(Chapter 3)
40 minutes to leave the country
Fine. So far so good. We figured 40 minutes is better than no minutes at all; hence, we couldn't be more happy.
Strange looks and stares came upon us everywhere we turned. It must have been way below freezing and we were in t-shirts, jeans and sandals. This was not good. We quickly unpacked and started putting on more and more shirts over shirts and jeans over jeans to the point that we must have looked ridiculous, because the people who were staring started to laugh and to groan about us and all around us. We needed to think, think, damn you! Time was passing and we were nowhere near getting a ride out of there. The cops were watching, oh, sure. They wanted to make sure we were leaving. So bad that they even gave us a ride to the freeway where we were now standing and freezing our asses off. Menacing clouds were threatening heavy rain as the late afternoon progressed. Our chaotic stand came to an end when a tip from a good man sent us scurrying into the city. Suddenly there was hope.
Maybe, just maybe, there was something like five minutes left on our exit clock when the man shocked us with an amazing solution. The plan was to try to get a vehicle from a rent-a-car agency that needed to be driven back to different cities throughout Europe. This was our chance, but a problem ensued when neither of us had a driver license--not a legal one anyway--so here we were, back at square one. As fate would have it, another hitchhiker showed up at the agency trying to get a ride out to Amsterdam. Wasn't that the place where we were going? I suppose "lucky" would be a humble misnomer at this time, because he did have a driving license. In less than two minutes, we filled out all the paperwork furiously, got the gas, the car and the subsequent driver and we were on our way to our destination. The cops who witnessed the whole charade were ecstatic and we left them very impressed with our hustling abilities and broad smiles on each of their faces. But no one was more amazed than we were. After all, if things would have turned out otherwise, we were going to be sent back to banana land in a hurry. That very same day. Lucky. Real lucky....
The End ?
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Great story, Rene . . . . yes, times were different. A lot of courage you had, living hand to mouth like that. When did you settle down? How, where? You did join the army, right? Was that before Amazon tales?
ReplyDeleteA couple of blog suggestions -- go to layout and get rid of the repeat subscribe gadgets you have. Your posts should come right under your header.
To get readers, you can start with Networked blogs on Facebook. Add your blog and then send an invite out to FB friends. That network, and Blogger, too, have tips for getting traffic to your blog, and raising your visibility on search engines. But it does take time. You can also put ads on your blog. I'm not so into networking b/c it takes more work than the writing, and I'm really only interested in keeping a journal for family in the future . . . .
You can also get your blog published in book form for little money.
Thank you, Eva. As usual you come through solid as a rock.
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