My train companion

People often sit in the train from Sydney with their baggage beside them instead of on the floor. As the train fills up the bags get shifted, as mine did yesterday when an elderly fellow sat down beside me. He looked (and smelled) like a street person and as soon as the train started he began to talk. The young girls across the aisle glanced over at me with commiserating looks but we had not gone very far before I discovered my companion was both intelligent and companionable.
My companion talked about his two wives, his life as a country rep, his four daughters. I even learned the part numbers of various car components.  He would be good at winning quiz games I told him and he said that he sometimes gets up to a million dollars on Who wants to be a Millionaire "But they can't hear me even when I yell at the television!"
Now and again he said, "I have to talk to keep myself awake you know and when we get to Woy Woy I will stand in the gangway so I don't miss the Gosford stop."
I eventually asked him how old he was.
He said, "I am a 1930 model" then looked me square in the eye and guessed exactly the year I was born.
I was surprised and he said "Oh I am never out by more than a year!"
He said he volunteered at the local op shop. He didn't say he was lonely, but I could feel it and I asked when his second wife had died. 
"Three years ago," he said softly and sadly. "I really loved my second wife."
Then he said "You know I need to get a co-habitor again don't I? I like talking to someone intelligent. I hate being bored"
"Oh nowadays you don't need to cohabit," I responded. "You can live in different places and still be companions."
""Oh no," he said. "I don't like sleeping in a cold bed."
The trip seemed short and we were soon at Woy Woy station. I stood to get out and he stood to wait in the gangway, backing into a corner in a shy sort of way. I nodded my goodbyes.
I doubt I shall never see him again, but I think I will remember him for a long time. It takes courage to live on.