The Sunny Bridesmaid. Diane Redmond

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      On the day of their departure, the whole family were up at dawn. They were blearyeyed but very excited. Gran had repacked her suitcase five times and still hadn’t enough room for her knitting! Mum’s wedding hat was in a box that Dad sat on twice! Molly’s pink dress was in a suitcase on top of her other clothes and Dad had lost the key to it!

      The groom was the most relaxed of all. His outfit was waiting for him in Australia, so he didn’t have anything to worry about.

      At the airport Molly anxiously put her precious suitcase on the check-in counter.

      “Where will it go?” she asked.

      “In the hold of the plane,” the check-in assistant replied. “It’ll be perfectly safe,” she added with a reassuring smile.

      Molly watched her suitcase shunt along the moving ramp then disappear into a dark hole with all the other bags and cases. She worked out how many hours it would be until she had her hands on the case again. Twenty-seven and a half hours! Goodness, what were they going to do in the plane for that long?

      In fact, the time whizzed by. There were so many films to watch and so many meals to eat. They slept a lot, played cards and when there was nothing else to do Molly gazed out of the port-hole window and watched the sun go down and the moon come up.

      When they landed in Australia Molly was wild with excitement. She couldn’t wait to get off the plane and reclaim her suitcase. It seemed like ages before they were allowed into the airport building where Molly ran to the luggage area. Holding her breath, she watched the luggage from their flight tumble onto the carousel. Rucksacks, boxes, holdalls, trunks, cases and parcels. Round and round they went. Mum’s case. Dad’s case. Gran’s case. Luke’s case. Dad’s video case. Luke’s rucksack. Mum’s precious hat box. Round and round … until there was nothing left at all. By this time poor Molly was in floods of tears and Mum was complaining loudly to an airport official.