A Subway business meeting.

by Kgalaletso Moreotsenye (South Africa)

I didn't expect to find France

It is often said that one's conscience can act as one's inner voice guiding one to do the right thing or saving one from the wrong things. It took me a series of unfortunate events that led me to the hands of a swingler, luckily for me, my conscience was my saving grace. It was 6h05 when the plane landed at Charles De Gaulle International Airport in Paris. It was cold spring day but the weather didn't bother me because I was elated to be in France. My excitement was short-lived when I realized that I had misplaced my purse which contained my passport and train ticket for my next journey. My world came to a halt, frantic hearbeat with my knees weakening below my body. I took a few seconds to recollect and trace my steps back in my head. I paced around the airport meticulously searching for my purse. After a few minutes of searching, to my thrill, there stood an unattended trolly that had my purse, a sigh of relief escaped my mouth. I even laughed at myself for being that scared earlier, and only then I started noticing people going up and down and feeling the rush of the airport. I made my way to the train station to catch a train to Brussel. My mistake was thinking that my nightmare was over! On arrival at the platform, to my dismay, I learned that I had missed a train. Being on my first International trip, panic came gushing through every part of my body. I stood there for what felt like a lifetime, contemplating my next step. Waking up from my pondering, I noticed a gentleman on my far right talking on the phone, he looked up and smiled at me. The man in a copper suit with a crisp white shirt, with brown hair in a pixie cut. He looked well kept. I smiled back just to mask my fear and to distract him from noticing my panic. He started walking towards me after he put his phone away, I pretended not to notice him. "Bonjour mademoiselle", I heard the voice say, my French is very limited but I understood what he was saying. " I don't understand", I responded. I thought it was the best reply because had I replied in French, that would mean I would have had to scrape through that unsolicited conversation in French. The man swiftly switched to French so effortlesly, but his French accent was still audible. "Hello young lady, how are you?", he said. "Oh hi, I am good thanks", I said with a fake smile on my face. Mind you, this man was disturbing my thoughts on what to do next since I had missed the train. When I thought he was going to leave, he then said, "Do you need help?" With a little irritation in my voice I said " No thank you", then looked away. He proceeded to say " "Do not worry, I can help you, I do not mind". I conceded to his offer because I really needed help, so I started explaining to him what I had gone through earlier on. He listened with so much sincerity that I started loosening up and letting my guard down. He started asking where I was from and where I was going and said I shouldn't worry much because my predicament can be solved. But there was a catch! I should've known, isn't there always? Sigh! The man said he needed 400€ to help me. Apparently I needed to buy another ticket because there was a train coming by in every 30 minutes. He then went to his friend who seemed to have appeared from nowhere to " discuss business". The man came back to enquire if I was still interested. My conscience got to work immediately! I made a fake call and kept walking to the opposite direction while pushing my luggage, until they were out of sight. I went up the stairs and a few minutes later to my luck, I saw the tickets office. I found out I could still use my ticket because it's the same date. My conscience saved me!