Aunt Bessie's Holiday Read Free Page A

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