The station had been defunct for ten years. (defunct: inoperative, extinct, inactive) Its roof was in disrepair, its shutters showed the first signs of rot, and a determined plant threatened to disembowel a straw man left from the last village fair. (disrepair: dilapidation, deterioration, decay; disembowel: eviscerate, gut, draw) The boy regarded these details with sublime indifference. (indifference: apathy, unconcern, detachment) He had money for a ticket. Why shouldn't the man sell him one?
The stationmaster feared an elaborate charade. (charade: pretense, sham, facade) He was disinclined to humor an impudent child and unwilling to encourage a delusion. (disinclined: reluctant, unwilling, indisposed; impudent: insolent, impertinent, brazen; delusion: misconception, misbelief, illusion) Then the boy unfolded a drawing of a train. The boy's grandfather was incapacitated and could no longer travel. (incapacitated: disabled, debilitated, immobilized) A paper railway had appeared beside his bed; its only inadequacy was the absence of a proper ticket. (inadequacy: insufficiency, deficiency, shortcoming)
The stationmaster reached beneath the desk for his old punch. The ink had dried, so he used a pencil to log the date. (log: record, enter, register) Under destination he wrote, "Wherever you please." He kept the boy's coin until the door had closed, then put it back into the ticket envelope. The fare on his particular railway was the journey home with news of where they had been.