"The Night Train at Deoli" by Ruskin Bond. Part 2
I used to wonder what happened in Deoli, behind the station walls. I always felt sorry for that lonely little platform, and for the place that nobody wanted to visit. I decided that one day I would get off the train at Deoli, and spend the day there, just to please the town.
I was eighteen, visiting my grandmother, and the night train stopped at Deoli. A girl came down the platform, selling baskets.
It was a cold morning and the girl had a shawl thrown across her shoulders. Her feet were bare and her clothes were old, but she was a young girl, walking like a queen.
When she came to my window, she stopped. She saw that I was staring at her, but at first she pretended not to notice. She had a pale skin, shiny black hair, and dark, troubled eyes. And then those eyes, searching and expressive, met mine.
She stood by my window for some time and neither of us said anything. But when she moved on, I found myself leaving my seat and going to the door. I stepped out and stood waiting on the platform, looking the other way, away from her. I walked across to the tea stall. Water was boiling over a small fire, but the owner of the stall was busy serving tea somewhere on the train. The girl followed me to the stall.
'Do you want to buy a basket?' she asked. 'They are very strong, made of the finest...'
'No,' I said, 'I don't want a basket.' suddenly filled with light. We said nothing for some time, but we each knew what the other was feeling.
I wanted to put her on the train there and then, and take her away with me. I hated the idea of having to watch her disappear into the distance of Deoli station. I took the baskets from her hand and put them down on the ground. She put out her hand for one of them, but I caught her hand and held it.
'I have to go to Delhi,' I said.
She nodded. 'I do not have to go anywhere.'
The guard blew his whistle for the train to leave. How I hated him for doing that!
'I will come again,' I said. 'Will you be here?'
She nodded again, and as she nodded, the bell rang and the train started to move. I had to* pull my hand away from the girl and run for the moving train.
Vocabulary
to please - угодить, радовать
to come down - спуститься вниз
to sell - продавать
a basket - корзина
a shawl - шаль
bare - обнаженный, босой
to stare - глазеть, пялиться
to pretend - притворяться, делать вид
pale skin - бледная кожа
troubled - обеспокоенный, тревожный
searching - пытливый
expressive - выразительный
to step out - выходить
to put out - протянуть (руку)
to nod - кивать
to pull my hand away - одернуть (убрать) руку
*Модальная конструкция have to с инфинитивом глагола выражает необходимость, обязанность что-либо сделать и переводится как «нужно», «должен», «необходимо», «обязан». В данном случае I had to pull my hand away переводится как «мне пришлось убрать руку»