The Viking waits on the platform for the 8.20 to Piccadilly. When it arrives, he tentatively steps aboard. Never will get used to these things.
The windows rattle. He stands in the cramped confines of the morning commute and stares up at the adverts for toothpaste and a mobile network.
Sometimes he wonders why they brought him back. Comfortably installed in the halls of Valhalla, he was rudely pulled from that bright, warm place and spat back out into the mundane world in a vat of nutrient rich gelly.
Probably just to prove they could do it. Now his days are spent sweeping up around a university campus.
As he alights, he catches the eye of a man in a suit standing at the platform. The man nods. The Viking nods.
They end up at a café, the Viking nervous he will be late for work. The man talks for a while about nothing much at all, never giving his name.
Then he say to the Viking, 'Now, shall we discuss a line of work more appropriate to your… skills.'
Paddy Dobson
22nd May 2022