Trainspotting

Told in the third person, this chapter introduces the reader to Nina, Mark’s niece. The young teenaged woman is joining her family in mourning following the death of her Uncle Andy—although she can’t really join their grieving. She is more focused on the fact that she’s about to get her period than her grief.

Her emotions are mixed, and she is a cool and moody teenager: “The whole thing seemed uncool. […] [Uncle Andy] had been her favourite relative when she was a wee lassie […] She could find no emotional connection though” (32).

Nina goes to the toilet to deal with her period, which has just started. On the way back to join the family, she passes the room where Uncle Andy’s body is lying and is horrified to realize that the body is sweating. She thinks he’s still alive and screams for the others. It turns out that Uncle Andy is indeed dead, but somebody left the electric blanket on that he is wrapped in, causing the body to appear warm and sweaty.

The resulting shock finally breaks Nina out of her cool teenage mood:

Nina thought that she would piss herself. Her sides ached, as she struggled to repress the spasms of laughter which shook through her. […] Nina realised that she was crying like a baby. Crying with a raw power and unselfconscious abandon (40).

Chapter 6 is in third person and focuses on the character of Stevie. Now living in London, he is in Edinburgh for the New Year’s holiday. While his old childhood friends, including Simon and Mark, party around him, Stevie’s head is back in London, thinking of Stella. He had told the girl he loved her before he left, and she didn’t say it back. Now he’s worried he blew it.

He’s been at a house party for days. He gave his mother the number of the house and told her to give it to Stella in case she called the family home. He’s anxiously trying to enjoy the party while hoping for her call. The raucous party guests are tiring to him: Watching Mark and Simon argue, he seems fatigued: “[T]hey bickered on. Stevie would once have enjoyed this. Now it was draining him” (43).

Also in attendance are wild Frank Begbie, the junky Danny or “Spud,” and Tommy, who isn’t involved with heroin. Tommy prefers women and sex plus every other drug possible.

Finally, the phone rings during a football game that Stevie and the other party guests are watching. It’s Stella. She tells Stevie that she thinks she’s in love with him and that she is taking a train to Edinburgh. He happily obliges to meet her at the station. He leaves the party and heads to the station, where some soccer hooligans jump him. He doesn’t even care, though. When Stella arrives, he runs to her, and they kiss on the platform.