Aunt Bessie's Holiday

by Diana Xarissa

  “I thought you had us booked in for all sorts of activities,” Bessie countered. “Don’t tell me we’re just going to sit around all week.”

  Doona laughed. “I’ve signed us up for just about everything that is only for adults,” she told Bessie. “But we should still have plenty of time to rest, relax and recover from tonight.”

  “We should have had the party at my house,” John said from his spot at the sink as he finished the last of the washing up. “I did offer.”

  “But you’re trying to get packed up to move,” Bessie replied. “Besides, it’s easier to park down here and this way guests could take walks on the beach if they wanted to.”

  “The only guests I saw walking on the beach were Hugh and Grace,” Doona said.

  John laughed. “Ah, young love,” he said. “I hope those two make it. They seem perfect for each other.”

  Doona and Bessie were quick to agree with the man. Everyone liked Grace and thought she and Hugh were well suited.

  “It would have been nice if Mary could have come to the party,” Bessie said almost to herself. Her friend, Mary Quayle, was still across while Mary’s husband, George, was being investigated by the police. Bessie missed the quiet and shy woman who had become a good friend.

  “I think the investigation should be finished some time next month,” John told her. “But that’s all I’m prepared to say on the subject.”

  Bessie smiled at him. “I’m glad it’s finally wrapping up,” she said. “Remember that I still have that painting in my spare room. I’d love to know what I should do with it.”

  John nodded. “I haven’t forgotten,” he assured her.

  Bessie had been given a painting of Laxey Beach by a man who was currently on the run from the police. She’d been uncomfortable accepting it at the time and now she felt strange about keeping it. Once the police investigation into the man’s business affairs was complete, she was hoping someone would advise her on what she should do with the painting that she loved, but didn’t feel she should keep.

  Now the women joined in the clearing up and they soon had Bessie’s cottage back to its normal spotless state.

  “I hope you both have a wonderful time,” John said as he stood on Bessie’s doorstep, ready to leave. “You know I’m only a phone call away if you need anything.”

  Bessie shook her head. “We’re going to go and relax and maybe paint a picture or two. We won’t need to bother you.”

  “I hope not,” John told her. He gave them each a quick hug and then he drove away, leaving Bessie and Doona to head to bed.

  “Thanks for suggesting I just stay here tonight,” Doona said as she headed for the stairs. “This will be much easier in the morning and it means I can’t oversleep.”

  Bessie laughed. “You’re too excited to oversleep,” she predicted.

  At almost exactly six o’clock the next morning Bessie opened her eyes and smiled to herself. She felt like an eager five-year-old, giddy with anticipation. She went to wake Doona and found her friend already awake and sitting up in bed reading the holiday park brochure yet again.

  “Have you memorised it yet?” she teased.

  Doona laughed. “Only the good parts,” she retorted. “I can name all of the restaurants and tell you exactly which pools are only open to adults. Those are the things that matter most to me.”

  Bessie nodded. “I’ll let you be in charge of planning our days. I’m happy as long as I can eat and take a walk every day.”

  “Neither will be a problem,” Doona said confidently.

  But there was no time for a walk that morning. The two women took showers and got dressed and then finished packing their bags. Doona carried the bags down the stairs and out to her car. They didn’t even bother with breakfast, agreeing that they would eat on the ferry instead.

  The drive into Douglas seemed short as the pair chatted about their itinerary for the week.

  “We’ll go over it properly on the ferry,” Doona said eventually. “I have a complete list of everything I’ve signed us up for. I tried to strike a balance between keeping us busy and letting us relax.”

  “That sounds just about right,” Bessie said happily.

  “Of course, we haven’t had to pay for anything, so if we decide to skip things we’re signed up for, it doesn’t really matter.”

  “But we might be stopping other people from doing that activity,” Bessie said with a frown.

  “I doubt it,” Doona said. “When I rang to make our bookings the woman at the park said that we could probably have just waited and booked on arrival. Apparently the activities for adults are never over-subscribed, especially in mid-October.”

  “Maybe the park will be lovely and quiet, then,” Bessie said.

  “We’ll have to see,” Doona replied. “First, though, we have to get there.”

  They’d reached central Douglas and Doona drove them to the Sea Terminal. She followed the signs for cars travelling on the ferry. They turned around a corner and found a long line of traffic in front of them.

  “Oh dear, I didn’t expect this,” Bessie said.

  “I was warned,” Doona told her. “I haven’t travelled by ferry in years, but Hugh told me all about his trip in August. Apparently there’s lots of queuing.”

  “So I see. No one seems to be going anywhere, either,” Bessie replied.

  “They haven’t started checking people in yet,” Doona said, pointing to the two small booths at the front of the queue. “Once they do, it’s supposed to go quite quickly.”

  A short time later they spotted several men walking towards the booths. It wasn’t long after that the shutters on the booths were opened and the first cars were being checked in. Other men spread out and began directing the traffic, sending cars to each booth as the previous car pulled away. When it was finally Doona’s turn, she handed their ticket to the man in the booth. He entered some information into the computer and then handed her a boarding card.

  “Once you’re on board you can get your cabin keys from the customer service desk,” he told her. “Have a safe journey.”

  “Cabin?” Bessie asked as Doona drove away, following the slow-moving queue that was now snaking away from the check-in area and towards the ferry.

  “It was part of the prize,” Doona replied. “We get use of a cabin on board for the journey, both out and return.”

  “How very fancy,” Bessie said. “I haven’t been on the ferry in many years, but when I did travel across once in a while, I was always quite jealous of the people who’d booked cabins. In my imagination, the cabins were hugely better than the main seating area with the squalling children and the huddled masses.”

  “I’ve never been inside one,” Doona told her. “But at least it’s a bit of private space and they are all en-suite as well.”

  “What a nice surprise,” Bessie said. “I didn’t think this holiday could get any better, but it just has.”

  They’d reached the end of the new line of cars and Doona switched off her engine again. “I suspect we’ll be here for a while,” she told Bessie in response to the question she hadn’t yet asked. “I’m told they load the freight on first.”

  For close to an hour the pair watched as huge container lorries made their way into the belly of the ferry. Some minutes later the front end of the lorry would emerge, leaving its container behind.

  “This is quite interesting,” Bessie said after a while.

  “It isn’t bad,” Doona replied. “And at least we don’t have children with us.”

  Bessie exchanged glances with Doona. In between watching the lorries, they’d both noticed the woman in the car in front of theirs. She was travelling with three small children. After the first fifteen minutes or so, she’d climbed out of the car and tried taking a short walk with the trio, but the oldest child, a small boy of four or five, kept running off and dashing in between cars. When she finally caught up to him, dragging his two small sisters after her, she’d returned them all to the
car and shut them up inside. For a moment, she stood outside the vehicle with the three children shouting inside it.

  “Do you think she’s imagining just running away?” Bessie had asked Doona.

  “I would if I were her,” Doona shot back.

  Instead, the frazzled woman went into the boot of her vehicle and emerged with a box of biscuits. Bessie and Doona could hear the tears turn to shouts of joy as she showed them to the children. While Bessie and Doona didn’t mind the long wait, it was clear to them that the poor woman in front of them couldn’t wait to get on board the ship so that she could let the children run around.

  “I’m even more grateful for that cabin now,” Bessie remarked.

  “Indeed,” Doona replied.

  Eventually the long line of cars began to move slowly towards the ferry. Doona followed the car in front, making her way onto the ferry’s car decks. Bessie looked around.

  “It’s not very passenger friendly,” she remarked as several men directed Doona down the narrow corridor. The cars were packed together tightly, with barely enough room between them for people to get through.

  Doona and Bessie climbed out of the car carefully. Cars were still making their way onto the deck, so the women had to move cautiously towards the nearest stairs.

  “Help me remember that we’re on deck 5A,” Doona told Bessie when they reached the stairs.

  “I’ll try,” Bessie promised.

  They climbed several long flights of metal stairs before finally arriving at a door that said “Passenger Deck.”

  “Let’s find customer service,” Doona suggested. “I’m ready for a bit of peace and quiet.”

  Bessie couldn’t have agreed more. The main passenger lounge looked completely full as groups of people claimed tables and chairs for themselves. In the small children’s play area, it seemed as if twenty small children were fighting over half a dozen plastic blocks. A small sign that read “Quiet Deck” was only just visible behind a man who was shouting for everyone in his party to follow him.

  The women made their way towards the customer service desk. It was located next to a small gift shop where queues of people were waiting to buy fizzy drinks and bags of crisps for the journey. The woman behind the customer service desk looked as if she was already worn out by the demands of the day.

  “But we were told that we could all sit together,” a tall man was shouting at her.

  “All seating in the main lounge is ‘first-come, first-serve,’” the woman said. “I’m sorry that you can’t find seats together, but there’s nothing I can do about it. There might be more seating in the quiet lounge.”

  “So if anyone complains when my six-month old twins start crying in the quiet lounge, I can tell them that you told us to sit there?” he demanded.

  “Sir, if you’d just like to wait a few minutes,” she said, “once everyone is on board the seating tends to sort itself out. I might be able to get a few groups to share to allow you and your party some space. Unfortunately I can’t do anything right now, though. I have to take care of our guests who’ve booked cabins or have other special requests.”

  “Oh sure, take care of them. They’ve paid extra for special treatment. Don’t worry about the rest of us!” he yelled.

  “Sir, as I said, once the ship is fully loaded, I’m sure we can do something, but you’ll just have to be patient.”

  The man opened his mouth to shout again, but he was interrupted by the arrival of a very pretty young woman.

  “Dan, come on, stop shouting at the poor woman. Your mother and I found some lovely people who are happy to share their space with us. It’s all good,” she said.

  “I won’t forget this,” he said crossly to the woman behind the desk. “Next time we’ll fly.”

  “I sincerely hope you do,” the young woman behind the desk muttered as he stormed away.

  The pretty blonde flushed. “I’m so sorry,” she said. “Dan needs a holiday very badly. We both do, really. The twins haven’t slept through the night once in the last six months and we’re both exhausted. He shouldn’t have taken it out on you, though. I’m terribly sorry.”

  “If you need anything, just let me know,” the woman told her. “I hope you enjoy your holiday.”

  “We’re going to spend a fortnight with my parents,” she replied. “I intend to hand the twins to my mother and sleep for the first week.”

  “Good luck,” the woman told her with a chuckle. “What can I do for you ladies?” she asked as she turned to Bessie and Doona.

  Doona handed over their ticket and the woman gave her two keys to cabin 319. “You just need to go up the stairs on either side of the shop,” she told them. “There are lots of signs, you can’t get lost.”

  Having climbed what felt like five hundred steps to get out of the car decks, neither woman was excited by the idea of more stairs, but this was a much shorter flight and the stairs here were carpeted. The woman at customer service was right, there was no way to get lost. They followed signs down first one corridor and then another before they found cabin 319. Doona inserted the key and glanced at Bessie.

  “I hope this isn’t a disappointment,” she said.

  “I’d be happy with a small room with two chairs in it,” Bessie told her.

  “There is that,” Doona agreed.

  The cabin wasn’t exactly a disappointment, but it wasn’t quite as luxurious as Bessie had always imagined. There were four berths, with the top two folded against the walls. Doona folded them down and then found the small ladder that allowed easy access.

  “I can’t resist,” she told Bessie. “I’m going to climb up.”

  She couldn’t actually sit upright on the top bunk, but she laid down and put the small hard pillow provided under her head. “I suppose I could sleep if I had to,” she said eventually.

  Bessie had made herself at home on the bunk on the opposite side of the cabin. There was less than two feet between the two bunks and now she tucked her feet under her to allow Doona the necessary space to climb down.

  “I imagine you don’t want to climb up?” Doona asked.

  “Not even a little bit,” Bessie replied tranquilly.

  As Bessie dug out a book and settled back into the cushions, Doona explored.

  “The loo is nice,” she announced when she returned from inspecting it. “There’s even a shower if you feel as if you’d like one.”

  “I can’t imagine why I would,” Bessie replied.

  “There are tea and coffee making things,” Doona told her. She’d made her way between the bunks and was inspecting the small table at the end of the cabin. “And a few biscuits, as well.”

  “As it’s your holiday, you should have them,” Bessie said generously.

  “We can share them, as it’s our holiday,” Doona replied. She tore open the wrapper and passed Bessie a biscuit.

  “What can you see out the porthole?” Bessie asked before she took a bite.

  Doona looked out the tiny window and shook her head. “Nothing much,” she replied. “There are ropes and things hanging in the way. I can just about make out a bit of Douglas. Maybe, when we’re underway, we’ll be able to see the sea.”

  “I’m more interested in seeing Heysham,” Bessie replied, referring to their destination port.

  “Only four hours or so of sailing time,” Doona told her cheerfully. “I’m sure you brought enough books to last that long.”

  Bessie patted her large handbag. “Of course I did,” she answered. “And a few snacks, as well.”

  Chapter Two

  A few minutes later, however, both women couldn’t resist the temptation to go and stand on one of the outside decks. The ferry sounded its horn and began to move slowly away from Douglas. Bessie and Doona stood for a time watching the town behind them getting smaller and smaller.

  “It’s too cold to stay out here,” Doona said eventually. “I should have brought a jacket.”

  “It’s the wind,” Bessie replied. As they’d ma
de their way out of Douglas Bay the wind suddenly seemed to start coming at them from every direction.

  “I think we should go back inside and have tea,” Doona suggested.

  A strong breeze blew Bessie’s reply away. Instead of bothering to try speaking again, she simply nodded. The friends were settled back in their cabin a minute later.

  “I brought the list of everything I signed us up for,” Doona told Bessie as they waited for the kettle to boil. “I think we’re doing everything we agreed on when we had our planning session last week.”

  The pair had both been busy for several days with packing and making all of the little arrangements that have to be made before a holiday. They’d done little more than chat briefly on the phone for almost a week.

  “That was a week ago,” Bessie said with a laugh. “I can’t remember what we agreed. Tell me what we’re doing, then.”

  Doona dug around in her handbag, eventually pulling out a small notebook.

  “That looks like one of John’s little books,” Bessie remarked. The police inspector always had a similar writing pad to hand for taking notes when he talked to people.

  “He keeps giving them out to everyone at the station,” Doona told her. “He’s trying to get us all to be more organised.”

  “Is it helping?” Bessie asked.

  Doona shrugged. “It was useful for planning our trip, anyway,” she said.

  “Maybe I should get one,” Bessie mused. “I could keep track of all the books I’ve read and the series I enjoy. I read so much these days that I tend to forget titles as soon as I’ve finished a book.”

  “I have about a dozen of them at home,” Doona replied. “I’ll bring you a couple once we’re back.”

  “I’d appreciate that.”

  “Anyway,” Doona said, flipping back the cover of the notepad, “I thought we’d have a quiet night tonight. Maybe have dinner at one of the restaurants, or, if we’re too tired from the journey, get some takeaway or something.”

  “That sounds good,” Bessie agreed. “Although I can’t see us being tired. All we’re doing is sitting around and drinking tea.”

  The kettle picked that exact moment to boil, which made both women laugh. Bessie quickly fixed them each a cup of tea before the conversation continued.