The Stranger's Gift

The woman sat alone in the train. The tinkle of bells and high pitched screams of children clinging to colorful merry-go-round ponies nearby got on her nerves. She dug out a pair of ear-muffs from a soiled red fur bag, she had stolen last Christmas. Mumbling to herself, she put them on as she watched children hopping on to the pink toy train. Her grey dress was torn at many places and had a pattern of dirty yellow flowers on it. Her hair had shades of grey too, thick sticky tufts reaching a little below her ears.

The train was full of children chattering excitedly. Two scrawny boys and a tiny girl with ponytails sat in her bogie, on the seat opposite to hers. She stretched her legs on her otherwise empty seat and smiled as the train started with a ‘toot’. Scratching her mud caked cheek she turned back to peep out of a tiny window. The bespectacled boy, about eight years of age, poked her with a stick and quickly looked away. The woman turned to stare at the children and grinned revealing three white teeth, two brown ones and some black space.

‘Oye’ she poked a finger at the little girl.
‘Wat your name?’
The girl frowned.
‘Oye, my name Bread Pit. He he he he.’
The boy who had poked her did so again and said, looking very proud, ‘Haven’t you forgotten to use verbs Miss Bread Pit?’
Another boy sitting beside him nudged him lightly and both laughed. The woman joined in their laughter. Then shuffled out a colourful but broken toy truck and offered it to the bespectacled boy. The train came to a halt. The children scampered out of the train, one of them clutching the toy, and ran to the adults, who stood waiting for them at the exit point.

The boy who held the truck was talking to a young woman, perhaps in her late twenties, pointing to the woman in the train. She took the toy from the boy who looked unhappy about it. ‘She is not Santa.’ The young woman, probably his mother, was saying. ‘Plus, it’s broken! We’ll buy you a new one. Now c’mon stop sulking.’

The woman walked upto the woman in the train. The latter extended her hand for a handshake and smiled. The younger woman took a step back and reluctantly curled her lips into what seemed like a smile. She then bent down, placed the truck on the ground and began to walk back to where the boy stood. The old woman looked down at the truck lying on the ground then opened her red bag and began looking for something. She found what she wanted, held it out through the door and shouted, ‘Oy.’ The young woman was holding the boy’s hand and both were turning to go. The voice from the train came again, this time louder, ‘Oooyyy’. The woman and the boy stopped to look at her. The hag in the train was holding out a shiny blue brand new car. She stuck out her other hand from the window and made a ‘come here’ gesture. Just then the train said ‘toot’ again and began to move along the tracks.

The boy waved to her and smiled. His mother held his hand and took him away. The woman held out the blue car, till the boy was out of sight. The broken toy truck stood there, unnoticed, untouched, alone.