intoarce la locul ei. Barbatul ii surade din nou si, in timp ce se aseaza, il intreaba: „Un weekend departe?”