late again (standard:drama, 864 words)
Author: Anonymous	Added: Nov 19 2002	Views/Reads: 3581/1	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
Kevin was always late for work, or was he!!

"Look at the time," Sharon screamed glancing at the kitchen clock,
quickly gulping down the hot cup of coffee she held, and squirming. 
"I,m late again". She grabbed at her toast, placing it in her mouth, 
she snatched her bag, kissed her parents and within a flash was gone. 

Carol and Kevin just looked at each other, smiled and continued with
their breakfast. "She,ll get the sack, one of these days," Kevin 
mumbled between munches of toast. 

Carol sniggered. "She,s an accountant," she tutted amused. "Accountants
don,t get fired, they account," she giggled at her silly replie. Kevin 
raised a quizzical eyebrow and looked sarcastically at her. "I know,I 
know," she smiled, "I just didn,t know what to say, anyway, she looked 
at her wrist watch, impatiently tapping it with her finger, you,ll be 
late soon if you don,t hurry up". 

"Oh god yes," Kevin jumped out of the chair,kissed her on the cheek and
then was gone too. Clearing away all the breakfast dishes only took a 
few minutes. 

Carol switched on the radio, happily jigging along with the music, doing
the washing up. When the music suddenly stopped. "I have an important 
newsflash,"came the deep husky voice over the loud speakers. "There has 
been a serious train crash in Birmingham, on the Milton Keynes to 
Birmingham line". Carol dropped the plate to the floor, with a crash. 
It seemed to shatter into a million pieces,just like her life.That was 
Kevins train,she thought. I can,t live without him,what will I do, 
please let him be safe. 

Her heart began to pound, deafening out the husky voice for a moment.
"If you have any loved ones or relatives who may have been aboard the 
train, please ring 0800 555230. Your calls will be answered as soon as 
possible, please keep calm, Thankyou for your patients. He didn,t have 
a clue what she felt at that moment, the pain that ran through her 
heart was unbearable. 

The music came back on. It seemed a little too cheerful now,she leaned
over to turn it off and was struck by the loss she felt.Carol pulled 
herself a seat from under the kitchen table, sat down and cried her 
heart out. She lit herself a cigarette to calm her nerves, but it 
didn,t work. Carol picked up the phone and dialled the number, it was 
engaged again,in pure frustration she threw the phone down, "Bloody 
hell!" she screamed at the top of her voice. 

"I can,t stay here and do nothing, I,ll go mad"> She paced up and down
wearing a hole in the kitchen lino, contemplating her next move. She 
grabbed for her car keys, her bag and rushed out of the house. Carol 
got in the car and started it up. It began to purr just like a kitten, 
so Kevin used to say, and then it died. This must be an omen, she 
sighed. She turned the key but still no good. 

Carol flew into a rage, punching at the steering wheel and sobbing
uncontrollably. "If only he had been a few minutes late, he might still 
be here," Carol cried "He would have missed that train!" "Start you 
bloody car, start," Carol cursed. The loud roaring of the engine took 
hold, subsiding into a soft purring sound. Pushing it quickly into 
gear, she drove off to the train station. 

Reaching the station she was confronted by hoards of cars and frustrated
people. All of them seemed to be shouting at the station master, all 
desperately trying to get heard at once. "We have no information for 
you at the moment," came the message over the loud tannoy."Please be 
patient, when we have some news, you will be the first to hear it", but 
the crowd wouldn,t listen. The station master, a plumpish, grey haired 
man about fifty started to get flustered, with all these people 
shouting at him. As if the situation had something to do with him. 
Carol sat in her car, patiently watching the maddening crowds, for a 
split second she actually felt sorry for the guy.Then she was filled 
with grief, grief for not knowing what had happened to her beloved 
Kevin. Knowing instinctively by the raging crowds there was nothing she 
could do here, she turned the car round and went slowly back home to 
sit it out there. 

Every five minutes Carol rang the emergency number given out over the
radio. But there was no new information available at the moment. 
Sitting alone in her kitchen, she tried to focus on the good times that 
she,d had with Kevin. Imagining that her husband would walk through 
that front door ranting and raving about something and nothing like he 
usually did. 

Her silence was broken by the ringing of the phone.Tears struck, Carol,s
heart leapt, was it the station? What had happened to Kevin? Was he all 
right or was he...> her heart began to pound loudly in her breasts, 
butterflies did cartwheels in her stomach. She reached for the receiver 
and gently lifted it to her ear as if, for some reason, it would break 
in her hands. "Hello," her voice quiet and quivering. "Darling, I,ve 
missed my train".


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