“Not to worry,” Malcolm said, usually the spokesman in these situations. “Karl doesn’t mind standing.” He grinned at Karl. “Yeah, thanks mate,” Gareth said, in his uninflected voice, swinging his rucksack off his scrawny shoulders and preparing to board. “Sorry lads,” the driver said, not looking all that sorry. “There’s no standing in the aisle allowed. Not safe on these roads. Go over the limit of thirty-nine and my job’s on the line.” Karl was too tired to smirk at the rhyme and the jobsworth who was pretending not to have noticed it himself. Passengers watched from presumably every seat but two. “Could one of us sit in the aisle?” Malcolm said. He smiled, teeth clenched. “Nope,” said the driver, looking ahead, mentally filing his fingernails. Each waited for one of the others to volunteer to tramp alone the three miles to the village on the hard, winding, up-and-down blacktop.
What do You think about Shadows & Tall Trees (2014)?
