At the beginning of the journey Jasmine only had thoughts for her appearance at her forthcoming interview. She looked upon it as her first step on the ladder to a successful career in the television media. The agency had advised her to be as relaxed as possible, both in her dress sense and her manner. Nonetheless she was nervous.

It was her first trip to Birmingham and she had memorized the direction details to the final dot. She boarded the train and made her way to her reserved seat in the first class compartment next to the buffet. There was only one mature man facing her and an elderly couple sitting on the other side of the carriage.

As she settled down she made a mental note of how she appeared. Wearing a sheer white silk blouse, which contrasted so well against her light brown skin she felt confident that she looked confident. With a matching short white skirt and brown 3 inch heeled shoes she knew she would turn heads when she got to the Pebble Mill studios.

After the train started the 90 minute journey she suddenly felt unprepared as she hadn’t bought a newspaper to read on the way. She nervously glanced at the man sitting opposite and wondered if she would have the nerve to ask him if she could read one of the 3 newspapers that he had brought with him.

She looked at him studiously as he was casually reading the Daily Mail. In her estimation he might be in his late forties and appeared to be a city type, maybe a banker. His black blazer and what appeared to be a university tie indicated that he was educated and in a senior position.

While she was looking at him in an effort to build up the coruage to ask to read one of his newspapers she suddenly became aware that he was looking over the top of the paper at her too. This made her smile and quickly turn her head to look out of the window. He lowered the paper and spoke in a soft, yet firm voice.

“Excuse me but I notice you don’t have anything to read. You can have this paper if you want. I don’t think the financial times would be of interest to you.”

Jasmine apologized as she accepted his offer. He smiled as he passed the the Mail. She soon hid her face behind but her mind was blank as she looked through that days news. His voice had triggered something in her that caught her totally unaware.