The great escape

A trip to Manila, like a particularly bad dinner's unwanted leftovers, stared us in the face. And we knew we had no choice but to eat it. Think of those poor starving Sudanese children. No yes or no, just a simple waste not want not. We're going to Manila. Why? For a holiday, that's why. We had leftover Air Asia credit, or something like that, and obviously there was some sort of obligation to spend it despite how none of us wanted to go anywhere at all. So Manila it was.

We carried on with this daydream the way a kid fantasizes about a dentist appointment. It had to be done. Mom fell to booking a hotel and whatnot. Apparently the task of securing our accommodation was so stressful that she yielded to the stress altogether. She couldn't do it, not since three difficult critics never failed to moan and groan, every holiday, about her choice of hotel, itinerary, and destination. She threw in the towel. Dad sure wasn't going to do it. The idea! The remaining two members of the family didn't give two hoots about the state of our obligatory vacation, which, by the way, was on the verge of being canceled. To everyone's delight, it was canceled. Talk about a close shave. So we'd lose the credit. So what? Some things are more important than money.