One posh shower and spa
later (courtesy of Mr and Mrs M Douglas in the Master Gold Suite
and Hannah's master key), Jess and Hannah were ready for action.
They nipped to the laundry room and got dressed in their
uniforms.
"Right. We're doing luggage for the first floor." Said
Hannah as they stood in the lift coming down from the top floor
(and laundry). Suddenly, the lift, previously on a straight
course for the 1st floor, stopped.
"What the…?" Hannah looked at the screen above the
door. "Level 3?" The doors opened and two guys were
revealed standing there, one with his finger hovering above the
call button.
"YOU!" Hannah screamed, seriously pissed off.
"Run for it!" The two guys, terror-stricken, careered
off down the corridor.
"Do you think they've broken in?" Asked Jess.
"Maybe they're guests." Suggested Hannah.
"Oh, yeah. Like a nice establishment like this would let in
YANKS."
"Shall we chase
after them?" Hannah thought aloud. "Maybe not…that
facilities manager will skin us alive."
"Yes. And I haven't got my hunting spear." Said Jess.
They pressed the lift button to close the doors and stood in
silence. Jess and Hannah both began to think about how rich this
hotel could be. Not only was everything either made out of
something coloured gold and shiny or something that looked like
diamante, yet more sparkly, but the music that was playing in the
lifts sounded like a really professional rendition of
Tchaikovsky's 'The Nutcracker'.
Suddenly the lift stopped again and the panel displayed level 2.
"Oh, which pleasant customer is going to join us now?!"
Hannah said, then squeaked as the doors opened to reveal Daniel
Johns and Chris Joannou holding their swimming trunks.
"Oooo-ho-ho." Said Hannah. "THIS is awkward."
Chris and Daniel stepped into the lift.
"Which floor?" Asked Daniel, raising a finger to the
panel of buttons.
"Oh, I don't know…how about the floor of betrayal,
abuse and PAIN?!" Asked Hannah, angrily.
"1st floor, if you would, Daniel," Said Jess, calmly.
Daniel pressed the button and the doors closed.
There was a silence. Hannah looked at Daniel. Daniel looked at
Chris. Chris looked at the floor. Jess pondered as to why Chris
wasn't looking at her.
The doors opened with a ping. Hannah and Jess walked out, one of
them (I'll let you guess which) giving Daniel a well-placed kick
on the way out.
Just as they wheeled out their baggage trolley two figures came
hurtling down the staircase next to the lift. They stopped and
stared at Jess and Hannah.
"GO BACK! GO BACK!" They turned tail and fled back up
the stairs.
"We should really report them, or something." Muttered
Hannah.
Half an hour later, Jess
and Hannah were uneventfully lugging around luggage so we'll just
skip 3 hours, when Jess and Hannah had finished and had reported
down at reception.
"You called?" Hannah asked the lady they had met on
their first day of work.
"Yes, there's a special delivery package that needs to be
taken up to room 343."
"It's for a Mr S Astin and a Mr D Monahgan." Hannah
read off the label.
"You have to be very careful with it – it's very
fragile."
Hannah and Jess walked off towards the lift. Hannah held it by
her ear and shook it. "Sounds like broken china."
The lift opened and a woman who looked like a supermodel walked
out. They walked in and pressed button 3. The doors closed and
headed up. Once on level three they walked along to the door of
room 343 and knocked.
The door opened.
"ARRGH!" Dominic screamed. Sean screamed. Hannah
screamed. Jess was going to scream but thought better of it
(there was enough screaming going on already).
"YOU! It's YOU!" Hannah yelled when she'd
finished screaming.
"DON'T HURT US, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD!" Dominic cowered
in the doorframe.
"Oh, for heaven's sake, have your package and shut up."
Jess handed them the large box. "It's really heavy. What
have you got in there?"
Sean put the box down and undid the top.
"No sure…ARRGH!" He jumped as polystyrene went
everywhere and a person jumped out of the box.
"Oh, hi, Elijah." Said Dominic, visibly relieved that
it wasn't more of Jess and Hannah's armed psycho-women.
"Sign, please." Jess handed Dominic a pen and
clipboard. He snatched them as if she'd bite him, signed quickly
then practically threw them back at her.
Hannah snapped her
teeth at them and they all jumped back a metre apart from Elijah
who still had one leg in the box and fell backwards.
� Jess and Hannah 2002