January was cold and wet so I spent the majority of my time hanging around the villa either online or playing video games. I was starting to get used to living in a big mansion with nothing to do and all day to do it. I knew like everything else in life that nothing lasts forever so I cherished every moment of it knowing it could end at any moment. Sometime around the middle of the month I got an e-mail from the bosses back in Amsterdam, there were still no paying customers that had booked the place and they were starting to get desperate. They set up a promo week-end for a bunch of growers and seed suppliers to check the place out and hopefully set the message boards on fire with the rave reviews they would give. I actually thought it was a good plan as nothing had worked so far, this could get things started. Either way it was good for me as the group all brought their own smoke to the party. There were 6 guys along with Adam ( who was harder to get rid of than a bad case of roaches ) and they all brought along their best buds to show off to one another and of course, smoke up! My plants were only a couple of weeks away from harvest and they were looking very nice. I was excited to show off my efforts to the experts and gave them all a tour of the tent. They were all impressed with the quality of the buds and were only disappointed in the fact that they would not get to sample them. I felt very proud of the progress of my plants and the guys treated me like I was one of their own. This was going to be a great week indeed.
After 2 days of nothing but partying at the villa, and smoking some of the best weed I had ever smoked, we all went out for a night on the town. It was a great night out as we bar hopped for hours. When we returned, all with a nice buzz going, I went to my room to check on the girls (my plants), I loved to just sit there and look at them as they grew. I had a 35x magnifier that I used to check for the crystals on the buds and for bugs. As I was doing my initial inspection of the leaves I was shocked when I turn over a leaf and find a black stain on it. My initial thought was that some mold had found its way up to them from the apartment downstairs but when I looked through the magnifier I almost jumped out of my skin. It was only about and square inch on the leaf but when I looked I saw a mass of black insects crawling over each other, there had to be thousands of them. I felt a surge of panic run through me as I yanked the leaf out and ran to show the others. They all had a similar reaction when they saw it as it was gruesome, but none of them were able to say exactly what they were. I checked on-line but also had no luck, I was troubled with what I should do next. It was too late in the growing cycle to put any kind of chemical killer on them and the organic ones were not very effective. I decided that the only way to ensure I did not lose the whole crop to these critters was to cut them down immediately. I knew I would be sacrificing quantity but some was better than none. I did a thorough investigation of the rest of them and found no other infestations so I cut them down that night. As I thought about how they had gotten infested so quickly it dawned on me that the source of the bugs must have been one of the growers that I had let into my tent to show off my plants. While I couldn’t be sure which of them had brought them, I kept my suspicions to myself as I didn’t want to cause any friction during the week. However it happened the bottom line was that now I would not have enough to last to the next harvest and would have to use some of my ever-growing money roll to supplement my supply.
The week with the growers ended on a high note and I mean that literally as we had to smoke up the rest of what they had brought. It was a very tasty last night and when they left I felt I had made some new friends. Adam had stayed for the entire week and when it came time to clean up the place after they left he suddenly had to leave. I told him that since he had payed nothing and did not want to help clean then I would be getting my next set of clones for free, otherwise he would not be invited back. I thought it was a fair deal but he was not happy about it however he did relent in the end and agreed to my offer. With what had happened with the first grow and not getting enough for a 3 month supply, I was thinking about a way to ensure that didn’t happen the next time. I decided that I would buy another tent, this way I could double my output and with living in the master bedroom, I had plenty of space. Stu was happy to help me get the new supplies as he had a friend who owned a grow shop in Marbella. I spent about 500 euros on the set-up and now had a tent on either side of my bed. After setting up the new one and thoroughly cleaning the old one, they were ready for a new crop. Adam kept his word but was again not happy that he now had to supply enough clones for two tents but I thought he would get over it. Little did I know what a vindictive little shit he was.
A bit into February I got a call from the Coach back in Amsterdam, he and Willy had been talking about where to go for a quick holiday and they had thought of me. He wanted to know if they could come down for a week and how much it would cost? I told them sure as we had still no customers and that they could stay for free since they were my bro’s. They were stoked and said they would be booking it that day and would be coming down the following week. the following week came and with it the Coach, Willy and a nice surprise, Willy’s girlfriend Madelaine. She was one of the coolest girls I had ever met and Willy was one lucky dude to have gotten her. Of course Adam found a way to weasel his way in and wanted to stay the whole week as well. I told him that he could but that he would have to pick up after himself, he once again gave me some guff but reluctantly agreed. I was really starting to not like this kid with his entitled attitude, he was lucky I didn’t toss his ass out. Even with Adam tagging along to every place we went, we still had a great week and it passed by much too quickly. When my friends left I asked Adam to help me clean up the place and he refused saying that he had something important he had to do back at home. I told him that if he didn’t then from now on he would have to pay to stay. He said whatever and walked out, I was hoping that I would not have to see him again. What I didn’t know at the time was in his anger he had e-mailed the bosses back in Amsterdam and told them that I was renting out the place behind their back. It was a lie but as we were not on the best of terms since the blow-out, they believed it. They spent the next few weeks formulating a plan to get me out. I was blissfully unaware of this at the time and was enjoying life as I watched my new crop grow while waiting for the return to life by the pool. I knew that I would not be able to stay in the villa alone until the lease ran out as even if we did not get tourists for the busy season then the bosses would be down as much as possible to enjoy their bad investment, but I was completely unprepared for the shock that would come on that fateful day in March when everything changed.
A Continuing Story About Life On The Run