What happens in the video
“Stop walking so slow.” On a station platform, a younger man in a red jacket glances at his wrist and gestures at an older woman beside an open train door. She has a visible lower-leg prosthesis. “That’s my boarding space,” she tells him.
“If you can’t keep up, don’t travel at rush hour.” A rail employee in a navy uniform gestures to the doorway. “The priority boarding zone is here.” The man complains, “She’s holding everybody up.” The employee explains, “The train is waiting for its accessibility ramp, not for her to hurry.” All three are still on the platform when he answers, “I thought we were late.”
Continuation:
“We probably are,” the woman said. “I’d still like to get on the thing.”
A second railway worker arrived with the ramp. The man in red stepped aside, finally giving her enough room to approach it straight on. A minute later they were aboard. He ended up across from her because every other seat was taken. She got out a crossword. He contemplated changing carriages at the next station.
“Four letters,” she said eventually. “Something you can lose by looking at your watch.”
“Time?”
“Temper. Oh, six letters. I’m reading yesterday’s clues.” She turned the paper over, and he realized with relief that she was capable of being funny while still thoroughly annoyed with him.
“My name’s Luke,” he offered. “I’m sorry about what I said out there. You ought to be able to take whichever train you want.”
“Yes,” she said. “I’d particularly like to take this one in peace until I get fourteen down.”
He took the hint. The carriage rattled through the next two stops. Outside, damp gardens gave way to factory roofs. His phone buzzed with a message from his younger brother, who was waiting at the hospital for their dad to come out of surgery. Still no news. Had he got on the train?
Luke typed yes. He’d spent the whole morning feeling as if getting places faster might somehow make his father wake up sooner. He’d taken that fear out on the first person he could see. He put the phone back in his pocket and let a few minutes go by without inspecting them.
“Do you happen to know a five-letter word for a railway platform?” his fellow passenger asked.
“Stage?”
“That fits.” She penciled it in. “I’m Dot, by the way.”
At the hospital stop the train doors opened onto driving rain. Luke offered Dot his umbrella. She pointed out that she was going three stops farther and asked how he intended to get it back. He hadn’t thought of that. She handed him the finished crossword instead. “For the waiting room. Rub out my answers if it gets really dull.”
Two hours later his dad opened his eyes. Luke and his brother had managed two thirds of the clues on their own. Their dad listened to the one that still had them beaten, supplied the answer in a croak, and went back to sleep. Luke folded the paper carefully and slipped it into his wallet with his return ticket.
