the kandy train

We travelled through jungle and tunnels. I knew about the tunnels because your mum had told me that when she was wee and went with her giggling friends up country to Kandy she pretended that each time the train passed through a tunnel it was night. The journey lasted 22 days by that logic.
Sudden bright saris among the tea plantations. You by my side. Scottish Sri Lankan. Sri Lankan Scottish. Chickity bum, chickity bum went our ride. Our daughter smilesome, bounce happy on the narrow guages of the upcountry train.
You wanted her to have a first taste of a peanut treat you loved here as a child. She took a bite and almost immediately threw up. She cried, then boaked again. Chickity bum. The train bounced through ever green, high ravines where children took a bath in the river below.
The whole way she was sick. Our vista became the train carriage trying to stem and cool our daughter as she vomited her way through paradise. This was the first time we realised she had food allergies. Chickity bum.
We all arrived exhausted. You had just wanted your child to take a taste of your childhood. It wasn't that simple. It would never be that simple.