The little boy laughed excitedly, and the man leaned back and puffed at his cigar. ‘Once upon a time,’ he began, ‘I had a little sister, just like yours.’ The little boy looked up at the man, nodding at every word. ‘My little sister,’ the man went on, ‘was so pretty and so nice that I loved her more than anything else in the world. So shall I tell you what I did?’

The little boy nodded more vehemently, and the mother lifted her eyes from her book and smiled, listening.

‘I bought her a rocking-horse and a doll and a million lollipops,’ the man said, ‘and then I took her and I put my hands around her neck and I pinched her and I pinched her until she was dead.’

The little boy gasped and the mother turned around, her smile fading. She opened her mouth, and then closed it again as the man went on, ‘And then I took and I cut her head off and I took her head –’

‘Did you cut her all in pieces?’ the little boy asked breathlessly.

‘I cut off her head and her hands and her feet and her hair and her nose,’ the man said, ‘and I hit her with a stick and I killed her.’

‘Wait a minute,’ the mother said, but the baby fell over sideways just at that minute and by the time the mother had set her up again the man was going on.

‘And I took her head and I pulled out all her hair and –’

‘Your little sister?’ the little boy prompted eagerly.

‘My little sister,’ the man said firmly. ‘And I put her head in a cage with a bear and the bear ate it all up.’

‘Ate her head all up?’ the little boy asked.

The mother put her book down and came across the aisle. She stood next to the man and said, ‘Just what do you think you’re doing?’ The man looked up courteously and she said, ‘Get out of here.’

‘Did I frighten you?’ the man said. He looked down at the little boy and nudged him with an elbow and he and the little boy laughed.

‘This man cut up his little sister,’ the little boy said to his mother.

‘I can very easily call the conductor,’ the mother said to the man.

‘The conductor will eat my mommy,’ the little boy said. ‘We’ll chop her head off.’

‘And little sister’s head, too,’ the man said. He stood up, and the mother stood back to let him get out of the seat. ‘Don’t ever come back in this car,’ she said.

‘My mommy will eat you,’ the little boy said to the man.