1899 depiction of a tramp.
"On the Brighton Road" is a short ghost story by the British author Richard Middleton. It was first published in 1912 as part of the anthology The Ghost Ship and Other Stories. It is included in the 1983 anthology Roald Dahl's Book of Ghost Stories.
The story concerns the meeting of tramp with a young man who claims to have died four times.
Plot[]
The story opens on a snowy winter morning. A tramp wakes up in a field. He is at first confused because he momentarily believes himself to be inside in a warm bed. He is somewhat surprised that he did not freeze to death during the night. He is unsure if he is lucky to be alive, given the difficult life that he has. He continues to walk towards Brighton.
On the road, the tramp sees someone he takes for a 15 year-old boy lighting a cigarette. The boy asks if he can walk with the tramp. He says that he is 18 years-old and he has been homeless for six years. The boy can tell that the tramp has not been homeless for very long and gives him some advice. He tells him that, although it is warmer in London, food is harder to come by there. He adds that people are kinder in the countryside. The previous night, a farmer had allowed the boy to sleep in a barn and then brought him breakfast in the morning. The tramp says that he slept outside and is surprised he did not die of the cold. The boy asks him if he can be certain that he did not. He goes on to say that he has already died four times. He drowned in the sea at Margate, he was murdered by somebody who hit him in the head with a spike and he froze to death twice. The boy explains that people like the tramp and himself are allowed no rest and have to continue wandering even after they die.
The boy starts coughing and complains that he is sick. The tramp holds him in his arms. A car stops. The driver says that he is a doctor. He quickly diagnoses the boy with pneumonia and says that he needs to be taken to a hospital. He invites the tramp to come along too. The tramp declines, fearful that he will be put in a workhouse. The boy says that he will meet up with the tramp again two miles past Reigate.
The tramp is given some bread and spends the night inside a warm barn. He gets up early the next morning and continues to walk towards Brighton. Two miles past Reigate, he sees the boy again. In amazement, the tramp exclaims, "But the pneumonia!" The boy replies that he died in Crawley that morning.