Barry greedily licked his lips as the bag slowly made its way around the luggage claim conveyor belt. So far so good. He’d made it past customs and immigration without being arrested or questioned. Now all he had to do was amble through the nothing to declare zone, and he would be set for life. All that remained was for him to reclaim his luggage.
“Mummy, mummy, there it is, there’s our bag!” he heard a young girl squeal just seconds before she ran into him with the baggage trolley. He grunted in pain as the metal frame collided with the back of his calf, almost knocking him to the floor.
“Will you calm down Heaven!” her mum ordered in an almost pleading tone. Turning to Barry the suntanned middle aged woman said, “I’m so, so sorry.”
“It’s alright,” Barry smiled while trying to not to wince. “I know how much of a handful kids can be.”
“Oh they always pick the right moments to go hyper. She’s just excited because I promised she could pull the bag off the conveyor belt.”
“It’s alright mum I already got it,” said an older boy, presumably the lady’s son.
“Nooooooo Damien it was my turn!” Heaven whined.
“Shut up Heaven it doesn’t matter!” Damien moaned.
“Pack it in the pair of you!” their mum hissed. After one last look at Barry she tried pulling the trolley away, until her kids commenced a battle to see who could put their bag on it first.
Barry returned his gaze to the conveyor and saw his dark blue holdall had almost reached him. He grasped the handles and with an expertly timed tug lifted it off. Wasting no time he made his way to the exit. He passed no more than three security guards and two immigration officials, but none of them stopped him. Soon he was passing by taxi drivers with names on cardboard and gaggles of jumping, waving families. He had done it. He was free.
His head still spinning from what he had achieved, the airport terminal seemed to whiz past as he walked to the pick-up point. But he was immediately brought back to earth when he saw the jet black land rover parked down to the right. Clasping the holdall tighter than anything he had ever held, he ran over, opened the door and slid into the back seat. The car was pulling away before he even had chance to put on his seatbelt.
“Well done mate!” said notorious east end gangster Lionel Smart from the front seat, his gold covered teeth on display as a result of how much he was grinning. “Well bloody done. And those mugs said it was impossible.”
“Nah, it was like taking candy from a baby. I was just worried it wouldn’t get on the plane. Can’t believe the X-rays didn’t pick it up.”
“Simply a case of slipping a backhand to some check in clerks at the other end,” Lionel cackled, rubbing his tattooed hands. “Come on, let’s have a gander!” Barry couldn’t stop smiling as he unzipped the holdall, not wanting to keep his boss waiting any longer.
But when the first thing he saw was a teddy bear with a heart shaped nose, he secretly wished he’d kept the bag shut.
“Where’s My Honeybunch?” Heaven demanded, stamping her feet and pouting angrily.
“In my blue holdall right at the top! Now grab your toy and leave me in peace!” her mum ordered, delicately cradling her cup of tea. Immediately looking brighter, Heaven skipped out the room leaving her mum in the company of Auntie Babs.
“They didn’t drive you too mad on the trip did they Cathy?” Auntie Babs laughed, over the sound of Damien’s heavy rock music forcing its way through the ceiling.
With a stressed sounding sigh Cathy replied, “I don’t know what to do with them. You know she almost crippled some bloke at the airport with a trolley. Anyway they’re off for a holiday with their dad next week. Going to the Greek islands apparently, probably out of all the money he should be paying me in child support.”
“Well seems you missed all sorts of excitement. You know there was a massive bank robbery in Madrid just before you left?”
“Really?”
“Yeah, over five million pounds worth of diamonds stolen by armed gunmen, hostages taken and everything. Radio says there’s a ten thousand euro reward for any information leading to their recovery.”
“Oh well a girl can dream eh?”
“Mummy I still can’t find Mr Honeybunch!” Heaven wailed while stomping downstairs.
“For goodness sake Heaven. I said he’s at the top of my bag,” Cathy sighed in exasperation, as a toyless Heaven burst in through the kitchen door holding a small velvet bag.
“But I checked the top of your bag mummy! All I found was this bag of shiny stones.” Heaven outstretched her arm to show off her latest find, but was clutching the bag at the bottom, allowing the hundreds of tiny diamonds to fall out and scatter over the tiled kitchen floor.
Heaven looked at the mess, then looked at the stunned faces of her mum and auntie, and then said nervously, “Sorry mummy.”
Copyright Michael Foster 2012
Copyright Michael Foster 2012
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