O, Fortuna

Chapter 9

Grace was rather slow off the mark when it came time to awaken the following morning, so much so, that when her room service breakfast arrived, she decided to eat her blueberry pancakes in bed whilst watching the news. She had decided to go shopping, buy some more clothes for her extended stay in Queensland but not even the thought of totally dispensing with economy to splash out on designer labels could tempt her any more quickly from the hotel room.

The weight of everything she now needed to carry seemed all the heavier, Grace thought to herself as she dressed, with the more she understood of it all and the phrase ignorance is bliss seemed entirely appropriate. But standing before the ensuite mirror, Grace stared at her reflection, recalling that several months earlier she had been lamenting the sad state of her life with Charlotte and several others of their mutual acquaintance, Gabby and Sid. 

The general consensus reached that evening was that Grace needed to get a new job and laid - not necessarily in that order - and though she had been unable to dispute the appeal of those recommendations, she had been unable to find suitable inspiration on either front. But here she was now, Grace considered as she left the hotel, fate had found her desirous of change and given her the chance to do almost anything she wanted and when she worked out exactly what that was, it was sure to be brilliant. She hoped.

Glad that the service staff in the stores she visited regarded her with little potential sales interest, dressed in her jeans and a t-shirt as she was, Grace was free to browse leisurely and blank out the bustle of the city and the other shoppers. Her spending was not outrageous in any particular store until she noted the Louis Vuitton window and thought about how nice it would be to have matching luggage and be a bit posh for a change, rather continue on the strict diet of practical purchases which she had been on since Melbourne. 

The sales assistant might have thought Grace was just another time-wasting walk-in but after pointing out the third piece of luggage she wanted, the woman's disposition began to change. After Grace impulsively picked out some sunglasses for herself at the sales counter, then leather purses and wallets to take back to her friends, the sales assistant even offered to call her a taxi but Grace shrugged off the offer, telling the woman the hotel was only round the corner and departed the store, her new suitcase full of her day’s purchases, trundling behind her.

It was rather odd, Grace considered back at the hotel as she began packing her clothes into her new luggage, that the act of spending money distracted her but seeing it all now, laid out on the hotel bed, Grace was reminded how brief the tranquilising effects of retail therapy actually were. She was restless now and impatiently swept through the room and ensuite, throwing all the toiletries - her own and the complimentary ones provided by the hotel - into one of the now-empty shopping bags, then stuffed it into her expensive new cabin bag.

She could not get out of the room, the hotel and into a taxi bound for the rental car office quick enough, suddenly feeling like she was an imposter who had stolen an identity and been living it up on someone else's credit card. All completely ludicrous, she realised, there was nothing she had done that she should be ashamed of, so why did she feel so guilty? She signed her name to the hire of a Hyundai, all but threw her bags onto the back seat and programmed her sat-nav to get her the hell out of Brisbane as hastily as the early afternoon traffic would allow. 

Grace had not had a panic attack in months and once she was had driven north enough to get out of suburbia and could see the ocean, she drove in its direction, ignoring the monotone directions being spat out by the sat-nav that she turn around or at the next junction, turn left. She found a beach and walked, barefoot, along the shore for an hour, grateful for the surf lapping up her calves and the sand oozing between her toes with every step.