Oh, I Do Like to Be... by Marie Phillips

Author:Marie Phillips [Phillips, Marie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781783526772
Publisher: Unbound
Published: 2018-11-27T05:00:00+00:00

13.

Sal was so frustrated she was close to tears. The woman at the counter was refusing to take the tickets back, even though Sal had only just bought them, and had explained to her that it was all a misunderstanding with her brother.

‘But we’re not going to use them,’ said Sal. ‘We won’t be on the train. Other people can sit in our seats.’

‘The tickets are non-refundable,’ the woman said again.

‘Yes,’ said Sal, ‘you’ve said that. Quite a few times. But I don’t understand why you can’t give us our money back when we’re not going to use the tickets. It’s not like when you buy a dress and you change your mind and try to take it back, but you’ve already worn it and it smells a bit of armpits. We’re not going to travel so we shouldn’t have to pay.’

‘The tickets are non-refundable.’

The woman, Sal thought, looked like she might smell a bit of armpits, but she didn’t know for sure, because she was sitting behind a plastic screen with only a little slot underneath to pass money and tickets back and forth.

‘Can we swap them for different tickets to somewhere else? Or to the same place on a different day?’

‘The tickets are non-exchangeable,’ said the woman.

‘What’s going on? Did you buy the tickets already?’ Sal turned. It was Bill (or she had no reason to believe it was anybody other than Bill).

‘Yes, I told you,’ said Sal, ‘but I got train tickets instead of theatre tickets, so I was trying to give them back except this lady won’t take them.’

‘The tickets are non-refundable,’ said the woman.

‘We don’t need to give them back. I just messaged you that we need to leave right away. Don’t you ever check your phone?’

Sal pulled her phone out of her pocket to check for messages. Billy stared at it for a moment.

‘Is that your phone?’ he said. ‘Your phone is blue?’

‘Yes. I don’t have any messages from you, though.’

‘Um … that would be right,’ said Billy. ‘Because I didn’t send you any.’

‘But you just said that you just messaged me.’

‘Yes. I was confusing you with someone else.’

Sal began to feel worried. Bill might insist that he hadn’t been acting weird, but he was definitely acting weird, and she didn’t know what to do about it.

‘How could you confuse me with someone else?’ she said. ‘I’m your sister.’

‘I … ah … it’s complicated.’

‘Are you two planning on buying any tickets?’ said the woman behind the counter. ‘Because people are waiting.’

Sal and Billy glanced behind them. An old man in full hiking gear was standing there.

‘That’s not people,’ said Billy. ‘That’s one person.’

‘Bill …’ said Sal.

‘I’m waiting too,’ said the woman. ‘I’m waiting for you to make up your mind. So him and me together, we’re people.’

‘You’re in customer service and I’m a customer,’ said Billy.

‘You’re only a customer if you buy something.’

‘My train’s in five minutes,’ said the man in the hiking gear.

‘Bill, let’s get out of the way,’ said Sal. She turned to the woman behind the counter.

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