The Last Train

About the Book

The idea for this story came to me in Trinidad. For the last twenty years, I have been going back to the island every Christmas. Most of the children know me as Santa for I give out toys and sweets at parties. The look on some of the children’s faces brings tears to my eyes, and this has really touched me. After the festive season is over, I then become the Englishman since I’ve done a quite few performances in the southern part of the island. This is a ghost story about two young boys who met an old man on a train, who happens to be a ghost. In March of this year (2011), after Carnival, I visited San Fernando on Harris Promenade Hill where “the Train” stands. I stood looking at it and thought that I could tell some stories about it. On my return as I slept the following night, I dreamt about the train. In my dream, a young boy came up and stood looking at me and started asking questions. “Do you have lots of train in your country?” I told him I came from England. He replied, “I know. You’re the white Santa.” His mom and dad also noticed me always in deep thought while sitting on the bench. I told them that I was writing a song about the train. “We live quite close to the house you are staying at. We know most of the people in the village. Lots of the people talked about the white man from England, but only a few know your name.” That’s how it started. I wrote half the story in Trinidad and finished it on my return to England.

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