‘All aboard!’ the conductor roared over the din of the train, remaining bored even as the great steel beast began to buck and roar behind him.
‘Do you have everything?’ my mother asked me nervously, for the hundredth time, glancing furtively around at all of the other children to see if they’d remembered something she’d forgotten.
‘I’m fine, Ma,’ I rolled my eyes. ‘I’m only going for a week, anyway, what does it matter if I forget something?’
‘Because I’m the one who’ll be getting the angry phone calls from your grandparents if you haven’t got all the right socks,’ she said, almost to herself. ‘We don’t have too much time, sweet child, so I’ll have to say goodbye to you much quicker than I’d like.’
‘You’ve been saying goodbye to me for three weeks now,’ I laughed, and she mussed up my hair.
‘Aye, I have,’ she nodded sadly. ‘Oh, I’m going to miss you! So, so much!’
‘I’ll miss you too,’ I said, as she wrapped me in a big hug.
‘Right,’ she said, straightening back up, quickly wiping away a tear and grasping me by the shoulders. ‘Remember that your father and I love you very much and—’
‘Where is he?’ I frowned, catching her off guard. ‘I thought he was going to be here.’
‘He was, sweetness,’ she said, sadly. ‘But you know how it is at the moment, with the difficulty they’re having finding high quality steel supplies near Melbourne.’
‘He couldn’t take an hour off?’ I frowned.
‘No,’ she shook her head – although I caught a flash of annoyance cross her face.
‘Oh,’ I slumped slightly. ‘Okay.’
‘He loves you, you know,’ she told me, picking up my chin with a well-placed finger. ‘He loves us both.’
‘Not as much as he loves all of the steel fabricators in the Melbourne area,’ I mumbled. She didn’t say anything, just looked at me sadly and wrapped me up in another hug.
A shrill whistle from behind told us that we didn’t have much time left.