THREE STATIONS

BRIEF ENCOUNTER

Brief Encounter is a 1945 British film, directed by David Lean based on a one-act play by Noel Coward. The protagonist is Laura, a married woman whose life becomes increasingly complicated following a chance meeting at a railway station with a stranger, Alec Harvey, with whom she subsequently falls in love. 
The memorable film prominently features the Piano Concerto No. 2 by Sergei Rachmaninoff.

GARE DU MIDI  W H Auden

A nondescript express in from the South,

Crowds round the ticket barrier, a face

To welcome which the mayor has not contrived

Bugles or braid: something about the mouth

Distracts the stray look with alarm and pity.

Snow is falling, Clutching a little case,

He walks out briskly to infect a city

Whose terrible future may have just arrived.

BRIEFCASE ENCOUNTER   

Eurostar disgorged its passengers like a pod expelling seeds. 

Harvey, clutching his briefcase, allowed himself to be carried forward slowly, legs still stiff from the journey.

Security checks were in progress but Harvey moved forward confidently, certain his bland exterior would ensure only cursory attention.

Waved through, Harvey waited by the railing close to Betjeman’s statue, briefcase resting at his feet. 

He saw the woman approach; her stride confident.  She gave him a quick, cold smile and set down her briefcase, departing with his. Harvey picked up her case, identical to his own, and hurried to board the returning Eurostar to Paris.

He wanted to be far away from London when Pandora released the deadly spores in Oxford Street.

Safely aboard the speeding train, Harvey cradled the briefcase, itching to handle the stacks of hundred-euro notes he knew lay inside. He thought of Pandora preparing to text him with the combination to open the case: his portal to a new life. 

Of the devastation awaiting London’s population, he thought very little. Who said life was fair? 

Mid-way through the Tunnel, Harvey was on his third cognac when the text came through. He fumbled with the lock, suddenly remembering Pandora’s icy smile, and felt terror engulf him as he opened the lid.

Flash Fiction by Richard Fleming