Long ride (oneshot)

[ShamanBodyan]

Note: This is my first attempt at writing in the third person. About the main character: a lean but athletic, 2nd-year university student. Short brown hair, brown eyes. Wears square glasses, which are quite strong due to myopia. Not very sociable, but polite. Loves to read books. From the outside, he seems like a nerd, but it would be more correct to call him a geek.

***

"Holidays!!!". It was this thought that now completely took possession of him. What a pleasure it was to leave the classroom after passing the last exam of the semester. Having said goodbye to his classmates, congratulated them on the upcoming holidays, and wished them a good holiday, he headed towards the exit of the university. Just a little over 24 hours and he's finally home. He was in seventh heaven. It was only slightly after noon and he still had time before the evening train. On the way to the apartment he was renting, he had to stop at a store and buy groceries for the trip.

A few hours later, Bogdan ordered a taxi and got to the train station. It was snowing lightly outside. A few more minutes, and here he is standing in the station building and looking at the scoreboard. This is his second trip on the train and his first on his own, so he is a little nervous. People are scurrying here and there, discussing something, taxi drivers are calling for clients. Suddenly, behind him, he heard a deep, wet male cough, from which a chill ran down his back. Not that Bogdan was a germaphobe, but it certainly didn't sound like something he wanted to deal with. A few minutes later, the woman, announcing the arrival of the train, sneezed; from her voice, one could understand that she had a severe cold. A sneeze interrupted her sentence, so she had to apologize and repeat all the information about the train. Her second attempt ended with another wet sneeze, which immediately turned into a wet, snotty blowing of her nose. It happened so unexpectedly that she didn’t have time to turn off the microphone. The desire to leave this hotbed of colds as soon as possible grew. And finally, after a few minutes, the arrival of his train was announced and he hurried to the platform. The landing was successful, and when the last reason for worry was over, he finally exhaled with relief. Entering his compartment, he saw a girl about his age. She was very beautiful. Straight golden hair down to the shoulder blades, gathered in a pigtail, in places sticking out from under the hat, blue eyes. Apparently, she entered the compartment quite recently and had not yet finished sorting out her things. While she was doing this, she sniffled. Bogdan hoped it was the rustling of the package or something else, but when she turned to face him again, some details made him nervous. Her nose was bright pink and said everything for her, and something was sticking out of her jacket pocket, probably the corner of a handkerchief. Her eyes were slightly reddened, with a glassy shine. He threw his bag of things onto the top shelf. 

“Hi, I’m Olesya,” there was congestion in her voice, but she was friendly. : “Hmm... Nerdy guy. He's a pretty" - flashed through her head. He reminded her of her older brother.

“Hi, my name is Bogdan. Um... I’ll go out so you can change,” with these words he awkwardly scratched the back of his head and went out into the vestibule.

“Thank you,” she replied and smiled as he closed the door behind him. While he was waiting, a sound came from the compartment that could not be confused with anything else, the sound of a nose blowing. “Such a bad luck. Traveling for who knows how long in the same compartment with a girl with a cold... I hope I don’t catch this,” he thought, adjusting his slightly too big glasses. Soon the door opened and Olesya, now wearing a white T-shirt with intricate black and red embroidery from collar to chest and red sweatpants, said: “Ndow it’s your turn.” Red beads hung around her neck and her image resembled a national costume, although it was male, but she looked very cute in it. She held a hoodie in her hand, apparently not yet deciding how warm or cold she was. Meanwhile, the train started moving. Nodding, he entered the compartment, closed the door behind him, changed his clothes, and put his things on the blanket shelf. Having finished, he opened the door and told his companion that he could enter. When she entered, she sat down on her bottom bunk. “How far do you have to go?” she asked.

"Yes, until the final stop" 

"Mbe too" 

“Are you going to the South? In winter? The West is much better suited for winter, it’s certainly quite cold here, but not like in the South, especially by the sea. And all this ancient architecture and just the atmosphere of the cities is much better suited for celebrating winter holidays here than in the south of the country, where it is better to go in late spring or summer." 

“I know, I’ve been living here for several years now, but mby family is in the south, usually they come to see me, but this year it’s the other way around.” - Having said this, she sniffled and rubbed her nostrils with her index finger.

 “Hmm. I’m familiar with this, I’m a southerner myself, and here I’m just learning.” - While he was saying this, she took out a fairly large, still neatly folded handkerchief from her pants pocket. One half of the handkerchief was dark blue with light blue polka dots, the second half, on the contrary, was light blue with dark blue polka dots, the rest of the space from the center to the edges of the handkerchief was decorated with large light blue flowers. She brought the handkerchief to her face and gently wiped her nostrils. “Excuse mbe, I need to blow mby dose,” she said embarrassedly, slightly unfolding the handkerchief. 

“Oh, yes, of course. There’s no need to apologize for this, everything is fine,” seeing her embarrassment, he turned away and at the same time began to put the bed linen on the shelf. When the sound of her blowing her nose stopped, he looked at her reflection in the window and saw that she had also turned away. Now she was finishing wiping her nose. A few seconds later the conductor entered the compartment to check the tickets.

 “Sorry, I have a cold. At first, I thought it was my allergy, I was visiting an old friend, and she just had to take the neighbor’s cat, since his owner had to leave for another city for a few days. But then it became clear that It’s a cold. I’m sorry, I hope you don’t catch it. It happened so suddenly that I’m lucky to at least stock up on handkerchiefs,” said Olesya when the conductor left. 

“It’s okay. I’m sorry that you caught a cold.” - he tried to be extremely polite, although he was not delighted with the topic of conversation. He pulled out a textbook from his backpack to help him understand a topic he didn't quite understand. 

“You said that you are a student. What specialty are you studying in, if it’s not a secret?” she asked, sniffling again and bringing a handkerchief to her face. 

"Of course, it's not a secret. International economic relations." Hearing the answer, her face was a mixture of thoughtful approval and something else that he did not recognize until she covered her nose with a handkerchief. A deep breath followed and Hepstchoo! Hih...ptsheew! "Oh, sorry, this came unexpectedly, right out of nowhere. I wanted to say that this is great." From her glance, Bogdan realized that she was smiling, although her nose and mouth were hidden under a handkerchief. 

“Thank you. And bless you. What about you? Studying? Working?” he said, smiling politely. 

“I work as HR at Nestle. Well, I won’t distract you, I see you wanted to read a book,” she said, nodding at the textbook he was holding in his hands.

“Thank you. This is cool, I must say,” he said, and taking a pencil, he concentrated on his studies. While he was reading the theory and solving some tasks, his companion sneezed and blew her nose from time to time. He noticed that her sneezing became more frequent over time. Mostly feminine Hepstchoo!, Heptsheew! and Iptshiew! sometimes with short breathy buildups or hitches, which made her sneezes take on a more intricate sound. At the same time, he couldn't help but notice that the sound of her sneezes had changed and became much more wet, as if most of the time they were very productive, but luckily she managed to catch them all in her handkerchief. The train had already stopped three times, but still no one entered their compartment. When the train stopped for the fourth time, a man entered the compartment. He took off his jacket, which revealed a military uniform underneath. Showing his ticket to the conductor, he said that his companions might not get off because he didn’t need to change clothes and he was getting off the train after a few stops. He turned on the alarm clock on his smartphone and, putting his backpack under his head, quickly fell asleep. Olesya, meanwhile, went out into the vestibule and soon returned with a cup of hot tea in one hand and a cup of hot instant chicken soup in the other. She placed the cups on the folding table by the window just in time when another sneeze overtook her. She managed to hold it back for a few seconds, just long enough to reach into her pocket with her left hand, pull out a fresh handkerchief, and bring it to her face. Just in time to bury her nose in the soft folds and catch a big wet double: Heeh-Eehh'Tsiew! I'hkShieew!  This one sounded more explosive than all the previous ones, although she tried to muffle it for fear of waking the sleeping man. Still covering her nose and mouth with the handkerchief, she rubbed her nostrils, sniffed, and after a few seconds released a second, equally wet double, after which she blew her nose, put the handkerchief on her shelf, and sat down tiredly. When she did this, Bogdan saw her already bright pink nose, the color of which was similar to the color of her second handkerchief, light pink with pink and red hearts. After sitting for a while, clasping the cup in her hands, she said in a low voice: “Hey, Bogdad, please give be a blanket. I’mb cold, and id general I don’t feel very good.”

 “Yes, of course. Here you go. It’s not surprising that you don’t feel very well, you have a cold. I hope you feel better soon,” he answered, taking out a rolled-up blanket from the shelf. While he turned away to fulfill her request, she managed to take out a tablet and wireless headphones from her backpack, probably deciding to watch some movie or series. For an hour and a half, he sat on his shelf, first solving a few more problems on other topics about which he had doubts, then putting the textbook aside, took a book out of his backpack, and began to read. During this time, the military man had already managed to get off at one of the stations. She even apologized to him if she suddenly disturbed his sleep, but he just shrugged it off, saying that everything was fine and wished her a speedy recovery. All this was accompanied by significantly more frequent sneezing from his companion. She sniffled and blew her nose more and more often. Once again wiping her rapidly reddening nose, she put her pink handkerchief in a separate pocket of her backpack, fumbled with her hand in another pocket, pulled out a clean greenish-gray men's handkerchief in a large check, and brought it to her face just in time. Hiptsheew!Hepstchoo! Hehpsheew! Hahrptsheew! This time her sneezing attack was worse than the previous ones. The first sneeze sounded feminine, if a little squeaky and very wet, but the subsequent ones were much more powerful. The last sound was reminiscent of a growl.

“Bless you,” he said. He couldn't resist. Again. At first, out of habit, he blessed her, but seeing how embarrassed she was, he quickly stopped. Habit. He couldn't help it, that's how he was raised. Having finished blowing her nose and removing the handkerchief from her face, she said quietly: “Thank you, that’s very kind of you.”

The second half of the sentence came as quite a surprise to him. When she said this, he noticed that she blushed. True, he did not understand why: from a rush of blood to her face due to recent blowing of her nose, from a possible fever, or from embarrassment. Unable to answer, he simply smiled softly back at her. Meanwhile, the winter day was already coming to an end, and a beautiful sunset could be seen outside the window. The ground was covered with a low but continuous layer of snow, and the grapefruit-colored sun caressed the blue strip of the forest with some of its last rays. This sight attracted his attention - he liked to watch sunsets. And such a sunset cannot be seen from the city. Another sneeze made him take his eyes off the sunset, which was gradually losing its colors.

“Listen, do you happen to have ady bedicine? I have a headache. I know it’s too much to ask, but this cold hit me completely unexpectedly.” 

“No, everything is fine. I have a few aspirin tablets, but nothing more. A spray for a runny nose would be very useful to you now, but, unfortunately, I don’t have it.” 

“Yes. It would be very useful. But I must say that sometimes these sprays make me sneeze even more, although they relieve nasal congestion,” she even giggled at the end of the sadly beginning phrase. By that time he had given her 2 aspirin tablets. After drinking one of them, she got ready for bed and soon fell asleep. He glanced at his watch. It was only 7 p.m., which meant I could stay awake for at least another hour. He switched the book to audiobook mode. For about half an hour, his companion seemed to sleep peacefully, despite the snotty snoring coming from her nose. 

The handkerchief lay next to her pillow. After some more time, as if in a dream, she felt for a handkerchief and wiped her nostrils, moved them and, propping herself up on her elbow, blew her nose once again. Taking another look at the girl and catching himself feeling sleepy from the audiobook, he turned it off and soon fell asleep. The last thought that flashed through his head was: "Just to avoid catching her cold. This is definitely not something I want to deal with."

Out of habit, he woke up several times at night and glanced at his watch. So one day he woke up and saw her rummaging through her backpack, probably looking for another handkerchief. Waking up in the morning, the first thing he heard was: “Hello. Did you sleep well? I hope I didn’t bother you too buch with by cold soudds?” - although her voice sounded nasal, but she was still friendly.

“No, no. Everything is fine. I hope you feel at least a little better,” the last was said out of politeness; from her appearance, it was clear that she was not feeling better.

“By ruddy nose haunted me albost all dight add now I’m on my sixth handkerchief. I was very lucky that I took about 10 handkerchiefs with mbe,” she said with a sad smile. She sat with her legs tucked to her chest, wrapped in a blanket.

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. But in just a few hours you will be in the hands of a loving family who will take care of you." 

 “Yes, that’s comforting. Thank you,” she said, smiling softly. Having said this, she pulled out her right hand from under the blanket, in which she held a neatly folded white handkerchief with a purple border and a pattern of large purple flowers in each corner and petals tending to the center. She gently rubbed her already chapped nostrils, then unfolded her handkerchief and blew her nose. This apparently relieved the pressure in her sinuses and she sneezed. Iptshiew! Hehpsheew! Hehpsheew! After which she took toothpaste and a toothbrush out of her backpack and headed to the bathroom. On the one hand, he felt sorry for her, on the other hand, he still hoped not to catch this cold. In the meantime, he folded the bed linen, and when his companion returned, he went to wash and brush his teeth. 

The last two hours of the trip passed in relative silence, except for Olesya's frequent sneezing fits. During this time, she managed to fully use her handkerchief with flowers and move on to a large man's blue handkerchief. Also checkered. He returned to his book. She was texting with someone, from time to time covering her nose with a handkerchief to sneeze or blow her nose. 

When the stop at the final station was announced and the train began to slow down, a few people began to crowd into the vestibule. After waiting a little until the train stopped completely and the bulk of the people came out onto the platform, they also began to get out. She had already managed to get out of the carriage and reached out with her hand to her bag, which she had not yet managed to pick up when the itching in her nose passed the point of no return. She helplessly waved the handkerchief in front of her face and nuzzled it before releasing seven wet sneezes, the last of which turned into blowing her nose. 

While she was sneezing, he took her bag, carried it outside, placed it in front of her, and quickly returned for his own bag. When she finished blowing her nose, not even 30 seconds had passed before she sneezed twice more. “Oh, thank you very buch for your help with the bag,” she said, smiling and simultaneously taking off her backpack from her shoulders to remove the wet handkerchief and take a clean, white, and red one with a floral pattern. "Bless you. And happy holidays"- he said.

“Thank you. And the same to you.” She wiped her nostrils again, put the handkerchief in her coat pocket, and, taking her bag, headed towards the station building. He headed to the parking lot to hail a taxi. So they parted.

[launderedlace]

Thank you for writing this really enjoyable story - as ever, the descriptions of the handkerchiefs are wonderful!

[ShamanBodyan]

Just now, launderedlace said:

Дякую, що написали цю справді приємну історію - як завжди, описи носових хусток чудові!

I'm very glad that you liked it. This is based on my personal experience. I twice traveled in the same compartment with women with colds.

 

[launderedlace]

7 minutes ago, ShamanBodyan said:

I'm very glad that you liked it. This is based on my personal experience. I twice traveled in the same compartment with women with colds.

 

I hope that first handkerchief in particular, the one with polka dots and flowers, actually exists - it sounds lovely!

[ShamanBodyan]

8 minutes ago, launderedlace said:

I hope that first handkerchief in particular, the one with polka dots and flowers, actually exists - it sounds lovely!

Yep, here it is 

 

Edited April 15 by ShamanBodyan

[launderedlace]

24 minutes ago, ShamanBodyan said:

Yep, here it is 

 

Thank you - it's beautiful - would love to see it being used (or to use it myself!)