STRANGERS ON A TRAIN

 

STRANGERS ON A TRAIN

 

My girlfriend and I were traveling from Stockholm to Paris in a Euro rail compartment. We closed the drapes on the window, hoping no one would wander in. Hey, we were young and adventurous, and it was a two-day trip!

As the train pulled away, a tall, handsome man entered.

He introduced himself as Charles De Gaulle (not the general, I hoped). He was returning to Paris after many years in Stockholm, working a tourist guide.

We got into some serious conversation, which continued throughout the entire trip. I had never met anyone so raw, so honest, so retrospective, so entertaining! I thought his tours must have been very special.

 

 

His life was in for a dramatic change. He was returning to Paris to take a high-level security position at Fiat Motors. I wondered: how could a tour guide take on this high-level position?

I was twenty-one at the time; my girlfriend twenty. I am seventy now and I still vividly remember our chance encounter and subsequent marathon conversations.

We corresponded for many years. On a subsequent to Paris (sans girlfriend. We broke up years before), I paid a much-anticipated visit to Charles at Fiat headquarters. We were elated to see each other again. We picked up our conversation as if we were still in that train compartment.

He shared with me that our long conversations had profound meanings to him, as they did to me.

 

 

To this day, I find it bizarre how interesting, informative, exciting, real, raw and touching our talks were. I wondered if they had a similar effect on others with whom he touched.

As time passed, the letters became fewer and fewer. We slowly lost contact with each other,

I recently found out that he had passed away. I cried as if I had lost a child!

I know it’s weird. But something about our two encounters made me feel like a better person – so profound, so wonderful that I often wondered if I had imagined the whole thing.

A few years later, his son contacted me, saying that his father left to me to be read only after his death! The letter echoed our mutual sentiments. It seemed that we both had made significant differences in each other’s lives. I dream of taking that train ride

again – exactly like the first one!