Hotel ee/The Escape

You are driving just under the speed limit with one eye on the road ahead and one on the mirror. It's only six o'clock but it's already dark and pouring with rain. On the back seat of your Range Rover, the two children Amy and Jake sit, white faced and holding hands. Other drivers are getting impatient with you so you pull over into an entrance so they can get past.

"Are you okay," you ask when you turn your head. They both nod. "I think we are safe now and I need to stop for a rest," you say as you put the car into drive and pull back onto the road.

A few miles further on, you spot a sign for a hotel and turn into the entrance. There is quite a long drive with big trees on both sides making it even darker until you end up in a dimly lit car park. "Wait there, you say as you lock the car and walk up the steps into a spacious hotel lobby. You are just about to ring the bell at the reception desk, when a young woman appears.

"Do you have a reservation?"

"No, but I wondered if you had a family room available for tonight? Just me and the two children."

She fires up her computer. "I can do a twin," she says. "Can the children share?"

"I'm sure we can sort something out. I'll take it," you say. You pull out the wallet and give her a credit card. The address you give her is real enough, and the name matches the one on the card, even though it's not yours.

Back at the car, you give the kids the good news, take a bag out of the back and they follow you in. "The dining room's open if you want a meal," the receptionist says. You book a table for three in an hour.

The room is nice enough, with two double beds and all the usual facilities. and we all stand in the middle looking round. "How are we gonna manage," Amy says, looking at the two beds for three people.

You shrug. "Up to you. Jake can come in with me, or you two can share."

"We haven't got any night things," Jake says, sitting down on the edge of the bed nearest the door. Amy goes into the bathroom and locks the door behind her.

"We'll find a shop tomorrow. Soap and stuff will be provided and I guess we can manage without brushing our teeth for one night," you say. sitting beside the boy and putting an arm around his shoulder.

Amy comes out and you look her up and down. Her chestnut hair is cut short. She is wearing a white T-shirt and denim shorts that look pretty tight on her. White socks and some kind of fancy trainers cover her feet. "Here," you say and offer her the comb you keep in a pocket.

Jake uses the bathroom as well and you send him back to wash his hands. He is wearing a football shirt and shorts. Some team you never heard of, but small boys can get away with stuff like that. He has trainers too, but no visible socks. It's your turn in the bathroom and your growling stomach takes priority over a shower. You look in the full length mirror and are not impressed. Forty years old and already getting a bald patch. At least you are fairly fit and your incipient paunch hardly shows. Your suit looks crumpled as if you slept in it, but your shoes are shiny.

"Let's go and see what the dining room is like," you say.

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