TRAVEL BUG TALES: A TROPICAL THUNDERSTORM
Into each life some rain may fall. You might say we had a little shower while we were in Grand Bahama.
The First Phone Call
We’d had dinner and were waiting for the guys we’d met that day to come join us. While we’d been given tickets for all the activities we were supposed to attend at the resort, we’d learned early on that one’s presence was enough to get you in. No ticket was needed. So the guys were going to come see the show with us and then we’d hang out.
As we waited in the lobby, a staff member said we had a call and it didn’t matter which one of us took it. I’m pretty sure it was Francis who talked to them, because she was the organizer on our end. The borrowing of the car was not going as planned. We were to go on to the show and they’d be along a little later.
I was actually quite relieved. It was the age of the pick-up. There was a sort of game going on where guys must have gotten points for obtaining phone numbers, but were put in the penalty box for using them. The fact that we’d actually gotten a call boded well. We went to on to the show and watched native dancers, swords and a lot of fire.
The Next Phone Call and the One After That and…
We left the show with a skip in our hearts, but instead of three guys waiting in the lobby, we had a message. They were still working on getting to our end of the island, but things were not exactly going well. They’d make the next call to our room.
Now this day and time, we’d be texting like nobody’s business. We’d already be friends on Facebook, Twitter, SnapChat and Instagram. Uber would have made getting to our side of the island both easy and cheap. Millenials have no idea what they are missing!
I don’t remember how many calls were exchanged after that, but they got the car, then it broke down. They found a taxi driver who would come out there and then the guy changed his mind. We got tired of dancing attendance on the phone and suggested we try again tomorrow. That’s when we found out they were leaving the next day. It was now or never.
I was trying to keep it light, but somewhere along the way it was Michael that called and he wanted to talk to me. A humdinger of a storm had hit and there was no way they could make the 30 mile trek out there. The storm wasn’t out our way yet, so at first I thought it was just a blow off call and I teased him about it. Before I could get off the phone the wind picked up and it was obvious we were in for some violent weather.
I can’t remember exactly what Michael said to me that evening on the phone. He seemed genuinely distraught. He reiterated all the reasons we’d clicked and none of them had anything to do with looks. I can’t even remember if it was business or the military or just the end of a vacation that was taking them away, but whatever it was, he and I both regretted it. We marked it up to fate and went on with our lives, but when I’m playing what-if with myself, that evening is one I entertain.
Since those days of innocence the cynical side of me has suggested he was probably married with three kids, a dog and a mortgage. Who knows? Maybe that’s so. But who knows, maybe it’s not. Whatever the case, this vacation had just delivered another blow.
We’d been there three days and each one offered more in the way of disappointment than anything else. Was my love of travel going to be able to withstand all this? Come back next week and find out.
jane sadek 