Excess Baggage by Judy Astley

Author:Judy Astley
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781446487402
Publisher: Transworld

Nine

EARLY IN THE evening the bar was noisier than usual, with the guests assembling before dinner to discuss the notices about the approaching hurricane that had been placed on their beds while they were out enjoying the day. The air was buzzing with against-the-elements jokes along with reminiscences about the Last Lot, for everyone British thought they’d seen the worst a hurricane could throw at them, having witnessed the odd BMW crushed by a falling oak, along with a Sussex hillside of struck-down pines. There was talk of battening down hatches and Dunkirk spirit (this last followed by behind-the-hand sniggers, guilty looks round for German guests and hissings about ‘Don’t-mention-the-war’).

Several anxious souls murmured about contacting tour reps with a view to arranging an earlier flight home, but they were witheringly accused either of a ratlike abandoning of ship or of missing out on a potentially thrilling experience, as if it was merely another unmissable local attraction, rating five stars in the guidebook. A frantic Italian couple were avidly questioning the hotel manager, wanting more precise details than he was able to give. However hard he insisted he didn’t yet know if the hurricane was even heading for the island, the couple pressed him to tell them more, as if he had a hotline to the elemental gods and was deliberately keeping the truth from them.

Simon brought his hurricane instructions into the bar with him and perched on a stool next to Lucy. ‘I suppose we’ve all got these,’ he said, waving the sheet of paper.

Lucy grinned at him. ‘Well I expect so, Simon, unless you think God is directing a special storm just at you.’ Simon frowned. ‘You shouldn’t joke about it, Lucy. There could be serious danger.’ He was in his own element now, she realized, getting ready to orchestrate the family’s survival in the face of disaster.

‘Listen to this,’ he said, reading aloud. ‘“Pack all your belongings in a suitcase, put the case inside the plastic bag provided and place high in wardrobe …”’

‘Amazing, isn’t it?’ Theresa interrupted, arriving just in time to claim the last bar-stool. ‘Surely they don’t really expect us to pack all our stuff up, do they? All the stuff in the drawers, everything off the hangers, I mean if it’s already in the wardrobe …’

‘If that’s what it says …’ The gold lady leaned across and helped herself to cashew nuts from the bowl in front of Lucy.

‘Absolutely.’ Simon was delighted to find an ally. ‘You must do just what it says; after all, the people here have gone through all this before and they know what they’re doing. We’ve got no idea.’

Theresa gave him a look that would have crumpled a non-relative. ‘Thank you Simon, yes I do realize that, but I wonder if it might be a bit over the top, possibly connected with avoiding tricky insurance claims?’

‘We’re all doomed!’ one of the Steves mocked loudly from the far end of the bar. Everyone laughed except Simon and the bar staff, who were too busy dealing with the extra drinks orders that the overexcited guests seemed to need.

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