A Matter of Time

by Graham Debenham

part 1

It was late evening as the silver tube train thundered out of the darkness of the tunnel and into the artificial glare of the platform at Tooting Broadway underground station. Gradually it slowed down, until finally the last of the seven cars made its appearance in the mouth of the tunnel.

In the last car, Eddie Hall stood up and walked over to the guard’s door. Jabbing the door button he thrust his head out, pushed the main door buttons and the remainder of the passenger doors slid open. He stepped out and walked down the train, checking that each car was empty before closing its doors.

Halfway down the platform he met up with his motorman, Winston Jeffries, who had been doing the same on the front half of the train. “Well,” Eddie said cheerfully, “one more trip up, then home to bed, eh?”

“That’s right, Eddie boy,” Winston replied, looking down at the library book tucked under Eddie’s arm. “You finished that book yet?”

“Not yet. I’m about halfway through.”

“Got to the juicy bits yet?” Winston inquired, digging Eddie in the ribs.

“There aren’t any juicy bits. It’s a historical reference book, all about life during the war. They didn’t have time for romance.”

“Hey man, there’s always time for romance,” Winston said with a wink.

Eddie grinned. “Maybe that’s true in the West Indies, but not in London.”

“You can find romance anywhere if you wait long enough,” Winston replied, turning back toward his cab. “It’s just a matter of time.”

“Yeah I guess so, if you say so,” Eddie conceded. “I’ll see you in the siding.”

Winston gave him the thumbs up and sauntered back down to the front of the train. Eddie strolled back to the guard’s compartment just as the red signal changed to a shunt signal. He gave Winston the bell and the train gradually eased forward at walking pace into the tunnel. He closed the guard’s door and made his way down to the rear cab.

He opened the end door and leaned out to look at the destination board situated on the roof above the door. It read, Tooting Broadway via Bank. He reached back inside and wound the handle underneath the board. The destinations scrolled through until it read Edgware via Charing X, then he flicked the red tail light off and the two headlights on.

Walking back to his seat, he picked up his book and bag and started to walk through to the other end of the train. He was halfway along the second car when the train came to a halt in the siding. When Eddie reached the fourth car, he saw Winston coming the other way. They met in the middle of the car.

“How long we got in here, Eddie?”

Eddie consulted his running sheet and checked his watch. It was a Seiko diver’s watch, all buttons and dials. One thing they had taught him during training was the importance of good timekeeping. “About five minutes.”

“Okay then, man,” Winston said checking his own watch, “I’ll see you back at the Green.”

Eddie nodded wearily and the two men went their separate ways. When he reached the last car, he hung his bag on the hook next to the guard’s panel and walked over to sit on the bench seat to read for five minutes.

He opened his book to where he had left off, and resumed reading. After a minute or two, his concentration began to wander and his vision started to blur slightly. He put the book on the seat next to him and rubbed his eyes. It would be good to get to bed tonight. He had been hitting the overtime lately, and there just weren’t enough hours in the day to work and get enough sleep.

He leaned back in the seat and closed his eyes for a second. It was nice and quiet here in the siding. The silence was broken by the hiss of compressed air as Winston opened up at the front of the train, and the chugging of the compressors as they began to recharge the air tanks. Eddie jerked upright with a start. Hell! I haven’t checked the lights.

He put the book on the seat, and walked to the rear of the car. Stepping through the cab, he opened the end door of the car. Gripping the handrail on the outside of the doorway, he stood on the coupling plate and swung himself out into the blackness of the tunnel until he could see both the indicator board and the lights. The indicator board read Edgware via Charing X and the rear light was red.

He nodded in satisfaction and started to pull himself back into the cab, when the train suddenly lurched forward. Taken completely by surprise, he lost his grip on the handrail and fell backwards from the coupling plate and onto the sand bank, hitting his head on the metal pole that held the red warning lantern.

He was dazed for a second or two, by which time the train had picked up speed and trundled off down the tunnel towards the northbound platform, its back door swinging to and fro with the rocking motion of the car.

Eddie started to follow, but then he realised that if he tripped in the darkness and fell onto the live power rail, he would receive a 630-volt direct current suntan. All he could do was sit there on the sand bank and watch the red tail lights of his train slowly disappearing around the bend in the tunnel several hundred yards away.

* * *

Proceed to part 2...