Writing: Reuben Fox McClure
Illustration: Hazel Laing
Leaving A Place by Reuben Fox McClure, aged 20 n a bit
Thoughts from the 10:15
There’s a certain joy to leaving a place. A triumphant turning of the page, a satisfied folding of the top corner — a breath — and a smile. To be returned to. But not for now.
By train is my preference. Although it may not feel like it when barrelling down the platform, coffee spilling and sweat breaking, the ruggedly rural train journey retains more than a smudge of romance. Staring out the window at nothing in particular, the most glaring decision facing you being when to take your next sip.
And, if you should be so lucky, perhaps it’ll start to rain. Not violently, mind you; but a gentle farewell from the clouds that swims past your window in the opposite direction. A reminder that you’re going somewhere, somewhere the rain has just left.