Mrs Bennet's whale

Monday, October 27 08

Mrs Bennet was apprehensive about entering the dark mouth of a multi-storey car park. She felt she was being swallowed whole by a giant beast then left to nervously navigate sharp bends of its intestines.
If she was lucky she was deposited unscathed at the bottom. Today she had obviously upset its delicate stomach.
At the ticket machine, she slipped the piece of card through the appropriate slot and waited for the computer to tell her how much she owed.
“Duration of stay: 2 days, 31 minutes. To pay: £10.80.”
“What? You must be joking!” cried Mrs Bennet in disbelief. She looked helplessly at the Miss Twin Bennets who were objecting that their chariot had stopped. Ordering herself to stay calm, she pressed the button labelled “call for assistance,” and was promptly and politely told: “Your call is in a queue, we will come to you shortly.”
Mrs Bennet didn’t feel polite after the voice repeated its message for the third time. By then other ticket holders were congregating around the talking machine. Like her they longed to get out of the dark beast’s belly. Rummaging in her back pocket, Mrs Bennet discovered another ticket and more importantly the reason for the confusion.
“I don’t believe it! Mr Bennet came to town on Saturday and I’ve only gone and put his old ticket into the machine. No wonder the machine thinks I’ve slept here for two nights!”
In laughing at her own mistake Mrs Bennet calmed herself down and noticed a cancel button she hadn’t spotted earlier. She pressed it and Mr Bennet’s ticket was returned. Mrs Bennet jumped as the machine, bereft of its £10.80 suddenly spoke.
“Can I help you?” asked the husky male voice from inside the tin box. Mrs Bennet expected Mr Darcy to open the door and walk out.
“No, it’s OK. I’ve been told I’ve been inside this car park for more than two days and I assure you that is not the case. I put the wrong ticket in, sorry,” she said, hating to admit her stupidity to the invisible man.
“No problem. Glad everything’s alright. Take care,” replied the kind voice.
Driving away, five minutes later, Mrs Bennet felt like Jonah after the whale spat him out – embarrassed yet relieved she was still intact.