Saffron

"waaaaaaahhhhhh!"

Please stop

"waaaaaaahhhhhhh! Waaaaaahhhhhh!"

Please?!

Waaaaaaahhhhhhhh!!"

I'm tired, I'm really tired. It's the train home from Waterloo and it's busy. I'm sat opposite a man and his daughter who can't be older than 3 and she's been screaming her lungs out for the last 2 stops. I mean seriously screaming her lungs out. It's been a relatively long day, I've had to go into London to run a few errands and was quite enjoying the thought of being able to take the quiet train home. It wasn't meant to be.

"shhhhhhh, come now saffron we mustn't cry must we" said her father

No we musn't must we saffron! I thought as I looked around the carriage identifying faces of dread, annoyance and tiredness from the other passengers after a long day at work, it was clear I wasn't the only one feeling the effects of a 3 year olds crys of attention.

"shhhhhhh saffron, here let's do Daddys crossword"

Please let Daddys crossword work!

It didn't.

"WAAAAHHHHH!"

"come saffron, don't cry, we'll be home soon"

"waaaaahhhhh! ......I.......want.....mumma"

Right about now so did I, come on dad think of something!

"oh I know..."

Yes!

"....I'll draw you a piggy"

A piggy?!  I calmed myself, each time my head pounding from the sound louder than a concorde! ok please let this piggy work, he set about drawing on a newspaper he found on the floor, daughter screaming her lungs out, the carriage was now getting really full, no one getting off just everyone getting on.

Rush hour.

He doodled there and squiggled here and eventually completed it,

"ta da!"

Nothing. Still the screams went on, it didn't work, at all.

"hmmm...maybe we could ask this young man to draw a pig?"

I didn't register

"..how about it young man?"

why was he looking at me?

"please would you draw a piggy for my daughter?"

I still didn't register

"Just a small Piggy?"

he was looking at me square in the eyes...

I registered

What?!

"would you?"

"oh....er...erm....I really don't think that...."

"if you would it might help her stop crying"

I looked around, half the carriage was looking at me all with eyes of expectation almost egging me on, like I was some form of new hope sent here to restore peace amongst fellow travellers. 

Even the daughter stopped screaming briefly to look at me through tear strewn eyes

"o....k...."

I took the paper and pen and glanced down, along with everyone else, at the newspaper, the woman next to me was practically breathing down my neck.

I hesitated

Saffron started up again "waaaaahhhhh!"

I touched pen to paper, the woman next to me breathing heavily eyes staring intently on the pen and what it was about to create.
And then it struck me.

What does a piggy look like?!

In all the excitement and anxiety I just went blank! every sodding person was studying me intently, hoping. I have to draw something! but I panicked. Saffron was back on form and well into it now, come on man its a pig! 

I started...

"see saffron the nice young man is drawing for you, what do you say?

".....Waaaaaahhhhhh!"

Right I was into this now, I could remember pigs, I could do this. This was going to be the best damn piggy saffron had ever seen! Pen touched paper. I gave him a curly tail, a cute little nose, big rounded body and a lovely smiley face, I drew all four legs and all the piggy features a happy pig should have, some hills underneath, I even put the sun in the corner of the page with rays of happiness exploding out of the centre, a few birds on the skyline and some quick pen strokes to add the effect of movement and I was almost complete. This was one happy pig bounding through fields of greenery.

As the drawing went on I was actually feeling rather proud of myself, I'm not what anyone would call a good drawer at all but this was turning out pretty darn good, I hadn't just drawn saffron a pig, I had drawn saffron a scene, a scene of prosperity and joyfulness amoungst pigs, a place of piggy leisure for all happy pigs. 

Done.

I lowered the pen. It was time

"erm....I'm finished"

Silence. 

Deafly silence. 

everyone stopped, turned towards me and waited.

"Oh look Saffy the nice man has finished the drawing for you"

Saffron went quiet, this was it

I raised the drawing, the scene facing me so i could flip it round quickly, I glanced at the woman next to me and she glanced back with approving eyes of encouragement "thats my boy" they said

I flipped it

Saffron looked at and studied every inch summing it up. The hearts of all passengers in their mouths, a bead of sweat ran from my head to the end of my nose, me too tense to care...

then....

"WAAAAHHHHHH!!!"

the whole carriage groaned, some people shaking their heads with dissapointment. Saffron was really crying now as if somehow the picture had offended her

"But I even gave it a smiley face" I said, disheartened

"hang on I know what we'll do!..." Daddy exclaimed

 "...We'll draw a horse!" 

"Ah yeh a horse!" I enthused

Holy crap we've just become a team

"Right, you take the horse, i'll take the scenery" he said

we shared the paper in the middle of the seat, he started at the top of the page drawing upside down whilst I took the bulk of it, right side up, drawing the best horse i possibly could

"Don't forget the saddle" 

who said that?

I glanced round to see the woman sitting next to me on the edge of her seat pointing towards the horselike shape on the page, she had joined us

"How are you getting on?" asked daddy

"Ok....I think"

And we were, we had drawn a horse with a saddle and an overly bushy tale with four legs and everything! the scenery was stunning, with hills, a rainbow and a few trees. It was, beautiful.

We had finished

"Right Saffy, look what we've drawn for you?"

The three of us took one last look at each other and then turned to the judge

Silence.

Then it came, a sound which ran right the way through the carriage

Saffron giggled

"Datchet. The next stop is Datchet" informed the amazingly polite woman over the train tannoy

Saffron giggled even more and was soon bursting with laughter, clutching the picture in her hands

Relief! I sat back in my chair almost exhausted from what had come to pass
"Well this is us isn't it Saffty" stated the dad "thank you for helping me" he aimed at the woman and I. 

Saffron and daddy got up as the train pulled into the station and waited by the doors for the train to stop. They both stepped off at Datchet with the picture still firmly grasped by the 3 years old

Success!! Elation!! We did it!!

I looked out of the window just in time to see Daddy and Saffron wave to me from the station a joyful smile on their faces, I raised my hand and waved back as they slowly entered the distance

I stopped a while and sat back, then I looked at the woman next to me and she looked back

I grinned a really big grin.