After driving around for what seemed like hour’s Stu had a lightbulb moment when he realized he had a place for me to stay. Him and his brother used to have a jet-ski and off-road vehicle store in a little beach resort near Marbella. They had gone bankrupt earlier in the year and still had a lease on the storefront. He told me I could stay there until Friday ( it was Tuesday night ) to find another solution. Not much time but better than nothing, at least now I might have a chance to figure out my next move. It had the electric on but no running water and of course, no internet. After dropping me and all my stuff off, Stu wished me good luck and said he would be in touch the next day. As I lay on the floor trying to sleep, my mind was racing with thoughts on what to do next. I decided that I would spend Wednesday looking for an internet connection I could use and see if there was anyone who could help.
In the morning I woke up with an uneasy feeling about the day and hoped it was just a bit of nervous tension nagging at me. I started by walking from one end of the resort to the other and was a bit disheartened when I realized that this area was mostly villa’s and condo’s. There was no kind of services at all, only a few small restaurant’s and shops on the promenade near the beach. After spending all of the morning and half the afternoon searching, my hope was starting to fade that I would even be able to let anyone know I was in trouble. The so-called friends I had made since being in Spain were either incapable of unwilling to help so my prospects were not very good at staying in Spain. I had hoped to get some e-mails out to my friends back in Amsterdam to see if there was anyway they could help but so far that was proving impossible. By late afternoon I was totally discouraged by the days events and decided that if this was going to be my last couple of days in Spain, then I was at least going to enjoy the place. I then gave up on my search and retired to the beach to sit in the sun and jump in the Med.
As the day faded away, so did any hope that I would find a way out of this mess. I walked back to the shop with my head held low thinking that I would have to take Miss Kitty to the shelter on Friday and then turn myself into the U.S. consulate in Malaga. This was an extremely sad thought not so much because my journey was over, but that Miss Kitty would probably be put to sleep by the shelter. There was a big problem with unwanted animals in Spain and they would only keep them for about a day before they would put them down. The thought was almost too much to bear as I thought about the joy that she had brought to my life over the past 8 years, the sadness only grew as the night rolled in. I had been on the run for over 12 years and by far this was the saddest and most desperate I had ever felt. When I sat with Miss Kitty as she purred with happiness, I felt tears welling up in my eyes as I thought about what might happen to her in only a few days. That was just about the worst night I had ever lived.
On Thursday morning my hopes were not very bright when I went over to the small convenience store nearby. When I came in I stopped dead in my tracks as I notice an internet sign hanging behind the counter. I was a bit mad at myself that I didn’t see it the day before when I was here, but no time to beat myself up now as I had to get busy. I brought my laptop over to the store and started e-mailing everyone I knew, then sat back and waited for replies. While I was waiting I decided to try another option that I had been mulling over since the falling out had happened. Knowing how paranoid they had been about me going to the cops when I ran off the farm, I thought that maybe I could use that to get some compensation for my time and efforts on the farm. I called Jap to tell him that if he didn’t give me the caravan and 1000 euros in cash, then I would call the Guardia Civil on them. His reaction was not what I expected as he got very indignant and told me to ‘fuck off’. It was worth a try but he called my bluff and I figured that would be the end of that. About an hour later he called back to say that “now I would get what’s coming to me” and then hung up the phone. I was a bit confused as to what the hell that meant but I had no time to think about it now as I was starting to get some return e-mails from Amsterdam.
First I got a whole slew of replies from the guys on baseball team I had played on, the VATOS. They were eager to lend a hand and had a tournament that they were going to in France the following week-end. They offered to come get me at the French/Spanish border after the tourney. A great offer but I would have to find another place to stay for an additional week and then somehow find my way to the border. Lucky I didn’t have to ponder on that for too long as another e-mail came through and this time from my friend and former boss, Etienne. He told me that there was no way he would let my journey die there in Spain and that he would figure out a solution and call me when he did. This was very uplifting because if there was one thing about Etienne, it was that he was a problem solver and was now on it. The next couple of hours were anxious and nerve-wracking as I paced around both inside and out waiting for a call. When the call did finally come, I was not disappointed. He told me that he had set up a rescue mission for me and that my old pool team-mate Martijn and the guy who had gotten me on the VATOS, Willy, were coming down to get me and would be there the next day. Wow, my knees were shaking I was so blown away by hearing that 2 of my friends were willing to drop what they were doing and come get me, I felt very humbled by it for sure. My joy was short-lived as soon after hearing about my rescue plans, my phone rings and it is someone speaking spanish to me. I told them I didn’t understand and that they must have the wrong number but then he said my name and I became even more confused. He was able to tell me that they would call back with someone who speaks English and we hung up. I sat puzzled, trying to think what that could have been about when the phone rings again. This time the guy is speaking English when he tells me that he is from the Guardia Civil and that they must talk to me about what happened with Jap. I was floored, not only did my bluff backfire, he called the cops on me! He must have spent the time between calls ripping out all of our plants so he would not have any evidence of a grow when he called them to say I had assaulted him. The guy from the Guardia was right to the point that I must come in to their Cartama office and talk with them. Trying to come to grips with what Jap had done and stay cool on the phone was difficult but somehow I was calm enough to tell him that I would come in the following day around 2 in the afternoon. When he asked me why I couldn’t come in today, I told him I was not in the area and would be back tomorrow. I then, without waiting for his reply, told him that I would see him then and as I went to hang up the phone, I could hear him say “where are you n–” and then I hung up. I felt a surge of fear run up my spine as I thought that now the Guardia Civil was gonna come looking for me, and just when I get a rescue mission headed my way. I immediately took the sim card and battery out of my phone just in case they would try to find it with GPS, then sat back and waited for my rescuers to arrive.
A Continuing Story About Life On The Run