are okay aren't they? What about grand dad Tony? He is almost seventy two now you know?"
The boys jumped in on this by exclaiming in a shocked tone of voice,
"Boy that's old."
and
"How does he still play golf every week?"
Mr. Buttons asserted his parental authority by cutting off any more conjecture. He raised his palms outwards for silence, then said in a more determined tone of voice,
"As I was saying before all those interruptions. We are not going to the beach house this Christmas. We are going .."
The boys could not contain their disappointment. They yelled out
"What no fishing. Ahh Dad."
"I was going to go on our midnight camp trips over the top end."
Mr. Buttons was getting frustrated. Rosemary stepped in to settle down her brothers. She said,
"Let Dad finish then you can howl."
Mr. Buttons now could get out his news. In a clear tone he announced,
"Before anyone else interrupts. (Here he looked at the boys) My announcement is that this Christmas holidays we will be going overseas to Ireland and France.."
Chaos and confusion broke out as all his children spoke at once.
At dinner time that night Mr. Buttons fielded many questions about his decision to go on an overseas family holiday. Most were silly as they came from the boys. After assuring them both that the fishing in Ireland was 'legendary' and getting told off for using oldie words, Mr .Buttons won both boys when he told them about the ghosts of Ireland. The boys were now sold on the idea of going to Ireland but were still not sure about France. Rosemary guessed at why her father wanted to go there as it was where his ancestors came from a long time ago. Rosemary even remembered him talking about a cousin...no second cousin, who still lived somewhere in France. So she said,
"Will you meet your cousin when we get to France?'
Mr. Buttons' face lit up as he replied in a happy tone of voice,
"How clever of you to remind me of that and yes I will make sure we all meet cousin Louisa. She really is my second cousin and I only saw her once when she was sixteen years old. Her parents had come over to Australia for great grandmother de Meur's funeral. She was so pretty in that dress..."
Even in her depressed frame of mind Rosemary was pleased to see her father so happy. She was determined to make herself like this overseas holiday just to please him.
The Buttons family had to be at the airport at three in the morning to catch their flight that was to be the first one out of Sydney for Paris. After Brexit, the flight to Dublin was best done this way. So Mr. Buttons had booked them onto an airline that flew them to Paris via Singapore. Of course the boys wanted to see their airliner before take off, so they went up to the observation lounge. Everyone had their favorite Aussie drink. The wait was filled with exploring the airport and buying comic books. Mr. Button had brought a book. Rosemary had her brand new travel diary to get ready for all the entries she intended to make.
When their gate call came, they all raced to get there fast making sure the boys did leave anything behind. The security measures amused the boys but frustrated Mr. Buttons. Rosemary was interested in the X-Ray machine but had to remove her cross from her back pack to show the security woman it was not dangerous. They then all went to wait for their boarding call. Rosemary was stunned as they walked through the expensive shops that lined their path. Mr. Buttons told the boys to touch nothing. He said to Rosemary in a concerned tone of voice,
"These shops are always expensive. If you see something you like we will try to find it at Singapore. Sorry but our travel budget does not cover any expensive shopping trips."
Rosemary squeezed her Dad's hand to show that she did not mind. She was only window shopping anyway.
Once that they were seated on their plane Rosemary settled into a sort of dreamlike state. She still did not believe that she was going overseas. Other girls in her class had been on overseas holidays. One rich girl went every Christmas and Easter holidays. But for Rosemary this was her first time outside her country,. All sorts of preconceptions flooded her imagination. Luckily her father had gone online to book their seat allocations. He had made sure that Rosemary got a window seat. The boys did not mind because they had found the games consoles available on that airline. The warning about turning off all mobile devices came as a surprise to the children, but at a nod from their Dad, they all shut off communication with Australia. No going back now thought Rosemary.
The takeoff was an experience in itself. Often doctors recommend that depressed people go to high places to get some perspective back into their view of life in general. Rosemary was doing one better. The whole city of Sydney fell away under her plane and Rosemary saw whole siuburbs in all their morning glory. Then a flash of reflected sunlight told her that the plane was now over Sydney's spectacular water views. Beaches she had only ever heard about on news items now were at her feet, Then the plane climbed higher and Rosemary felt the pressure on her ears. Just as suddenly they were up over the clouds. Rosemary saw clouds from a different perspective. In her mood this seemed to calm her nervous imaginations.
They landed in Singapore after a eight hour direct flight. Rosemary was stunned by the amount of desert that she had seen once the plane got away from the eastern coast. The waters between Australia and Singapore seemed peaceful. As the plane announcer reminded them of the new time zone they were now landing into at Singapore, Rosemary closed her travel diary and got all her gear ready for departure. They had been told that the planes would be changed so that they would be boarding an even larger airline for the flight to Paris. The stopover time would be five hours.
The area of Singapore airport set aside for transit passengers was large. Rosemary saw many shops, cafes and even restaurants. There was also a confusing number of departure and arrival gates. Worried that they would miss their connecting flight Rosemary kept an eye on her rampaging brothers as her father tried to find them some dinner.
As it turned out Rosemary's caution was justified and they all ended running for their departure gate. The usual security checks were now becoming routine to these 'seasoned' travelers. They just wanted to get onto their massively large airline and get back up into the air. By sheer luck Rosemary got another window seat. The boys got an even better games console. Mr. Buttons settled down to read his book whilst the light remained on. Rosemary had entries to make in her travel diary. They were all thrilled to be on their way to Paris.
Salvation
As they flew into Paris at seven in the evening, which Mr. Buttons told his children was really five in the morning in Sydney, the lights of that great city seemed to welcome them with open arms. They got through the French customs check surprisingly quickly. Baggage delivery was fast that evening. They then had to get to the RER via the TGV train station according to Mr. Buttons' guide book. The tickets were roughly ten to twelve French Euros. Already Mr. Buttons was having to juggle his Irish pounds with his French francs. Inadvertently getting both at the Singapore Transit Foreign Exchange counter, he had already tried to use the wrong ones when tipping the airport porter. The flow of French was so fast and colloquially Parisian that Mr. Buttons only recognized the words at the end of this triade,
".........................................................