[15: Continue 12x12 box story from 2010/4/15]

Their uncle checked his watch, frowning. "The trains in this city are never
on time. The ten fifty should have come by now."

Ten fifty two, the train slid quietly into its birth along the platform.
Their uncle ushered them down the platform, past the food vendors, which
Meera was watching with interest. Their uncle mumbled. "Unacceptably late."

"Third car on the right. Use the front door. Come, now."

They hurried into the train, pulling luggage behind them.

They found their seats. Sama fiddled with hers, putting it down, then up,
then down again, until their uncle glared at her, imposingly tall with his
turban.

The train pulled out of the station. "Ten fifty eight. One would think they
could make the trains run on time in this country."

Sama nervously watched her uncle as the train picked up speed.

After half an hour, though, he relaxed and slept in his seat. Sama got up
and walked down the length of the traincar. She touched the switch at the
door, and the door whispered open. She raced back. "Meera, come with me?"

They went together, down the length of the train. There were a half dozen
passenger cars, mostly full of business men, sitting, paper in hand,
reading.

They touched another door-switch, and they heard music. "What's that?!" "I
don't know! Let's find out."

The girls kept together. As they entered the next car, the attendant started
to announce the next stop, but it was muffled entirely by music in the
background coming out the loudspeaker.

They grinned, and opened another door. The music got louder. The car was
different, older, and just plain steel instead of the warm fabrics of the
newer passenger cars. There was a little booth at one end, with a rack of
candies and papers, and a few seats arranged in the narrow space.

They pushed past a cluster of people sitting at the tables, and pressed the
next door switch. Their ears were assaulted, and they both instinctively
covered their ears. There was a large pile of baggage in this car, and a
cleared out space about twelve feet by twelve feet. A man was sitting on a
large suit-case, cheeks puffed up, dressed in a full kilt and playing
bagpipes. There were three girls their age, and a couple young men in the
cleared out space at the other end of the car, and the girls were dancing.

Sama grinned and grabbed Mira's hand. Mira tried to resist, but Sama pulled
her in and tried to imitate the other girls dancing, all leaps and hops and
skips.