Chapter 12

The New Direction

I had spent a week at Patti and Rob’s getting settled into my details for my new work for my next season.

 Claire and I had kept contact throughout the summer and she had moved into her dad’s down in Key West. She had begun working with a dive boat that also did lobster fishing . The captain had a friend on another boat that needed a first mate. Claire had convinced her dad that I would be the perfect roommate since I would be on the boat most of the time. He wanted 600 dollars a month for room and board to go towards the bills and in return I would share a room with Claire and her younger sister. Since the season would consist of me being on the boat for most of the time I was happy to just have a place to rest my head. Claire’s dad Mike did not like me and I could feel it but the feeling was mutual. I figured he jacked up the price just to deter me but once I was willing to pay it he figured at least most of his rent was paid.

When Sara was alive he used her constantly to pick up the slack and finances with his other children and I helped her many times in covering those expenses. He knew I had his cards and didn’t like that I saw through his fake niceties with everyone else. Claire was still in the shade of her fathers dealings and I wasn’t about to bust that bubble. 

I moved in with just a duffle bag and met the captain I was to work for the next day. Christian was average height, around 5’7” and toned. He had dark brown hair with sun kissed ends and brown eyes. Christian was like the big brother you always dreaded. He had a constant teasing attitude with a hint of little man syndrome, but otherwise was pretty chill. His friend, Claire’s captain, was named Lobster Lee. Lee and Christian had been friends for years and they acted like the two brothers that would terrorize each other. It was quite comical to watch their banter. Lee was a little bit older and around the same height and build. You could tell that Christian had a slight crush on Claire but knew she was too young for him. Lee was straight professional when it came to Claire and had his own girlfriend who was a teacher on the island.

Christian and I got along quickly. He joked that I made him feel smaller on his own boat. We went over how he liked to run his ship and how he wanted to do more fishing down in the Tortuga’s. I was completely on board. The less time I spent at the apartment the better. The apartment was a 2 bedroom with a small kitchen/ living room and a small porch on the 2nd floor of a house that overlooked the local cemetery. In all honesty, the cemetary was the highlight. Living with Mike was the buzzkill. I shared the room with Claire and her sister who were there most of the time but her sister would go visit her mom up in Lauderdale more often. The room was small so we had foam mattresses that were on the floor next to each other with our bags of clothes up against the wall. The living room was really just extra space in the kitchen and the tv was a little 18 inch with the rabbit ears. Other than that there was a computer desk and chair where Claire’s sister resided the most since she was usually talking to friends in chat rooms then. It was bare minimum to pay 600$ but I knew that was mainly for Mike to pad his pockets so he could drink more. I didn’t care. As long as we kept ourselves separate, I was good with it. 

I had looked into the local tattoo shop for work but they didn’t have much need for a piercer. They told me I could come in when I wasn’t on the boat to learn whenever possible. 

Life got busy. I’d wake up at 5:30 am , get dressed, and ride my bike down to the coffee shop next to the marina. I would get a Cafe con leche from the local shop and then make my way to the marina. 

(I still love the smell of a good cafe con leche and that smell always brings me back to that little shop.) Once there I would meet up with Christian and hop on the boat to start our day. On days where we stayed close he showed me all the local spots and introduced me to the other locals on the water. 

After a long day on the boat we would dock back up and meet up with Claire and Lee to have a drink at the end of the day around 6 or 7 pm. Claire and I would then go home to cook dinner and see what trouble we could get into down on Duval street. It wasn’t long before Christian realized he could completely trust me in the boat handling and that I could fish right alongside him with a yoyo rig. We got to the big trips fairly quickly.

 The trips would be anywhere from 4 days to a week and a half. Christian and I would load up the boat the night before with the groceries and leave at first light. The Tortugas were just a 5 hour boat ride due west from the tip of Key West. We always joked that 5 hours south was Cuba and 5 hours west into the Gulf of Mexico was Fort Tortuga.  Christian and I would brew a pot of tea  and set off on the water. 

The ocean was the perfect mind eraser. I would set course and we would put a cd of Carlos Sanatana in the player and just stare off into the distance. There was something so therapeutic about it all between the music and the rhythm of the ocean.The dolphins would dance in front of the boat and from time to time you could catch sight of a leatherback turtle or a whale shark. It was pure heaven, besides having Christian there. From time to time we would stop along the route for some diving and early fishing for lunch or something to save for dinner. I loved being in the middle of the ocean with no other outside distractions. 

Fort Tortuga was always the first destination. We would cruise into the fort’s little cove and set down anchor for the night. All the local fisherman and lobster trappers docked up in the cove. It was their social meet up time every night. Once there, it was now time to hit the radio and find our hook up for the next morning with the local Velco fleet. The Velco fleet were all shrimp boats that circled the Fort’s sanctuary boundaries and every morning they pulled their nets. They sorted the catches for the shrimp and whatever was left was thrown overboard or traded for beer to the local fisherman for bait. We would spend the night linking up with whatever boat was close that were friends and talk about the best spots over dinner or while playing cards. The Fort itself is a huge brick and stone prison smack dab in the middle of the ocean with a mote and small island attached with a very small area to camp on. The whole island has no running water or electricity except the generator for the one person who maintains the Fort for the tourists.

I became friends fairly quick with the other local fisherman. Most of them would joke with Christian about his motives for having me out there on his boat. Most of the fisherman would accuse him that the only reason he had me there was for eye candy. We would laugh at the idea of it all since Christian was definitely more a Beta compared to my work ethic and energy. He constantly tried to defend and after a while he dared them to try to make a pass since he knew I was not interested in anything but working. Most of these guys couldn’t even handle their liquor let alone my personality.

On our 3rd trip down we got caught up in a storm and had to stay in the port for a few days while the wind was blowing. Christian and I stayed mostly to ourselves and bunkered down the boat trying to maintain a position that was safe for the boat. I mostly would clean, cook or draw on those days just taking in the relaxation.The second day we toured the Fort out of sheer boredom. I always brought a book to read at night so that I had my own downtime. Being out in the ocean with no cell reception, contact to anyone on the mainland or with no TV had a way of relaxing you, but you could only take so much sometimes before wanting to at least read something. The 3rd day of the wind blowing, Christian and I were going stir crazy. I decided to go up on top of the captains quarters and lay out while reading my book. If I couldn’t fish, at least I could get a tan. I was relaxing about an hour later when I heard the giggles of 3 guys at the end of the roof. I opened my eyes just in time to see Christian tossing a huge bucket of ice all over me as 3 of the other fishermen watched from the edge. Once the Ice hit my skin I jumped up so fast that I caught them all off guard. They all scrambled to get away while laughing.  Christian cursed and jumped down as I screamed profanities at them all. I Jumped down off the roof and the game of catch instilled. I had chased them all to the back of the boat and was almost within arms length when they all dove overboard and swam to the next boat over. After that day most of the guys gave me less shit. I had laid in wait until everything calmed down and Christian came back to the boat and called truce. I waited until he fell asleep and then threw half a bag of unwrapped hersey’s kisses into his sleeping bag. The next morning when he woke up he was covered in chocolate and it looked more like shit. All the fishermen had a great laugh and realized I was just as formidable as they were. 

Every time we came back from a trip to the Tortugas it was laundry time and time for me to drink and touch base with the rest of the world. I would drop off the fish at the market, drop my clothes at the laundromat and then go straight to the bar for a yard to drink on my way home to take a shower. I never was home much. Most of the time Christian liked to be home for usually 3 days so it was perfect. I made friends with a girl on the Velco 19 while in the Tortugas and had set up a good trade routine when I went out on the water and at home I was with Claire. I had made friends with a few local guys and had found a few to have fun with from time to time but never made anything serious with any of them. The occasional coast guard recruits were always a fun time to be had but it was always kept simple.

While in the Tortugas there were 3 boats that we constantly would hang out with. Christian knew most of the guys and would try to trade off cooking dinner with them or breakfast from time to time. Most of the guys that worked on the boats were Cuban’s that had come to the Keys and started working for friends or family. Most of them spoke mainly Spanish a majority of the time but knew enough English to get by. Christian knew most of the main Captains so I usually  got stuck dealing with the rest of the crews of guys. They didn’t know that I understood spanish and I loved to listen in on their gossip when they thought I wasn’t listening. The fisherman loved to talk and make comments constantly about their ideals of my love life. They always had way more ideas about what they thought I did than what I actually did. They loved to chatter while playing cards after a long day. It was like the male version of a sewing circle.

It was about 2 months of working when Lee asked Christian if he could borrow me for navigation for the route to the Tortuga’s. Christian had gotten himself a girlfriend so he wanted to take the week off and spend time with her. They agreed to have me go and show Lee the route and hook him up with all the connections in the Tortugas. Lee and I had a mutual respect for each other but we also  had a great light energy with joking around. Claire had decided to stay behind and so Lee and I set off. The first night we docked up in the cove to a mutual friend that ran a lobster boat. The whole crew stayed behind while their captain  came over for dinner. Elian was the captain and had run the family business for some time. He was in his  early 30’s with brown hair, hazel eyes, and a large tattoo sleeve. We had met before with Christian but had been short in conversations. I had felt his eyes many times in the meetings watching me but I had never made it known that I too had a mutual interest in him. 

In the fishing world on the water the boats talked more than your local hair salon girls and the last thing I needed was gossip. 

It took Lee no time at all to pick up on the energy between us. He joked trading me for numbers to lobster spots and Elian laughed it off while eyeing my reaction. My eyes must have given way because after that night he would make any excuse to come say hello or talk over dinner with the crews. When we returned it was as if Christian and Lee were now on a mission to see where they could mess with me about him. The next trip with Christian set the scene for all the gossipers to be silenced all while moving Elian and I closer together. The first night of dinner the guys were giving Christian shit again about only keeping me on the boat as a bed warmer. Christian decided to set the record straight and made a statement to Elian that I worked harder than 3 of his guys on the boat and would be glad to trade me for a day to prove them all wrong. Elian took that bet and they planned on trading us for the next day only and at the end we would meet back for dinner. The guys shook on it and Christian informed me of the bet and conversation. I was a little skeptical that I would be able to work the lobster boat since I had never done it before but I was excited to have the chance. I was also a little amazed and honored that Christian appreciated my work ethic so much that he traded me for 3 guys. I only hoped I would live up to the hype now. Christian stated his confidence in me and walked me through what my day would be like. 

The next morning we traded crews. Elian explained to me that he would slow down his speed for the day so that I could get the hang of it and showed me how they pulled traps. I will say it was an extremely hard physically challenging day. Elian sped up when he saw I could pull my weight and keep up once I got into my groove of gaffing the floaters and pulling the lines. The traps were almost always full. He has his spots perfected and the crew worked rhythmically. Even with us being down 2 guys we barely had any hiccups. The worst that happened was when I missed one of the buoys and we had to circle back. By the end of the day I was exhausted and at the same time had a rush from the events of the day. When we returned to the cove and docked up with Christian’s boat I was nervous to see if I held up to Christian’s hype. Elian confirmed with his crew back on the boat that I had worked like all 3 of them had been there without skipping a beat. That night the guys opened a bottle and we ate and drank like I was just another one of the guys. They viewed me as an equal finally and it was nice to not have them talk about me and instead to me. Christian beamed with pride. The next day he told me all about how the guys were slow or lazy and how they sucked at lunch prep. I was definitely sore that day but it wasn’t anything I couldn’t handle. My mind and body were still buzzing from the energetic high. I finished scrubbing the boat down and packing the day’s catch on ice as we pulled into the cove.That night when we docked up for dinner Elian and Christian shared in laughter at the reality of the situation. We ate dinner together and drank a little as usual. At one point Christian conveyed to me that I was to sit with Elian and get the fishing spots after we were done. So when Christian said he was going back to the boat and instructed me to get the numbers I didn’t think twice.

 I approached Elian in the captain’s quarters just as the crew was saying goodnight. When I entered the cabin he pulled out his book and ripped out a page that had a bunch of numbers already noted down. He had it in his hand and extended slightly to me while commenting how he missed having me on the boat for the day. I smiled and looked into his eyes, teasing him that I was sure it was the views he missed through the day. In that moment our eyes locked and it was like a charge of energy. He smiled and licked his lips then slightly bit on the corner. I could see it in his eyes that he wanted to cross the line. I gave him the window he was waiting on. I smiled and offered him a chance at the views wherever he wanted it. All he had to do was ask. In that second it was as if all the air sucked itself out. He was directly in front of me before I could even exhale. His hand with the paper was shoving itself into my back pocket while his right hand now was grabbing behind my neck as he planted a kiss on me. It was all consuming. If I had been in the desert dying of thirst this was the water of life consuming me. He embraced me closer as we drank in the kiss. I wrapped my fingers up into his hair, grabbing a handful as he pushed me up against the wall and getting a further grip on my neck. When my back hit the wall I pulled back on his hair to get my breath. His lips released mine only long enough to dive into my neck. My head was reeling. I could feel every muscle of his body up against mine. His hands were now grabbing at me hungrily up under my shirt and at my neck. Just as I exhaled with a gasp he was back to my lips and swung me around to the dash but before I could hit the counter he grabbed my legs just under by butt and lifted me up onto the dash. Never once spreading his lips from mine. Once I was on the counter he grabbed a handful of hair and pulled my head back exposing my neck as he dove into it for a bite. My legs were shaking and I was in the heat of ravishment. He slid my shirt off up and over my head and with the pull of my bikini string my top was gone. His hands were so strong and gripping on to me like I was the rope to a full string of traps. He plunged into my breasts kissing and biting and was undoing my shorts in the heat of it all. He picked me up again while clutching on to my back and going in for more kissing and lifted me over to his bed. As he laid me down I pulled off his shirt to expose his well toned chest and we stopped just long enough to smile at each other. He pulled down my jean shorts to expose my g string. It was at this moment that clarity hit me. I was just finishing my cycle and still had a tampon in. Shit. I stopped him from pulling down my underwear and tried to deflect him. I pushed him back as I kissed his chest and started to unbutton his pants. I pushed his pants down to expose his boxers and drove my hand into his boxers gripping on to his massive hard on. He tried to push me back down and that’s when I had to come clean. I scrambled to slow him and finally confessed my predicament. He didn’t even blink, he just immediately plunged his lips to mine, silencing my words. Then without warning he ripped my underwear off in one fatal swoop. That single act alone had my legs quivering. I was in shock and without hesitation he grabbed the string and ripped it out and threw it out the window like this was just another cigarette butt being tossed out a window. I didn’t even have time to react when he dove in for another kiss and plunged inside me. We were completely consumed in our lust. I gave into his embrace and our bodies melted into each other. We consumed each other, drinking in every once. His hands gripped me so hard but the pain was exonerated by our passion. By the time we were done both of us were panting and drenched in sweat, giggling profusely. 

We were on a whole different planet energetically. No matter how intense we both kept our heads level enough to not let eachother get too loud as to let anyone else know what was going on in the cabin. Only a handful of times did either of us almost break the unspoken agreement. If either of us got too close to getting loud we would either drive in for a kiss or he even covered my mouth for me to only bite down on his fingers. At the end of it all we stared into eachothers eyes smiling while still panting dripping in sweat. It could’ve been hours but we didn’t care. The only thing that brought us to reality was a sound outside of one of the boats starting their engines. The sky was still dark but it wouldn’t be good if his crew were to wake. All the chatter would have really started. We quietly gathered our clothes and redressed.  I grabbed my torn underwear and shoved it into my pocket and made sure I still had the numbers in the other pocket. He came in for one last kiss as I was about to reach for the door. His eyes smiled at me as we shared the last breath of our scent. 

I passed his sleeping crew and hopped over to my boat on shaky legs. That night I drifted into a rem sleep like no other. 

The next morning I awoke to a clueless Christian back to normal as usual. The only evidence of the night before was the torn underwear and the slip of paper with the fishing coordinates. I gave Christian the coordinates and he didn’t even flinch. It was a great day of fishing and once it was over I was almost relieved to hear that Elian had to return to the mainland. We had a blast but I didn’t want to push our luck of being around everyone again just in case we have any hint for the crew to talk. I didn’t want a soul to know out there on the water. All the hard work and progress of finally getting the guys to let up would be gone if anyone caught wind. Thankfully Christian didn’t care or didn’t want to care. He never questioned me about that night. 

Two days later we rolled into port and were greeted by Lee and Claire at the dock. Claire could tell immediately something was up. I couldn’t keep it from her. She knew me too well. I waited until we dropped the fish at the market and separated from Lee and Christian to spill the tea. Claire was as shocked as I was about Elian, but I was even more shocked when she informed me that he was married. Shit. That was the last thing I ever wanted to do to another woman. There was no way that could ever happen again. As amazing as it was, the minute I knew he was married was the minute he was off limits. Claire gave me hell the whole way home. I still couldn’t stop reliving the whole moment in my head. It was the most incredible sex I’d ever had and go figure he was already taken. When we got home I was changing out of my clothes while Claire was chatting on about Elian. When I took my shirt off Claire gasped. I hadn’t been without a shirt while working and there was no mirror on the boat. Thankfully it was cooler out and I hadn’t taken off my shirt. There across my whole torso were bruises. Whole hand prints and finger marks where he had laid his hand on me. Elian had left his mark not only on my soul but on my flesh. I couldn’t help but drink in the sight while reliving each mark in my mind. What an impression. 

Claire and I came to the agreement that we wouldn’t tell anyone and I wouldn’t have a repeat episode. We both didn’t want it to get out , especially since we both knew how the coconut wireless worked on the keys. The Island would be in a hum of rumors and I didn’t want to be the object of Elian’s marriage issues. I had enough problems with the local wives already worrying if I was working with their husbands. To be honest there wasn’t a single other man out on the water that I was attracted to. 

Eliana and I talked a week later and as much as we both wanted a repeat of our time together he understood my boundary and agreed to honor it and stay silent.

Life went on. I kept working and trying to just get through the winter season. 

It was about a month later when I received a phone call from Anne from Pennsylvania. She was in a frenzy looking for Angel. Angel had run away from home and left with a friend and after both families searched, they came to the conclusion that the girls had hopped a bus to me. Anne had talked to the other girl’s family and calmed them down enough to reach out to me and we both agreed that the girls needed to be brought back home. I hadn’t heard anything from Angel yet so I told Anne that the minute I heard anything I would call her and keep her posted. It wasn’t even an hour later when I got the call from Angel that she and her friend Michelle were at the local bus station looking to stay with me. Both girls had ridden the bus for the last 3 days to get to me. 

Harboring runaways was the last thing I needed to add to my list of things  in my life. I picked the girls up and brought them right back to the apartment so I could call Anne. Michelle’s parents didn’t know me so I called them as well to inform them of her arrival and to ease their frears on who she was with.  Both of the girls were so excited to arrive but then once I laid into them they knew they couldn’t stay away from their lives forever. I spoke to both of the families and convinced them to give me 2 weeks with the girls and then I would hand deliver them back to PA myself. I knew if I just put them on a bus that they could always just get off at one of the rest stops and I couldn’t live with their disappearance on my conscience.

Angel and Michelle were happy to have the break and agreed to the deal. Their families agreed and I was now the foster to these girls until they hit their doorstep. 

Both of the girls were looking at this trip as their time to be grown so I put them to work to earn their keep since I was now going to have to deal with Mike. Claire had run interference to keep the peace. Thankfully the season was winding down and Christian was understanding of the whole ordeal. I spent the 2 weeks making the girls realize the levity of their decision. I took them everywhere and had them realize what it meant to actually be on their own. I introduced them to my local crew and the guys helped me keep an eye on them. I kept them busy working and adulting by day and showed them normal life at night .  Once everything was in place for me to leave to drive them home I set out. I had planned to return in less than 2 weeks and was going to come back to work once they were gone. 

I drove them to Lauderdale first to spend 2 days there visiting my grandmother and friends before we moved on. While there we visited D’s band warehouse and the girls got to meet the crew. We then went to Patti and Rob’s on our way out of Florida. The girls got to witness my conundrum of a relationship with my mother and started to understand.

I took my time with them trying to be the mentor’s voice of reason the whole time. At one point Michelle had even broken down and told me that me yelling at them was like God himself yelling ,because she knew I was just trying to guide them. I hoped that I could at least help make the difference in the survival from ignorant decisions. I dropped the girls off to their parents’ houses individually and got to meet Michelle’s family. Michelle’s family was thankful that the situation worked out and we talked about counseling for any of the areas that I saw issues with while I had the girls. 

I turned back around and drove back only 1 day after we arrived. My birthday was approaching and Rob and Patti wanted to celebrate with me.  When I got to Rob’s, he surprised me with my dream 85 CJ7 Jeep. In the years that he and my mother had been together I had worked on his cars and boats when needed. Each time we had time to talk he would ask me about my favorite things and little did I know that he was planning this surprise slowly over the years. I was beside myself. I never in a million years expected that. I was driving a little Honda Civic hatchback that I had acquired for 500$ from my grandmother’s friend shortly after I dealt with  Sara’s death. I had replaced just about everything on the car to keep it going. I had even kept giving my grandmother money to help her since she helped me find the car.

I was so humbled and wanted to pay Rob for the Jepp but Rob would have no part in it. 

I accepted the jeep and decided to sell the Civic to pay for the transfer of tag and title. When Pat{my grandmother} caught wind that I was selling the car, her and my aunt Lisa started in with the guilt trip. She had found me the car  so they felt it was only fair that I give her the money from the sale of the car. It became a major fight even though I pointed out that I had given her the money already plus more. It didn’t matter to them that I paid her already or that I was using the money to transfer everything. They threw a fit. I left to go back to the keys with half of my family yelling at me that I was being selfish. I knew then that this was just another flare up of their greed but I always tried to see past it and give that title of Family the benefit of the doubt.

I went back to the Keys and went right back trying to find work since the season had ended. I paid Mike in advance for the next month’s rent just to give myself time. I wasn’t back for more than a week when Claire’s little sister took a hiatus. She didn’t come home one night and since she was only 16, Mike and Claire started to think the worst when she still wasn’t home by lunch the next day. We called all her friends and got no answers. By the next morning we were trying to break into her computer pages to see if we could find any clues.  While going into her emails we had found some conversations that pointed to some sketchy things. The 3rd day of her still not calling or showing, we were in panic mode. I knew then we needed more help. I pulled out the cards from the DEA interview and found an FBI agent’s card and made the call.  They hacked her pages and found out that she was talking to quite a few older men in BDSM chat rooms and some had even sent her money. We were all now extremely worried for her well being so the agents sent their own feelers out for us. Day 6 she strolled right into the apartment like nothing ever happened. Mike, Claire and I lost it completely when she informed us that she had gone off with some local guy she had met up to the northern keys to go camping. I called the agents off and was happy for once that I had their numbers and help but I could tell Mike was still uneasy about my connections. 

It was a few days later that Mike told me that I needed to leave. He didn’t want me at the apartment anymore. He refused to give me the remainder of the rent money back and Claire was at a loss. I knew it was my time to leave. 

I called Patti and Rob and they offered a room until I could find my next place which only took a few days. Off I went back to Boca Raton. Patti’s salon needed a receptionist part time so I jumped into working and began looking into tattoo shops to finish my apprenticeship. It wasn’t long before I also landed a job at Bobby Rubino’s restaurant basically doing whatever they needed. I would work the salon 3 days a week during the day and 5 days a week I would work shifts at the restaurant. In the restaurant I worked the kitchen cooking,  was the cashier,  the delivery driver  and did the unloading of the food trucks. For the Halloween season I took up a seasonal job working at the local costume shop.

In my free time I was at the tattoo shop.  I spent every moment of freetime at the shop. The guys at the shop gave me hell at any chance. I knew it was all part of proving myself in the shop. The shop owner would pull me aside and encourage me on days the guys were especially hard on me or I was worse for the wear. 

I’m the mean time I had started subletting an apartment in Lauderdale from a friend that went back to England to visit family. I lulled into a routine.

It was a few months in when Rob and Patti broke up. He had bought her a house and told her to leave. I don’t know what all led to that point but I could only guess since I had always wondered how he dealt with her mood swings. I was saddened to watch, knowing she had planned on the future with him . I was the person she called to help her move whatever she could and she expressed how she didn’t want to be alone so I packed a bag and stayed with her most of the time while still keeping my place in Lauderdale that I had taken over. 

While working at the Halloween store, I had made friends with one of the guys Al. Al was a gay man from Venezuela that loved interior design and making costumes.  His visa was about to expire and he was having trouble trying to find someone to help marry him so he could stay in the country. After watching him and his boyfriend of 6 years go through a few different issues with finding someone, I offered up my hand in marriage. Al was 10 years older than I was. I knew he needed a bride only for the paperwork and I knew I wasn’t getting married anytime soon. Al and I went through the details and got married a week later on our lunch break.  His boyfriend was his best man and one of my recent friends went as my maid of honor. We said “I do”, kissed, took pictures and then went our separate ways.  We agreed that we would live out our lives doing our normal and he would just add my name to his credit cards and address to make it all solid for any check- ins. I didn’t have much for credit so I knew he couldn’t make it much worse.

I couldn’t imagine not being able to stay just because your lover wasn’t the sex that someone else who signed a paper didn’t approve of. 

We talked almost daily at work so from there the marriage was just the piece of paper he needed. I spoke enough Spanish to understand him and his boyfriend told me all his little quirks for any interview. 

After everything it was back to normal life just with a name change.

I kept myself busy most of the time and when Patti would complain that I wasn’t around I would skip my social life or my extra job of serving for parties to spend time with her. I had stopped working at the salon since it was only when needed and they were getting slower and the other staff would pick up the job. I was almost done with my apprenticeship when Patti threw a fit one night because I wouldn’t leave work to get her firewood. That argument only fueled a bigger one 2 days later when I told her I had accepted a job dog sitting for 24 hours until the owner could pick up the dog. I was going to be staying at her place for part of the 24 hours so the dog had to come with me while I was there. I had to lock up the dog in a kennel because I was to go to work  for 4 hours and Patti didn’t want the dog in the house or the kennel. It turned into a full on fight. It got so bad that even my boss at the shop gave me the day to get myself and the dog out of her house. 

She became so venomous over the simple fact that I wouldn’t bow to her. She knew the dog was getting picked up not even 2 hours after I was to be done and that the dog had been kennel trained. To her none of it mattered. She was on a mission. I grabbed the dog and waited for the owner to pick him up.  I had to call a police escort just to get my duffel bag of things out of her house that I kept there for extra changes of clothes. She was on a mission to take out whatever insecurity she was feeling on me and I knew it. Even the police officer  couldn’t understand her tactics of how aggressive she was  behaving over a simple thing like collecting my bag and tv that I had brought in. 

I was happy to have my apartment on the side for just that reason. 

Life went on as normal for me once out of her energy field. I was used to her rollercoaster of tantrums and knew that it was only ever a matter of time until one came around so I was glad I had set myself up with a homebase.

I finally finished my apprenticeship and the shop had more piercers than artists so I went on the hunt for a job closer to my place in Lauderdale. I was in a one bedroom apartment almost in the heart of Ft. Lauderdale connected to 4 other apartments that had the same set up. The neighbors worked at a Exotic car dealership and we would all relax together after the end of our day.  I started cleaning the dealership’s office late at night once a week after my neighbor bragged about how I cleaned their apartment for extra money and eventually worked my way into being a personal driver and maid for the dealership’s owner when his other staff couldn’t take part.  Al and I would check in with phone calls on occasion to touch base. With my job at the restaurant coming to a close since it was having issues with their finances therefore closing, and my part time serving job, I was fairly filled in my schedule. No matter how much I was working all the other jobs, my biggest priority was Piercing now. I got a job at a shop in South Beach and worked there 3 days a week but I knew it wasn’t going to pan out in Miami. My jeep was getting ransacked every day I worked in South Beach, and with the gas prices and parking fees it wasn’t proving to be fruitful. 

I had just quit the shop after 2 months when I got the call from Micheal, the piercer from Ocean City that had started my apprenticeship. He had moved to San Diego and was working for a local shop there that needed a fill-in piercer for 2 weeks while they did convention work.  He was offering the spot to me. I didn’t hesitate. It took me 3 days to tie up all my loose ends and get the plane ticket. I had the neighbor and a friend watch the apartment while I caught a flight to San Diego on a wing and a prayer that something would come soon.