Lili Wilson

The train entered the station like a rocket. The station was more crowded than usual. In addition to the usual commuters, there were the football fans going to the stadium to support their team. Fatima and Zahra with difficulty made their way to a place near one of the train doors. By the time they managed to get into the train all the seats were taken so they tried to find a corner in the back of the compartment to use the wall as support to avoid falling down. But as more and more people got into the train they found it difficult to stay in their quiet corner and gradually got pushed to the centre isle in between the seats. Once the doors got closed and the train started pulling out of the station it was difficult to keep your balance so Fatima decided to hang on to Zahra who was slightly taller and could reach the strap on the ceiling.

Although the two sisters had been in London for two months they were still not used to travelling on the underground. On the whole they found this wet, damp and crowded city very unfriendly and hostile. Their parents had sent them to England to learn English and acquire secretarial skills. But the girls weren't quite sure if they wanted to speak a foreign language or learn typing and shorthand. On the whole they felt very bored but being of a very lively disposition, they always tried to find something amusing to laugh about.

As the train got out of the city centre and started making its journey to the suburbs, the number of passengers gradually diminished, and eventually Fatima and Zahra found two empty seats. Just as they made themselves comfortable, they noticed a gentleman sitting opposite them. He looked really weird in his bowler hat and pinstriped suit holding his tightly rolled umbrella, which was really odd as it was a relative sunny and dry day. To begin with the girls tried as hard as they could to hide their giggles and smiles from the city gentleman, but after a while with boredom and all that they just couldn't help it. It was Fatima who really started it. She thought that insofar as she didn't look directly towards the man, he wouldn't suspect that she was talking about him in her native tongue to her sister.
"Oh look at his hat, doesn't it look funny!" Fatima said to Zahra.
"And his umbrella, do you think he knows something we don't know?".
And so the conversation went on and the girls gradually became livelier and bolder in their remarks, making fun of him and being sure he couldn't understand a word. As the man was reading his Times very intently and didn't seem to have noticed the girls at all, the girls didn't seem to have any cause to worry about being overheard, let alone understood.
When the train pulled into Wimbledon Common station the man got up and turned to the girls speaking perfectly in their native tongue:
"Thanks for your generous compliments ladies! I hope to meet you sometime in the future to tell you about what I thought of people in your country!"