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Journey.

I had the compartment all to myself. No noisy children, no adults wanting to invade my privacy. No questions that I can or will not answer to complete strangers.

Easing myself into a more comfortable position I listened to the wheels as they went over the gaps in the rails. Da, deda, dad, dedddamI, I felt my eyes closing.

The whistle of the train awoke me. Opening my eyes I forgot where I was, or should I say where I was supposed to be. I was definitely not in a train. The size of the four-poster bed was so large that four people could have slept in it comfortably. What was I doing in this strange bed? I remembered the train’s whistle was I still asleep on the train. NO this four-poster bed was not moving.

I threw back the bedclothes another shock I was completely naked. A discreet knock on the door and two men came in with the words it is a sunny morning your highness, Will you wash first or shall we dress you in your official robes?

Now I was completely baffled, “Your Highness,” what did it all mean? In a voice that I did not really recognise I barked out, “wash first, then dress. Another knock and a man dressed in livery pushed into the room a trolley. The smell from a cooked something or other reminded me that I was indeed hungry.

Warm water in a bowl was placed before me. One of the two men that come into the room first took a flannel and I was for the first time since my childhood washed from head to feet. A soft large towel dried me off and I was led to the trolley with the food. A large cup of coffee was poured ready for me. Later the food, chicken slices were served and the coffee that I drank was out of this world.

The prime minister is in your office with the daily report your Highness will you see him now or at a later time. I heard my voice bark out, “Now.” “Cannot keep the Prime minister waiting.” The door opened and waiting outside of the room, were two different men both dressed in livery waiting to escort me to my office.

The men ushered me into my office where a young man with a battered brief case was waiting to give me the daily report of what had happened in the last twenty-four hours.

The young man offered me his hand and exchanged a few words of greeting. The battered old brief case was opened and thick bundle of official looking papers were handed to me. Do you really want to read them your Highness or shall I tell you the latest news.

I pointed to a seat and asked him to sit. Short and sweet a much shortened version of what had happened in the last twenty-four hours was told to me by this young Prime Minister. I thanked him with a slight wave of my hand and walked out of the room into a most beautifully kept garden.

I had this urge to take a seat in the garden on one of the benches. My eyes closed and the sound of a train whistle woke me. The now familiar noise of da, de, da, dadeedah told me that I was on a train. What I asked myself had happened to me, men calling me Your Highness. My being subjected to a bath by a strange man then the most bizarre thing of all the Prime Minister making his attendance on me.  I could not get over this meeting.

I will have to go to get professional help one does not live through such adventures. Even if I had dreamed the whole thing, why such a dream? I am a nobody; the dream somehow, if it was a dream frightened me. The next time I go anywhere by train I will make sure that there are other people in the carriage, I will never travel alone again if I can help it.