Chapter 17

Chapter seventeen

The next day, Lola took the train to her grandparents for the holidays. She slept through the journey but woke up as the train Drew into wall reef and passengers with luggage began bumping their way down the aisles. She waited for the others to get off before retrieving her two cases - dragging them down the steps and over the gap onto the platform where her grandparents were waiting.

They looked older and shorter than Lola remembered, each wearing tan clothing, grandfather's was open at the front. Grandmother's buttoned to the chin. Grandmother's hands were clasped around her handbag as though grasping a horse's reins - fingers curled tightly around leather, hands drawn back, close to the waist - while Grandfather kept his arms folded over his chest in order to keep glancing at his watch, eager to get home.

Traffic was slow around wall reef, but then it was a quick run through Fortress and Baldwin Hill into Lentil View.

"It's really lovely to be back," Lola