by Penny Kane
With that thought in mind, Polly sank down into the pillows. Yes, we’re both as bad as each other. She shook her head and smiled sadly. But it was fun while it lasted.
The film ended and Polly remained immobile, waiting for the following one. When that one ended, despite having an enormous meal at the pub and eating a family sized packet of crisps, she was hungry and called room service. Once she hung up the phone, she regretted being so greedy and contemplated calling them back to cancel. She shrugged. “What the heck? I’m miserable anyway; might as well enjoy today.”
* * * *
The room had grown dark before the second film ended. Polly slowly climbed off the bed, drew the curtains, and turned on the lights. She turned and looked about the room and burst out laughing.
“My goodness! Did I eat all of that?” The room was strewn with plates and packets. “Polly Lloyd, you are a gluttonous piglet!” She laughed at herself, but she didn’t really care. She was getting divorced, she’d slept with a married man, and thought she might well swear off relationships altogether with her track record. She picked up all the detritus, put it in the bin, and then piled the plates and cups on the tray for the maid in the morning.
Still shaking her head and laughing at herself, she went to the bathroom to get ready for bed. Before climbing under the sheets, she made sure that she had an Alka Seltzer in her bag for the morning; she might very well need it.
Polly flicked off the TV and climbed in to bed. She certainly did feel better after her gorging. Perhaps there was something to be said for comfort eating after all.
* * * *
Polly awoke late to a tapping on the door. She realised it was the maid and called out, “Can you come back later, please?”
She rolled over and almost fell out of bed. Miraculously, she didn’t need to take the Alka Seltzer, but desperately needed to visit the bathroom. Drinking two litres of coke was more than her bladder could handle by morning.
She jumped into the shower, put her makeup on, and hurriedly dressed into a skirt and top. There was still half an hour left before the restaurant closed after breakfast. She didn’t want anything to eat, but the maids needed access to the room and she wanted to drink lots of coffee.
As she exited the room, the maids asked if it was ok to clean her room now. Polly felt embarrassed. She usually made certain she vacated the room before they arrived. It made her feel slovenly. And the thought of the pile of dirty plates in there made that feeling worse.
Once in the restaurant and furnished with coffee and a croissant, Polly made her way to an empty table and dug her phone out of her bag. She was curious to see if Nicco attempted to call her or not. She switched it on and placed it on the table while she nibbled halfheartedly at the croissant. The phone beeped and a few diners looked up and stared at her. She didn’t care what they thought. She was going home the day after tomorrow.
She pressed the button to see who left a message and saw she had a voicemail. Polly dialled the number and listened to the message. G’day, Mum, it’s Brendan. Did you like that? Was I Australian enough for you there? He paused. Listen, I’ve got something I wanted to discuss with you, but your phone is off. I heard back from Uni. He paused again and then continued more quietly. Mum, I failed my exams. I thought I would. I’m pretty pissed at myself over it. Anyway, I’ve thought about it, and I’m not going back.
“Oh no, Brendan, no!” Polly muttered.
I think I might have told you, but a couple of the guys are taking a year out. They’re moving to Wellington to start a band. He paused another time. Well, they’ve asked me to go, and I’ve said yes. Now, don’t overreact, Mum; I want to do this. I might be gone by the time you get home, but I’ll call you as soon as I arrive, ok? He was silent for a second or two. I love you. Have a safe journey home. He hung up.
To listen to the message again press… Polly snapped the phone shut. “Brendan, what are you doing?” A sinking feeling hit her stomach. “What have I done?” Polly remembered with gut-wrenching clarity that her character Sally’s son Bradley quit Uni and moved to Wellington to start a band. Oh God, no! Not again!
* * * *
With her coffee and croissant forgotten, Polly raced back to her room. The maid was still cleaning it, so she excused herself, grabbed what she wanted from the safe in the wardrobe, ran back out and made her way to the foyer and found a quiet corner to sit.
Repeatedly, she tried her home number. There was no answer. She tried Brendan’s mobile, but somehow she just knew it wouldn’t be switched on. She punched in her home phone number again and this time left a message for Brendan on the answering machine. “Bren, it’s Mum. Call me ASAP. Don’t leave for Wellington without calling me, please.”
Next, Polly retrieved the airline ticket she’d grabbed from the safe and called Air New Zealand. She hated the automated system and had to listen twice to figure out which button to press to get through to the reservations and cancellations desk. By the time she got through, her agitation turned to irritation and she had to force herself not to be curt with the woman on the other end of the line.
“Kia ora, welcome to Air New Zealand. My name’s Chloe, how can I help you today?” The woman sounded sickeningly sweet and took so long to recite her greeting that Polly had to swallow a spiteful retort.
“Kia ora, I have a ticket from Gold Coast Airport back to Auckland for the day after tomorrow. Is there any chance I can change it and take the soonest flight home, please?” It only took Polly a nanosecond to decide whether to lie or not. “It’s an emergency; I have to get back to my son.”
It worked. Within minutes, the flight was rearranged and Polly was booked on the midday flight home. She looked at her watch. She only had two hours and forty-five minutes before takeoff. She had to pack and check out as soon as possible if she had any hopes of picking up the ticket at the airport and making the flight.
Polly took the stairs and ran up to her floor. The lift was too slow to wait for. At least I’ll burn off some of last night’s food.
When she arrived at her room, the door was shut and the maids had moved on. Polly unlocked the door and ran inside. She grabbed her suitcase from the wardrobe and began, unceremoniously, to throw all of her belongings inside. She did not care what condition her clothes were in when she got home; they’d have to go through the washing machine anyway. All she cared about was getting packed, checked out, and on her way to the airport as fast as she possibly could.
It took a surprisingly short amount of time to clear the room of her possessions. However, this left her with the feeling that she’d forgotten something. Polly forced herself to calm down and go through the bathroom, the wardrobe, and every drawer again to double-check that she had everything. As she opened the drawer by the side of her bed, she noticed her wedding ring glinting at her from the back corner. Her heart skipped a beat, despite not wishing to wear it anymore; she didn’t want to lose it.
Polly attached a padlock to the suitcase and headed out the door with just one glance behind her. She descended to the foyer, desperate to get the checkout completed with as little fuss as possible.
The receptionist was one Polly never saw before. “You’re leaving us?” Is she almost pouting?
“Yes, I have a family emergency and I have to get back to New Zealand as quickly as I can.” She emphasised the word quickly, but was unsure if the woman behind the counter caught her meaning. In fact, after saying that to her, the receptionist seemed to move slower and slower with each passing second. Polly closed her eyes. One, two, three, four…keep a lid on it, Poll. There’s no use in becoming irate, the woman is doing her job and sees no reason whatsoever to speed things along. The emergency is happening to someone else, not her. She is happy in her little receptionist bubble, taking her time and moving so slowly that time is going backwards.
“Could you sign here and here, please?”
Polly snapped out of it and signed the paperwork.
“I just need your credit or debit card no
w, please. The same one you used when you checked in.”
Polly handed over the card, feeling guilty for thinking so poorly of the woman when it was evident she wasn’t truly working so slowly as to make time go in reverse. It wasn’t long at all before she’d completed the checkout and was on her way to the car park. Once her suitcase was in the boot, she backed the car out of the bay and left the premises. Part of her was sad to end the holiday this way, but there was no other choice. She had to prevent Brendan from quitting Uni for good and throwing his life away on some rock band.
* * * *
With the car returned to the rental company and her ticket collected from the Air New Zealand desk, Polly finally allowed herself to breathe easily as she stood in line to check her baggage at the airport. Once that was done, she was officially there and it wouldn’t be long before she was on the three-hour-and-forty-five minute flight back home.
She hoped Brendan hadn’t left for Wellington already. The last thing she wanted was to arrive home and have to fly south to the capital almost straightaway in search of her son.
Once her suitcase was safely on its way to the baggage hold, Polly lost no time heading through security and on to the departure lounge. She was anxious to get moving, but knew fretting and pacing would not make the plane leave any earlier. She forced herself to sit and drink a camomile tea at one of the many coffee shops. She needed to cool it before she bit someone’s head off in her agitation and then got banned from flying.
One or two of the shops caught her eye, and since she hadn’t had a chance to go souvenir hunting, Polly thought she’d kill the remaining time until the flight by doing a little shopping. The combination of the tea and the shopping worked. Within minutes, Polly was lost in souvenir heaven. She picked up and looked at, although didn’t buy, some cute little kangaroos with cork hats. The cuddly ones were tempting. It made her wish Brendan was younger; he’d love something like that. She did buy herself a bookmark and two mugs. She was always breaking mugs at home. And you can never have too many. She smiled to herself as she picked up an Aussie flag one and a kangaroo one, too. As she drew closer to the cashier, the plush koalas caught her eye. Against her better judgement, she picked one up. What the heck? She then saw the t-shirts. Polly had always been a sucker for souvenir t-shirts. She had to have one. However, she couldn’t decide between the gold one, the flag one, and the koala logo one. Laughing to herself, she picked up all three and headed to the cashier with her hoard of goodies, her anxiety about Brendan temporarily forgotten.
Once she paid, Polly headed towards the gates and the security checks. All of a sudden she thought of Brendan as she queued to go through the metal detector arch. She felt bad for being so frivolous and spending money on nonsense. What? You should have been sitting in the corner, wringing your hands in worry? Don’t be daft, woman.
She stepped through the arch, and of course, it beeped. It always beeped and she always had to be patted down. She never figured out why, and an airport was not the place to ask such questions. It’d raise concerns and before she knew it, she’d be interrogated. So Polly kept quiet, submitted to the pat down, and then carried on her way towards the departure gate.
Chapter Sixteen
Although the flight was only three hours and forty-five minutes long, it felt much longer. Polly grew more agitated as time went on. She was desperate to get home and prevent Brendan from making a stupid mistake that he’d pay for the rest of his life.
She couldn’t even bring herself to eat the complimentary meal. Not that she was a fan of airline food, anyway. And I’ve eaten far too much over the past couple of days – enough to feed an army.
The in-flight film distracted her on and off. However, by the time the film ended, she began to bite at her nails. Once she realised what she was doing, Polly grew cross with herself. She’d always seen nail biting as a dirty habit and strove since she was a teenager to stop doing it. She didn’t have a nail file in her handbag and would have to wait until she got home to do anything about them. She huffed and stared out of the window.
She saw New Zealand coming in to view, but it still seemed such a long way away. If she relaxed, she’d realise it would not be long before they touched down in Auckland. However, her mind raced, running through everything she had to do and the most expedient way of doing it in order to get home quickly.
If only Brendan had waited until she returned from Australia to break the news. Polly closed her eyes and thought about how much her life had changed since returning home from New York. It had been almost two months and her life was turned completely upside down. She’d caught Steve with another woman, then had the bombshell dropped that he was also having an affair with her best friend. She’d filed for divorce and started a house hunt. She’d been lucky there, and hoped the dog situation was also sorted out by the time she returned.
A lot had happened and she needed the holiday to Australia. However, that didn’t turn out as planned, either, and it certainly didn’t end the way she wanted it to.
On top of all that was the strangeness regarding the parallels between her life and book. Was she really living the tale she wrote on those pages? Was she imagining it? Do I need to check in at the local nut house? She sighed again. Thank God Nicco didn’t die, though. The thought of him gave her a pang of sadness. He wasn’t a good lover, or even a friend. She wondered why she got with him in the first place. Because he was what I needed right then, I guess. She smiled wryly. I really did write a tacky character in him, didn’t I?
Polly looked out the window again and saw Auckland Airport. In eager anticipation, she put away the tray and fastened her seatbelt for landing.
* * * *
Once the plane landed, there was a delay in getting the passengers off and Polly was so anxious that she felt anger mounting. She knew it wasn’t the airline’s fault and she was the only one who could control her emotions, but she was finding that difficult.
She sat back down in her seat, closed her eyes, and leant her head against the back of the seat in front. She breathed in slowly through her nose and out through her mouth. She felt panic arising within her and the last thing she wanted to do right now was to freak out on a plane full of people.
It took fifteen minutes to sort out whatever the problem was and for them to be permitted to disembark. Polly was so relieved when her feet finally touched the ground that she fairly ran through the terminal building to passport control. It didn’t take long to get to the front of the queue, although she had to maintain her breathing exercises in order not to draw attention to herself. She felt she was acting suspiciously, and the airport was the wrong place for that.
Pulling herself together, Polly handed over her passport and smiled at the officer behind the glass. He merely nodded and let her pass. She shoved her passport back into her bag and picked up her pace as she walked to the baggage collection point.
Her suitcase, luckily, was one of the first ones onto the carousel. However, a rather large man nudged his way in front of her and then pushed his trolley so that Polly couldn’t reach her suitcase if she tried. She nudged him back.
“Excuse me, that’s mine.” She pointed to her case. The man merely looked at her as if she’d spoken double Dutch to him. “Please?” She raised her eyebrows at him as the case drew nearer and nearer. The man did not respond and continued to stare at her.
The woman next to her tutted, “Some people!” She stepped forward and pushed the rude man’s trolley backwards, declaring in a loud voice, “Excuse me!”
Together, she and Polly grabbed her suitcase and hoisted it onto the floor.
“Thank you.” Polly smiled, while the man behind her complained to his wife.
“Some people have no manners,” the woman replied, still using an overly loud tone that the man could hear. She looked back at the carousel and nodded. “That green one there is mine. Would you?”
It was the least that Polly could do. She stepped into the tiny gap the woman had made by pushing
the trolley back and grabbed the suitcase. The man pushed the trolley hard against Polly’s calf and she yelped.
“That was uncalled for, and you know it!” the woman barked at him.
Polly rubbed the back of her leg. She was going to have a nasty bruise.
“Come on; let’s get out of here before he gets really friendly.”
Polly smiled at her. Again, she found herself rescued by a complete stranger. “Thanks.”
“I bet that hurts.” The older woman nodded at her leg.
“Yes, it does, and I expect it’ll be black by the end of the day.”
The woman sighed. “He’ll get his comeuppance.”
“I hope so.”
By now they were passing through the throng of people awaiting their relatives and visitors and heading towards the exit. Polly turned to say thank you again and good-bye to the woman, but found that she too was walking towards the taxi rank. They smiled at each other as they awaited a ride home.
“Which direction are you going in?”
Polly smiled. “I’m going north. I live not far from Wattle Reserve.”
“Oh lovely.” The woman grinned. “I’m heading south. I’m going to stay with my son in Papakura.”
Polly nodded.
“His wife just had twins.”
“Oh that’s lovely. Congratulations!”
“Thank you, dear. My first grandchildren.”
“You don’t look old enough.” Polly felt that was true. There wasn’t a grey hair on her head and hardly a wrinkle on her face. Either she must have had her son very young or he was very young to have a family of his own.