So I was meant to head back home after the holidays, and the trip was pretty long, so I decided to book myself a seat in a train compartment. I got assigned the upper bunk, but I honestly didnt mindit made no difference since I planned to sleep most of the journey anyway.
My travel companions were a mum and her four-year-old son. At first, I thought the boy would be noisy or restless, but he turned out to be surprisingly calm and well-behaved. Once her son drifted off to sleep, the mum and I had a bit of a chat, enjoyed some tea together, and then settled down for the night.
The next morning, I woke up to a knock on the compartment door. Two police officers stepped in and asked, Have you seen the little boy? I pointed to the top bunk and said, Hes right there, fast asleep. Sure enough, the lad was bundled up in the corner of the bunk, clearly cold and still asleep.
Well need to ask you a few questions, the officers said. As it turned out, the mum had had way too much to drink the previous night and ended up getting off at the wrong station. When she came round in the morning, she panicked and thought someone had taken her son, which led her to call the police who started searching the whole train. In reality, she was just very drunk and had forgotten she left her child in the compartment.
Its honestly frightening to consider what goes through the mind of a mum whos that out of control. Thankfully, she simply forgot about him and he slept peacefully through the night. If things had gone differently, she couldve wandered off with him somewhere in the middle of nowhere, passed out along the way, and he mightve been lost in the woods.
I have no idea what happened to that little boy afterwards, but I sincerely hope his mum was held accountable. Though realistically, a fine isnt likely to make much of an impact on someone so careless with their child.
