Wish You Were Here

The postcard from Oliver showing blue sky, golden sand and with the inevitable legend ‘Wish you were here’ was, Sue said, a sure sign that our dream of an idyllic holiday was now a reality.

Her fiancé had booked our flight and reserved first class hotels in Singapore and our ultimate destination, Bali.

My boyfriend Brian had also been invited but he was afraid of flying. With Oliver still abroad, it was left to us or rather to my best friend to prepare for the journey.

“Don’t worry about a thing Cathy, I’ll see to everything.”

And the everything consisted of a complete new wardrobe for both of us and new suitcases. She even did the packing.

The economy flight had been overbooked so we were upgraded to business class. That made the long journey much more comfortable.

I am still baffled by what happened next; the custom officer who searched our luggage was shouting and waving some white plastic pouches.

“A cock-up of some sort’, said Sue, ‘Oliver will sort it out”.

He did not, and was nowhere to be seen.

We are now in the Changi Drug Rehabilitation Complex waiting for our consul to come and rescue us.

© Luigi Pagano