Before the Train Departs
Frank and the station master are standing outside the train to wait for the train’s departure time having a talk
STATIONS MASTER: did you have a glimpse of the news in the papers today?
FRANK: yeah! I saw various political articles, the courts, and, most of all, the aspect of the women’s rights, which is in the headlines.
STATION MASTER: yeah! This thing is getting very serious nowadays what your view on it is?
FRANK: dealing with women has become a significant issue nowadays. You go home, and you don’t have the peace, so you decide to find some other things to do, maybe sometimes you choose to take a walk out of the house and find a friend to talk to (Gleeson, Sinéad).
STATION MASTER: so that why you are strolling down the streets with no apparent reason… what’s in your mind?
FRANK: I am coming from the office, you know…the struggle in the business world is real, and you can imagine the pressure one has all day, and you wish the day is over.
STATION MASTER: I understand how you are feeling right now:
FRANK: “The battle is over, and I have won” (Gleeson, Sinéad).
STATION MASTER: you must be so happy then to go home and have some rest.
FRANK: somehow, but the real worries lie at home, you can imagine spending the whole day to get a penny and bring bread at the table, and when you get home, you still have more to endure.
STATION MASTER: now I get it, just like they say, there is no smoke without fire.
FRANK: you see, the hard decision that man makes is to choose the woman to spend their entire life with and the turn out to be the leading cause of their troubles.
STATION MASTER: exactly, it’s just like the chimneys, you know… all over the world, the chimneys would smoke in a south-easterly wind, and if someone does not poke the fire, the grate cannot fall.
FRANK: I can’t believe that they are now demanding to move out of the house and start working… this equal right thing has made them change their minds and perception of the role of women in society.
STATION MASTER: let’s be calm and see what next they are going to do; it’s just the beginning of things…
Martin who is a friend of the station master arrives at the station to board the train (assumed to be the narrator in POISSON d’AVRIL)
MARTIN: hi! Here we meet again; I hope you had a beautiful day. You seem to have had a tiring day.
STATION MASTER: I have just been thinking, you know, the state of politics in England is changing, and the various aspects which seemed reasonable are no longer healthy anymore (Gleeson, Sinéad).
MARTIN: I understand, but sometimes you have to keep yourself busy and go out somewhere, maybe fishing to relieve the mind.
STATION MASTER: you remind me of the infernal salmon.
MARTIN: It has been long since I went fishing. II have been busy these days. Even my wife is complaining that I am not reading her letters.
FRANK: so you face this women challenge as well, though yours is a different case.
MARTIN: yeah! You know women the way they behave, that’s why I am going home to spend some time with her and my family.
The train signals to leave and martin and frank board leaving the station master behind. They sit together and continue with their discussion before the train departs.
FRANK: women now have a habit of invoking their husbands. They think that the development of woman rights have given them the power to be just like men and harass them anytime they feel like since the law protects them.
MARTIN: it’s just that we are going for marriage, and I am required to rehearse several pages of the book. That why she wanted me to go two days before the due date so that we can prepare.
FRANK: Wow! That’s great, and you remind me of the time I got married ten years ago. I was so excited knowing that I would become a husband and have my children (Gleeson, Sinéad).
MARTIN: I understand how it feels… but what can we do, and it is just a change of the system.
FRANK: Yeah! It is awkward to preach an old gospel when there is a new one is available.
The station master calls through the window where they are seated and shows Martin parcel wrapped in a news post paper.
STATION MASTER: look what I got for you.
Martin takes the wrapped parcel and opens it. He is very shocked to find it a salmon fish.
MARTIN: “Oh my! Oh! My! I fish!” you should not have troubled yourself so much for me (Gleeson, Sinéad).
STATION MASTER: it’s nothing much for a friend…you don’t have to worry about how to pay me back, I know what it means to you.
Martin and frank look at each other and give a smile. The train then departs as the two are looking through the window as the train leaves the station.
Work cited
Gleeson, Sinéad, ed. The Long Gaze Back: An Anthology of Irish Women Writers. WF Howes, 2018.