By Tetsuko Kuroyanagi - Translated by Dorothy Britton
The Railroad Station
They got off the Oimachi train at Jiyugaoka Station, and Mother took
Totto-chan by the hand to lead her through the ticket gate. She had hardly ever
been on a train before and was reluctant to give up the precious ticket she was
clutching.
“May 1
keep it!” Totto-chan asked the ticket collector.
“No, you
can't,” he replied, taking it from her.
She
pointed to his box filled with tickets. "Are those all yours!"
“No, they belong to the railroad station,” he replied, as he snatched
away tickets from people going out.
“Oh.” Totto-chan gazed longingly into the box and went on, “When I grow
up I'm going to sell railroad tickets!”
The ticket collector glanced at her for the first time. “My little boy
wants a job in the station, too, so you can work together.”
