(criminal story)

I really like the road, the train stations and the horn of the locomotive. There is some appeal in these trips… One day I was on my way home from Kyiv.

People kerfuffled-fuffled and dined with smelly lard… The cute conductor wanted to give everyone pale tea…

My companions were a thin on top man, a respectable elderly woman and a boy. In the aisle I met several young students and women with huge bags… The train shook and cut through the darkness of the night… His oscillations lulled me gradually, and I fell asleep.

I was awakened by a woman’s scream. The elderly lady quarreled loudly, turning over the suitcases. “Where are my shoes?” she asked loudly. Neighbors began to wake up and help cast about. A shaky conductor with shifty eyes ran to us as a frightened hare. We looked in all corners, but the boots vanished. Dim light illuminated the scene of the crime…“My leather shoes! Oh, my son-in-law’s gift,” the victim cried. As it turned out, the brown shoes were from Italy, covered with high-quality fur. The conductor asked everyone, but nobody showed up his or her sticky fingers. Students whispered, my neighbor scolded Ukrainian politics, and women felt sorry for stolen shoes. I looked at them and thought who could be the thief…

The person who beat the rap and went away with a Ukrainian goodbye was never found. The distressing lady got off the train in socks. She was followed by an agitated conductor who constantly apologized.

What is my version of the stealing? Using the deduction method, I could tell that the thief stole the shoes and got out at the previous stations. During the trip, the train stopped three times, so this variant is actual. On the other hand, the thief could stay on the train. He could hide boots in a bag and calmly help to search. But…

We reviewed all the suitcases! Maybe the joker threw boots out the window? Did the shoes escape to the son-in-law? No! I was not confused by the alibi of the conductor. His shifty eyes looked at me the whole night long… Oh, I needed Hercule Poirot!