“Truth is stranger than fiction.”
I don’t know who said that, but is it ever true! Sometimes the lives of my extended family and friends seem like something out of fiction. How about you?
On Sunday, My Liege, Eldest Son and I left Youngest Son alone for a few days while we transported E.S. to university. Y.S. had just bought a kayak, and I knew he planned to go out on the lake while we were gone. Thank God my BFF had lent him a good life jacket for the month of September….
M.L., E.S. and I hadn’t driven further than the next town when a storm blew up…just when Y.S. was supposed to be on the lake. We stopped to have lunch with a friend, and I called home to tell Y.S. to phone me to let me know he was still alive.
He was still alive. But what a hair-raising tale! He doesn’t have a skirt for the kayak yet, and the waves got choppy so the kayak began to take on water. He made it to the beach and realized he should head back home. On the way home, he capsized, losing his cell phone and his I-Pod (don’t ask me why he took either out on the lake). His shed half his clothes to make swimming easier, and by the grace of A Higher Being, he managed to rescue his kayak and himself.
It took him three tries to find a family that would help him. The first two wouldn’t give him the time of day. Okay, he was down to his skivvies, but all he wanted was a towel. He’s obviously still a teenager, wears a gold cross around his neck, the lake was very choppy by this point, and the kayak was sitting on the shore. Nope, no one had a towel to lend him.
Finally, the third family, who barely spoke a word of English, took him in. They let him have a short shower, lent him a change of clothes, gave him a cup of coffee and a snack, and let him use their phone to call the father of a friend to drive him home.
Do you believe me? Or is this a tall tale?
Meanwhile, My Liege, Eldest Son and I made it to E.S.’s university town without incident. E.S. has been struggling for a few weeks now to receive back his deposit on the room he intended to rent in a private home. Supposedly that room had suffered damage in a fire. Among other things he was told that the landlady had (a) lost her cell phone (b) had suffered a minor nervous breakdown and was under a doctor’s care (c) wasn’t answering her home phone and might not even be there. Some of these stories came by way of an email from her, others from her supposed “very good friend,” who we now suspect was also her. Promises about the money coming “in 24 hours.” Promises that were never kept.
So. We go to her house. She’s not home. We talk to the downstairs tenant. The fire wasn’t confirmed or disapproved, but neither M.L. nor E.S. could see evidence of it. We left and moved E.S. into his new digs. Before going out to dinner, we returned to Evil Landlady’s house. I stayed in the truck (I tend to have too much compassion for people, even when they’re behaving in a despicable manner). M.L. and E.S. surprised Evil Landlady on her sundeck. She maintained she didn’t have the money and said she’d sent E.S. an email that day. Later, reading the email, E.S. reported that she’d claimed she’d moved to another city—a ferry ride and a drive away!
My son and husband said they would not leave until my son received back his deposit. What do you think—did he receive it back?
What’s his next step? Is she dumb enough to believe he won’t take it?