‘Hello, sir, how can I help you?’ she said for the hundredth time that day. She didn’t mean to be rude by staring at him but she was surprised at how young the man actually was. From far away his slumped figure looked like that of a pensioner. His body was hunched and the walking stick in his hand seemed to be the only thing preventing him from collapsing to the floor in front of her. His skin was very white and pasty, as though he hadn’t seen the sun for years, but he had big brown puppy eyes that seemed to smile at her from under his long lashes. She couldn’t help but smile back at him.
‘I was hoping to book a holiday,’ he said quietly, ‘but I was wondering if you could help me choose a place.’
Usually Barbara would have silently screamed at the customer for making her do this unbelievably impossible task. Most of her customers were so fussy that she could be sitting there for hours with them flicking through brochures and trying to persuade them where to go when the truth is she really couldn’t give a toss where they went. But this man seemed pleasant so she was glad to help. She surprised herself.
‘No problem, sir. Why don’t you take a seat there and we’ll search through the brochures.’ She pointed to the chair in front of her and looked away again so she didn’t have to watch his struggle to sit down.
‘Now,’ she said, full of smiles, ‘is there any country in particular that you would like to go to?’
‘Em … Spain … Lanzarote, I think.’
Barbara was glad; this was going to be a lot easier than she’d thought.
‘And is it a summer holiday you’re looking for?’
He nodded slowly.
They worked their way through the brochure and finally the man found a place that he liked. Barbara was happy that he took her advice into account, unlike some of her other customers, who just ignored every single bit of her knowledge.
‘OK, any month in particular?’ she said, looking at the prices.
‘August?’ he asked, and those big brown eyes looked so deep into Barbara’s soul she just wanted to jump over the counter and give him a big hug.
‘August is a good month,’ she agreed with him. ‘Would you like a sea view or a pool view? The sea view is an extra thirty euro,’ she added quickly.
He stared into space with a smile on his face as though he was already there. ‘A sea view, please.’
‘Good choice. Can I take your name and address, please?’
‘Oh … this isn’t actually for me … it’s a surprise for my wife and her friends.’
Those brown eyes looked sad. Barbara cleared her throat nervously, ‘Well, that’s very thoughtful of you, sir,’ she felt she had to add. ‘Could I have their names then, please?’
She finished taking his details and he settled the bill. She began to print the arrangements from the computer to give to him.
‘Oh, do you mind if I leave the details here with you? I want to surprise my wife and I would be afraid of leaving papers around the house in case she finds them.’
Barbara smiled; what a lucky wife he had.
‘I won’t be telling her till July so do you think it could be kept quiet till then?’
‘That’s no problem at all, sir. Usually the flight times aren’t confirmed till a few weeks before anyway, so we would have no reason to call her. I’ll give the other staff strict instructions not to call the house.’
‘Thank you for your help, Barbara,’ he said, smiling sadly with those puppy eyes.
‘It’s been a pleasure Mr—?’
‘It’s Gerry,’ he smiled again.
‘Well, it’s been a pleasure, Gerry. I’m sure your wife will have a wonderful time. My friend went there last year and she loved it.’ Barbara felt the need to reassure him his wife would be fine.
‘Well, I’d better head back home before they think I’ve been kidnapped. I’m not even supposed to be out of bed, you know.’ He smiled again and a lump formed in Barbara’s throat.
She jumped to her feet and ran round the other side of the counter to hold the door open for him. He smiled appreciatively as he walked past her and she watched as he slowly climbed into the taxi that had been waiting outside for him. Just as Barbara was about to close the door her boss walked in and it banged against his head. She looked over at Gerry, who was still waiting in the taxi to move out onto the road and he laughed and gave her the thumbs-up.
Her boss threw her a look for leaving the counter unattended and marched into the staffroom. ‘Barbara,’ he yelled, ‘have you been smoking in here again?’
She rolled her eyes and turned to face him.
‘God, what’s wrong with you? You look like you’re about to burst into tears!’
It was the first of July and Barbara sat grumpily behind the counter of Swords travel agents. Everyday she had worked this summer had been beautiful and sunny, but the last two days she’d had off it had pissed down with rain. Today was typically the complete opposite. It was the hottest day of the year, all her customers kept on bragging as they strolled in in their little shorts and skimpy tops, filling the room with the smell of coconut sun cream. Barbara squirmed in her chair in her uncomfortable and incredibly itchy uniform. She felt as if she was back at school again. She banged on the fan once again as it stalled.
‘Oh, leave it, Barbara,’ Melissa moaned. ‘That’ll only make it worse.’
‘As if that could be possible,’ Barbara grumbled, and spun round in her chair to face the computer where she pounded on the keypad.
‘What is it with you today?’ Melissa asked.
‘Oh, nothing much,’ Barbara said through gritted teeth. ‘It’s just the hottest day of the year and we’re stuck in this crappy job in this stuffy room with no air conditioning in these horrible itchy uniforms.’ She shouted each word towards her boss’s office, hoping he would hear. ‘That’s all.’
Melissa sniggered. ‘Look, why don’t you go outside for a few minutes to get some air and I’ll deal with this next customer,’ she said, nodding to the woman making her way in.
‘Thanks, Mel,’ Barbara said, relieved at finally being able to escape. She grabbed her cigarettes. ‘Right, I’m going to get some fresh air.’
Melissa looked down at her hand and rolled her eyes. ‘Hello, can I help you?’ she smiled at the woman.
‘Yes, I was wondering if Barbara still works here?’
Barbara froze just as she was reaching the door and contemplated whether to run outside or to go back to work. She groaned and headed back to her seat. She looked at the woman behind the counter. She was pretty, she decided, but her eyes looked tired and drawn as she stared frantically from one girl to the other.
‘Yes, I’m Barbara.’
‘Oh, good!’ The lady looked relieved and she dived on to the stool in front of her. ‘I was afraid you might not work here any more.’
‘She wishes,’ Melissa muttered under her breath.
‘Can I help you?’
‘Oh God, I really hope you can,’ the lady said a bit hysterically, and rooted through her bag. Barbara raised her eyebrows over at Melissa and the two of them tried to hold in their laughs.
‘OK,’ she said eventually, pulling a crumpled envelope out of her bag. ‘I received this today from my husband and I was wondering if you could explain it to me.’
Barbara frowned as she stared at the dog-eared piece of paper