‘Fifteen minutes, but we might make up the time on the journey. Ah, the gate’s open, time to go.’
Sandra stood up. ‘Ready?’
Patti could see several people were now queuing up by the checkout desk.
‘Ready.’ She slowly got to her feet.
Sandra led the way. Shoulders back determinedly, Patti walked over to the waiting cabin crew, showing them her passport and boarding pass, then they made their way together to the aeroplane. Patti paused at the bottom of the steps, looking up at the plane. ‘I can’t believe that I’m actually doing this.’
‘I’m proud of you. Now up the steps, find our seats and we’ll be off in no time,’ Sandra told her. ‘Do you want to go first?’
‘No, you lead the way.’ Patti picked up her suitcase and purposely followed Sandra up the steps. They’d booked a middle and aisle seat so Patti wouldn’t feel penned in, and as Sandra had pointed out, looking out of the window during the flight could be triggering for Patti, seeing how high up they were. Plus it was easier to get out of their seats and walk up and down – another good distraction technique. Patti had been happy to go along with Sandra’s suggestion, she’d read up about aerophobia and knew that some sufferers could really panic during take-off. She was determined not to, even if she had to grit her teeth and dig her stubby nails into her hands!
‘We need to take a photo of you on the plane to show that you’ve struck off another thing on your bucket list.’ Sandra fished her phone out of her pocket and selected the camera app. ‘Smile!’
Patti gave her a big smile. She was doing it! She was actually flying for the very first time.
She kept calm as the plane taxied across the runway but when the cabin crew gave their talk about safety and what to do in an emergency, she felt her heart race. She could do without them reminding her that the plane could topple out of the sky! She gulped, gripping the arms of the seat as the plane took off. Heck! She was actually doing this! She was in an aeroplane, flying through the air. She took a deep breath, allowing that fact to sink in.
‘Have a boiled sweet to suck, sometimes the pressure as we go higher up – and when we descend – can hurt your ears a bit.’ Sandra held out a bag of barley sugars and Patti took one. As she sucked the sweet, she felt herself start to relax.
‘Fancy doing a wordsearch?’ Sandra whipped a puzzle book out of her bag. ‘We can do one together or one each, which do you prefer?’
‘One together,’ Patti replied.
They chatted away, solving the puzzle, then another one, and gradually her nerves subsided. The cabin crew came around selling duty-free goods, hot drinks and snacks and they had a cup of coffee each, then they watched a film on Patti’s iPad and the time went remarkably quickly.
‘Only half an hour to go,’ Patti said, looking at her watch. ‘That’s gone fast!’
‘It does if you keep yourself occupied.’ Sandra smiled at her. ‘I bet Mary and Keith can’t believe that you’re actually coming to visit them.’
‘I can’t believe it either. I wish I’d done it before. Never mind! I intend to make up for lost time.’
She tried not to think about the landing, and chatted to Sandra about Keith and Mary, and what she knew about wherethey lived, sucking away at another barley sugar, and before they knew it, the captain was announcing they were preparing to land and – with a little bump – they were in Spain.
Patti’s face broke out into a triumphant grin. She’d done it. She’d actually done it. ‘Well that’s another one off my bucket list!’
Sandra took a photo of Patti as she came down the steps of the plane and posted it on their Insta account with the caption:
Well done, Patti. This was top of her bucket list!
Then she added a tick to ‘Get over my fear of flying and go to Spain’ on Patti’s bucket list and uploaded that.
‘We’re acing this bucket list,’ Patti said with a grin.
24
MARY
Mary had spent the last few days tidying the house, and sorting out fresh linen and towels for the casita. She hadn’t seen Patti for a few years and she didn’t know her friend, Sandra, at all. She wanted both women to be comfortable while they were here. She’d got a shop in, stocking up the cupboards and fridge in the casita with basics, though she was planning on taking them shopping when they’d had chance to settle in so they could choose some things for themselves. The gardener had mowed the lawn – something Keith had always done until his heart attack – and Keith had done a bit of weeding and tidying up.
Wednesday morning, she and Keith were both up bright and early, ready for their guests. Mary opened up the blinds and sunshine blazed into the bedroom. ‘Well, that’s a good start,’ she said, taking a few moments to gaze at the view of the mountains in the not-too-far distance. She loved this view.
‘I checked the app yesterday, it looks like they’re going to have good weather all the time they’re here. That makes things easier, we can have barbecues, and sunbathe around the pool.’
‘They’ll want to do a bit of sightseeing too, Keith, but maybewe can alternate days out and then relax around the pool on the other days.’ She turned from the window to face Keith, who was sitting on the bed taking his blood pressure. He took it religiously every morning and every night. She knew from the expression on his face if it had gone up a little. To her relief it was okay today. ‘I’ll go and start breakfast.’
She had just popped four slices of wholemeal bread into the double toaster when Keith came in, wearing patterned shorts and an olive-green T-shirt. ‘I’ll spread my own,’ he said as he did every morning. She had butter, Keith had sunflower oil margarine, and he didn’t trust her not to get them mixed up and spread his toast with butter. Or to spread it thinly enough.
