Synopsis/Details
Jack, early forties, sits alone in an empty train carriage on his way to the airport at 6:30am. He is joined by Frank, mid 60’s, who is homeless. After a shaky introduction due to Jack’s wish for a quiet carriage, they begin to make small talk, with Jack revealing he is on the way over to England for his father’s funeral. Frank tells him that he rides the train in the mornings to stay out of the cold before he goes busking in the city.
Frank carries a book with him, the BFG by Roald Dahl. He shows this to Jack who tells him that he is a children’s author but is going through a rough spell since he tried to branch out into serious fiction. Jack reveals his father never agreed with his choice of profession as with him being an only child his father wanted him to take over the family construction business. He declined his father’s wishes in order to pursue his dream of being a writer, leading them to not speak for years after Jack moved to Ireland to study English.
Jack shows Frank a gold pocket watch his father gave him the last time he saw him when he was very ill to pass on to his own children. Jack has just ended another failed relationship so tells Frank he is taking the pocket watch back to England to bury with his father as he is convinced he will never have children of his own. He admits to Frank he doesn’t know if he is cut out for fatherhood and feared it wasn’t for his own father. Frank tells Jack he’s still a young man and to not give up hope and talks about how different he and his own father was.
As they get closer to the airport Jack is struck by Frank’s positivity and outlook on life despite a life of hardship and bad luck due to a bad injury he suffered while working on a building site in London. He tells Jack of being beaten and robbed and that he won’t even stay in a hostel as he is too scared, so he sleeps on the streets, scraping by with whatever money he makes from busking.
As they are just about to reach the station, Jack gives Frank the gold pocket watch and tells him to try and make a better life for himself if he can sell it. At first Frank refuses, but then relents on the provision Jack takes his copy of the BFG in exchange. They then say farewell and part ways as Jack leaves the train.
As Jack is queuing for his flight he reaches into his pocket for his passport, only to find that Frank has slipped the pocket watch in there without him knowing. He then boards the flight to England to bury his father with a renewed sense of hope.
