Eudaimonia: Maya's Journey

Summer Time

Maya had managed to survive her parents wrath and live without her phone for three weeks.

The TV was on and Matthew was watching from one eye. He was anticipating the long road ahead to get to their holiday destination whilst the TV presenter was going on, "Natural disasters have never been so frequent. Storms, Tsunamis, earthquakes, droughts all across the globe..."

Holidays! It was the opportunity to release the stress of a whole year of hard work, this year especially as he had been promoted to line manager. It was a new role that he was proud of, but it was highly demanding. Twenty long years spent in the post office, where he had started as a postman and slowly worked his way up into IT, and now he was managing the department.

Meanwhile, his wife Consuela, a Colombian with a hot temper who was always nervous, always under the impression she was missing something, was naturally worried and she couldn't help reviewing her list over and over. A Personal Assistant in a small law firm she was meticulous and applied, no details escaped her. She had planned this for months and wouldn't forgive herself if she'd missed anything.

"Socks, trousers, shirts, bathing suit, toothbrush, sun cream, razor blades, aftershave, deodorant... OK, Matt is all set," she thought out loud. "The kids must be almost done packing."

"Tom," she yelled.

Tom, eighteen, was the eldest child, a tricky age where going on holiday with your parents sucked. However, because he failed his A levels and had to retake them, it eroded the confidence his parents had had in him and he lost the right to tour Europe with his friends. Instead, an exciting summer of studying lay in front of him. And this was even before considering his girlfriend Claire, the love of his life. They were desperately in love, a love his mother did not encourage and blamed for his academic failure.

As Consuela entered the room she asked him if he was ready.

"All set Mum!"

"And Oliver?"

"Don't know Mama, ask him!"

The complete opposite of his brother Tom, Oliver had just turned seventeen and reached his final year of high school with good grades and he was destined for a bright future in science, especially anything linked to space. His fantasy was to establish contact with aliens one day, and in fact this little genius had already created a device capable of emitting radio waves into space. However, it was at a price as he had close to no social life and his siblings never missed an opportunity to remind him of it. Which must be said was lost on him, because he was surprisingly well in his own shoes.

Oliver was also set. Let's hope Maya is the same, thought Consuela.

Maya was the baby of the family and never to be seen without her phone. She had a real gift for sports, but a strong head and it was impossible to get anything out of her without arguing for hours. It was a shame she didn't show the same determination when it came to school, which often made her mum despair.

In their flat in Croydon, South London, the atmosphere suddenly became very agitated as Maya entered her brothers' room in a fury. She was often picked on by her brothers and today she was full of rage because they had hidden her luggage.

"Where did you hide it, you donkeys?"

Tom and Oliver burst into laughter and laughed so much that they were soon rolling on the floor.

Consuela with her Latin temperament did not have much patience. "Me que es happening? Why all this noise? Your abuela in Colombia can hear you."

"They stole my luggage Ma!" cried Maya.

"Give it back to her," she ordered. "And stop wasting time picking on your sister you tontos, we need to sleep," she added.