on meeting people

from my drugged sleep i heard american voices. the train was stopped; i was cold. i knew we were in the slovakian countryside, as only two sets of border guards had awoken me as of then. these stops included loud doors sliding open and shut, voices. i would speak to her in english, i thought, and catch her off guard. yes, she was surprised. the girl who came into my compartment was teaching english in kosice, slovakia. martha had also, a summer before, studied in cuernavaca, mexico. i too had lived there for a time. we began.