Anya was twenty-four, and she took the night train at ten o'clock to her sister's city. At the first station, a tall man in a gray coat stood on the platform and looked at her.
An hour later he was in the dining car. At midnight he was in the corridor. Later he stood outside her door. Anya moved to another carriage, then to another, but every time she looked up, there was the gray coat. She told the conductor, Mr. Berg. "I'll keep an eye on him," he said.
At 5:40 in the morning the train arrived. Anya jumped out and hurried along the platform. Behind her, someone ran. "Miss! Miss, wait!" She ran faster. Then a hand touched her arm, and she turned around.
The man in the gray coat stood there, out of breath, holding out a small green purse. "You dropped this at the first station," he said. "I've been trying to give it to you since ten o'clock. You change carriages very fast." "My name is Olek," he said. "I walked through eleven carriages, and my feet hurt." Anya laughed, and she bought him a coffee.
