Page 56 of The Little Board Game Café

And then, a man came in. With two children. They rushed to her table and sat down opposite her. The man gave Emily an apologetic smile, shoved his two bags on the luggage rack above her head, then sat down beside her. Great. So much for her quiet journey.

Almost as soon as the train pulled out of King’s Cross, the children were on their feet, taking off their coats which they shoved on the table, encroaching onto her half. The father stood up, put the coats onto the luggage rack and sat down again, flashing her a look which she took for an apology. He opened a book and began to read.

The little boy sitting opposite Emily swung his legs out, kicking her.

‘Ouch,’ she said. ‘Do you mind?’

How was she supposed to concentrate on thinking up a new business plan with this going on?

‘Sorry,’ said the boy. The father didn’t look up from his book.

Books! Could she have books? People could come in and borrow one to read whilst they drank their coffee. Or could she sell second-hand books perhaps?

She ferreted in her non-designer handbag, found a chewed Biro and an old receipt and wrote ‘Books?’ on the back of it.

‘Can I have my bag please, Dad?’ said the girl.

The father sighed, put his book down and reached up to the luggage rack. He put a small blue rucksack on the table. The girl rummaged around in the bag and took out a recorder. She began to blow.

The two older women stood up, picked up their bags and went off in search of another carriage. Emily wondered if she should join them – the noise was ear-piercing – but she stayed put and wrote down ‘Live music?’ on her scrap of paper.

The father said, ‘Sorry about this.’ He removed the recorder, placating the girl with a bag of crisps and handing a second one to her brother, who promptly opened it, scattering crisps everywhere. All over himself. The seats. The floor. And Emily.

‘Sorry,’ he said again.

Emily brushed herself down, wrote ‘Children’s parties?’ on the receipt, then crossed it out. Too much hassle and mess.

‘Can we play a game?’ said the girl.

‘We don’t have a game,’ the father said.

‘There are games here,’ said her brother, his mouth full of crisps. He gestured at the table in front of them.

Emily had been in such a world of her own – mulling over non-existent business ideas and astronomical amounts of money wasted on patisserie courses – that she hadn’t noticed that the tables on the train were painted with chess boards and Snakes and Ladders. They looked pretty but weren’t very practical unless you happened to be travelling with a chess set or dice and counters. Which Emily wasn’t.

And nor, it seemed, was the children’s father. ‘We don’t have any games pieces,’ he said.

‘Can I have my recorder back then?’ said the girl.

‘I’ll play with them,’ Emily said suddenly. Anything other than listening to a recorder for two and a half hours. Honestly, who’d be a music teacher? ‘I can make some counters.’

She rummaged in her bag again, found three more receipts festering at the bottom and folded them up, fashioning three counters out of them.

‘What about the dice?’ said the boy.

Emily thought for a second. ‘There might be an app. Hang on.’

There was an app. It took ages to download – the phone reception wasn’t great and she couldn’t make her ancient Android log on to the free WiFi – but eventually she managed to install it and they began to play.

Silence fell upon the carriage as the boy counted out five squares. He was utterly absorbed in the game, just as Emily herself always was at board games evenings. That is, when she wasn’t distracted by the mere sight of Ludek.

It was her turn now. She ‘rolled the dice’ – in other words, clicked on the app – and scored a six, so had a second roll. She moved her counter. The boy laughed as she went down a small snake and ended up almost back at the start.

His sister forged ahead by rolling a four and going up a ladder. They played on, rolling the dice via the app, moving their makeshift counters round the board, up ladders and down snakes. After three more games, the children asked if they could play on the other board.

‘I don’t think my origami skills are quite up to creating a chess set,’ Emily said.

‘Let’s make up a game,’ said the girl.