In Carriage G- by Richard Short

The train left Holzweg a little after eight in the evening. Diana had been forced to run after the already moving train and so took a seat in the last carriage, which was, besides, the least populated carriage. While carriages A to F spilt over with heads and limbs and luggage, carriage G was almost bare (the short platform at Holzweg could not accommodate walk-on access to every carriage, especially on long trains, and most of the passengers lacked the sense to move there once the train was in motion). Diana sat in a compartment by herself and, stretching her legs to the seat opposite, she lit a cigarette. After a little while Diana was joined by another, a huge bearded fellow in work boots who sat down opposite her, staring at her intently and ironically. What a big prick, thought Diana. The next moment the door of the compartment opened again, and through the flood of noise from the other carriages a thin young gentleman entered, tipped his umbrella to his fellow travellers, faltered as he decided on which side to sit, then placed himself next to the huge bearded fellow and closed the compartment door. Diana lit another cigarette and opened the window. Unable to read in the wind, both men folded their newspapers and looked at Diana with amused resignation. The second man had an upward shock of hair (like he'd been sleeping upside down thought Diana) which was greying through the middle, though he could have been no older than twenty three. Diana watched the thin young man as he unlocked his case and began to chew into an insipid looking pork roll with an unbecoming hunger. What an odd man thought Diana, and she looked up to the huge bearded fellow who had re-opened up Die Kugel, and was now engrossed in an article about some or other blonde actress. Really, thought Diana, that big fellow is quite handsome, very handsome in fact, but he looks dangerously stupid, he could break me in two if he wasn't careful, and so if I'm going to choose one then I think I may have to go with the thin fellow, though he is a bit unnerving."Watch you don't bite off your hands there" chided Diana, and the thin man blushed and remained mute. The huge bearded man looked at the thin man and shook his head, his eyes then wandering to Diana's bare knees.The thin fellow was later known to be an Augustus von Weerden, a rich young gentleman recently graduated by the Military Centre for Mental Well-Being at Friedholm. Augustus' voracious appetite was the result of not having been allowed meat or solid foods for over eighteen months, an iron muzzle on his jaw having prevented such luxuries. So for Diana to think Augustus was merely gluttonous was quite unfair. "I'm Diana" said Diana, after watching Augustus finish his roll. "Ferdinand Lecomte, pleased to meet you" replied Augustus as he shook Diana's hand, and the conversation rolled on a little;("An amateur ornithologist Monsieur Lecomte? I respect amateurs much more than professionals, always for love, never for money, as they say") Before stagnating;("Yes, Diana, quite")A little way before the town of Chemnitz the bearded man tapped on the window and Diana and Augustus looked at him."That's my hotel" he said to Diana, pointing at a grand Byzantine palace rising out of the trees "The Grand Hotel Hungaria, it's magnificent isn't it?""Yes" said Augustus, and he blushed again. "I have a room for two, tonight…" the huge man glanced at Augustus, then stared at Diana until she dropped her head, rolling her eyes at her book. At Chemnitz the bearded man left the train without a further word and Diana and Augustus watched him climb into a car. Few people boarded at Chemnitz, as the journey was entering the wilds, and so Diana and Augustus were left alone in the carriage."I'm travelling to Stremnitza" said Augustus after a while "and you Diana?""To Stremnitza also" answered Diana, who, it seemed to Augustus, had a very audible Chemnitz accent. "Diana, can I kiss you?" "You can do anything you care to if you have the money"Augustus leant forward and whispered something to Diana, so quietly, despite the absence of fellow passengers, that Diana could barely hear the words. The request was quite strange but not unexpected, she'd heard much worse, from men much uglier than Augustus. "Yes, ok, but we must work out the money beforehand, and we must stay in a nice place, not a grotty little Arab hotel, ok? … Oh, and Ferdinand, don't bite too hard, I don't want to be left with a bruise."