This is the Elizabeth Line service to Reading.

The next station is Canning Town.

I settle, my eavesdropping ears alert,

decoding a teasing tide of MLE

swashing to and fro across the aisle.

The mischievous, mysterious clickety clack

of girl zoomers, back

and forth, back and forth with the motion of the train.

Then, loud and clear from the next seat:

“Readin’? Readin’?  What’s that!!!”

A brooding halt.  “I dunno”.  “We should go

there sometime!”

A shrill whistle scream throttles my throat,

Just stifled in time

“Noooo! Don’t gooooo –

Stay!

On any permitted route

in zones 1 to 6

of our metropolis.

Alight at West Drayton.

Go forward and shine,

but don’t go to Readin’

It’s the end of the line.