Kindness of Strangers
My husband and I were living on the island of Mallorca for a year
while he was a backup musician for the Drifters. We decided one
summer day to rent a car and see the far side of the island. On our
way back from our explorations, we saw an inviting beach at the
bottom of a cliff. The water was glistening, crystal clear and we
were hot from our travels. The presence of cars and people at the
bottom of the steep road led us to believe that we could make it
down. About 1/2 way down the dirt road, we chickened out, parked the
car and trekked down with only shoes, gear and T-shirts. We had the
most amazing time snorkeling - diving under ancient arches and the
looking face to face with fish in the pristine water.
After a long snorkel and swim, we got back to shore and dried off
only to realize that somewhere, under one of those arches, lay the
keys to our rental car - those same keys that had been in my
husband's swimsuit pocket. I spared no words or hysteria in telling
my husband what a crisis we were in and how he caused it.
A trio of Spanish tourist girls sat a few feet away and watched my
tirade. Since they didn't speak English, they had to decide amongst
themselves if we were just sparring or if something was REALLY wrong.
They chose the latter and came over to offer their help. My husband
speaks a little Spanish and communicated our dilemma. These nice
girls piled us in their subcompact and drove us across the island
back to the car rental facility.
Somehow, in my T-shirt and swimsuit, with no ID, no money and very
limited Spanish convinced the guy to give me another set of keys to
the car and rent me (at full price) another car to drive back across
the island.
When we got back to the car it was pretty late. By the light of a
full moon, we wandered down the dirt path to the abandoned car. We
were correct in thinking that the car wouldn't be happy making it
back up the hill - I doubt if it has much of a clutch after my trip
back up the extremely steep hill.
We were rescued by not just the friendly 3 tourists but also the
strangers at the car rental place.
To make the day even more memorable, on the way back, as I followed
my husband through town, I noticed that he was driving the wrong way
down a one-way street. I had a choice - follow or lose him. Luckily
we made it safely down that road to a nice little pub where we sat
and watched the ending ceremonies of the Olympics.
Amy
PS - I really enjoy your weekly show!
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