Just My Luck(6)
On one page it says: red onions, gravy granules, bleach. On the next it says: Dad – Ferrari, Emily – holiday to New York, Logan – swimming pool (plus house), which was written as an afterthought when it was pointed out to him that we don’t have room in our garden to dig a swimming pool. Mum – new sofa. I don’t think Mum has the hang of this game; Dad had said he’d get us anything we wanted, anything at all, and that was the best she could come up with. When we all laughed at Mum and told her to think bigger, she got a bit huffy and said, ‘Well, our sofa is quite lumpy, we really do need a new one.’ Hilarious.
Dad said he’d book New York in the next day or two. He would have done so last night but he said the sort of style we want to do it in would more than max out his credit cards and the money from the lottery isn’t in their account yet. We’re going to fly first class. Obvs none of us have done that before but Dad says that’s the only way we are going to travel from now on. We looked at some amazing hotels, didn’t know where to start. We put in the search ‘Best 5-star hotels in New York’. We couldn’t decide. They were all out of this world. Unlike anything we have ever stayed in. Well, we don’t usually go on hotel holidays. Mum has a friend from work who has a flat in the south of Spain, we usually go there. She gives us ten per cent off the price that’s listed on the Owner Direct site. We stayed in a bed and breakfast when we did a city break in Edinburgh. It was nice; fluffy towels with a good-size TV in the room but these luxury hotels that we looked at in New York are something else! They all have spas, rooftop swimming pools, club lounges and amazing restaurants in cool subterranean basements. They are so stylish I don’t believe in them. We didn’t know which to pick and just kept jumping around from one site to another. Sort of overwhelmed.
In the end we chose the Ritz-Carlton, because we’d all heard of the Ritz and know it means posh. Mum and Dad kept singing some crazy old song about ‘Puttin’ on the Ritz’. They didn’t seem to know the song very well though as that was the only line they sang, but when they petered out, they just howled with laughter because it was a unique, unprecedented, amazing day when we all thought everything was funny! Maybe, and I really want to believe this, maybe none of us will ever be angry or sad or irritated ever again. Not for real.
The hotel is right next to Central Park. I have always wanted to go to Central Park since I watched this old show Mum likes, Friends. The Ritz-Carlton is the most elegant, chic place you could imagine, ever. Dad said Logan and I can have our own rooms; we don’t even have to share. Mum and Dad will get a suite, so we all have somewhere to chill after we’ve spent the day shopping on Fifth Avenue, which features on like every chick-flick ever. I literally can’t wait!
Yesterday really was the most perfect day I’ve ever experienced. Dad quickly got bored of sitting around thinking about how we could spend the money; he wanted to get out and actually spend some. Mum made another call to the lottery company and once they absolutely, definitely double, treble confirmed that we had won, she said we could get a train into London and go to the big Topshop on Oxford Street.
You know, she still bought the family-saver ticket. Dad teased her about that. ‘No point in wasting money,’ she replied, primly.
In Topshop I just went wild. Dad said I could have anything I wanted in the entire shop. Anything at all. ‘We can afford anything and everything,’ he laughed. I tried on about a thousand things. We told the shop assistant we’d won the lottery. Once we convinced her that we weren’t messing, she said I could take any number of garments into the changing room, even though the usual limit is eight. I can’t even remember what I bought in the end. Loads of the Ivy Park’s workout pieces, a little boxy bag that is so cute, earrings, a leopard print cap, some sun dresses, shorts, quite a few tees. I lost count. Most likely over twenty pieces. Maybe thirty. I’m not actually certain where I’m going to wear it all but I guess we’ll be going to more fancy places now and so I’ll have opportunities to dress up. Logan did the same in Topman. He bought the same T-shirt in four different colours because he couldn’t decide which he liked best.
I finish my cereal, wash out the bowl, then pick up my mug of tea and drag myself back up the stairs. Back in my room I lay out all yesterday’s purchases on the floor and bed. I can’t believe I have to put on my boring school uniform.
There’s a tap at my door. I’m expecting it to be Mum, coming to tell me to get a move on, hop in the shower, dash for the bus but it’s not Mum nagging, it’s Dad smiling. Logan is hanging around in the hallway, still wet from the shower with a towel wrapped around his waist. He’s obviously not in a hurry either.
‘Hello, princess.’
I beam. ‘Hiya, Dad. Just looking at my stuff again. I still can’t believe it. Can you?’
‘Not really.’ He grins and rubs his hair with his hand, something he does when he’s really chuffed with life. Logan is punching the air, something he has done on a more or less continuous basis since they told us the news. ‘Look,’ says Dad with a reluctant sigh, ‘your mum wants me to remind you to keep this to yourself, at least for the moment.’
‘I know, I know. She’s said.’
‘She’s just worried about people’s reactions.’
‘Why so?’ asks Logan.
‘Oh, you know, people can be jealous or just weird.’