stella face

part 11

I went in a hotel bar on Indian Creek Drive asking for work anything to make some money. When I met the pool and maintenance guy and told him my situation he offered to help me.  I could stay in a cabana and put out the sun beds at the pool.  I was also to give out and launder the towels.  He would feed me and hide me and keep me there till I got money from home.

I had to get out of that apartment with those guys. I went by my gut instincts about this guy.  So I let him come and get me and my stuff out of there that day. I move in to the cabana. He made a bed up with clean sheets, brought me a big meal and showed me the ropes of what I would be doing in the morning. He said good night and left.

I walked outside and sat at the water’s edge, the moon was huge and so bright against the black sky.  The breeze rustled through the palm trees, I thought this was the most beautiful place on earth.  I think it was in that moment that I fell in love with this place and could not imagine going back to England. That feeling did change when in the night I had my first experience with the dreaded palmetto bugs. I saw something crawling across the floor and I was in shock. I had never seen a bug so huge, so horrifying and then as I threw my shoe at it I could not believe my eyes as it started to FLY I mean it was Flying are you kidding me that is like the worst thing you can imagine in your worst nightmare .I know they say everything is bigger and better in America but this is ridiculous, get me on the first plane out of here I did not think I could live in Florida with these creatures.

The next morning however I woke up and started putting out the sun beds, meeting and greeting the tourists staying in the hotel many of whom were from England so I felt good speaking with them. Taking care of getting them with clean dry towels and umbrellas was fun. They gave me tips and I started to make some money. They also let me use their hotel rooms to shower which was a big help.

After a few weeks, I met a lady who was originally from England but had lived here for years.  She befriended me and offered to let me come and stay with her. She had a very nice 2 bed room apt on Normandy Isle.  I did the cooking and cleaning, laundry etc. in exchange for staying with her and we became friends.

I still did not get any money from my brother who was supposed to be buying my house. I found out he not paid the mortgage. He had worked done on the house and did not pay for it. He was about to go in to foreclosure. Long story short family sold the house paid of the debt.  Mum took every penny back out of it for the vacation we had come on to Miami.  They divvied up all my furniture, my clothes, my collectable’s, my incredible record collection and they sent me what was left $500.00.

I lost everything I had worked for all those years but I was here in Paradise about to start a new life a better life.  Now I needed an extension on my visa and a green card so I could stay here and get a job.