Davit and the train conductors
I sat down in the empty carriage, sweaty and flustered. Once again I wondered why I always left catching trains so last minute and leaned back to settle into the six-hour train ride to Kutaisi, a city in the west of Georgia. There, I was to meet my best friend and the day glowed a little more than usual at the prospect. "You can't sit there." I heard in Russian above me. A train conductor was looking down at me. "Why not? No one's in this carriage and I want a window seat." I replied. "It's not your assigned seat." Came the sour reply and I was about to argue further when another train conductor with a felt hat and twinkly eyes shushed him and told me to rest where I was. "She's hot and tired, leave her for now." I settled back down and resumed looking out the window while Tbilisi thinned and the train entered the open countryside. The twinkly train conductor returned and I bristled at the idea of moving seats. But he simply pr...