Life never fails to make new twists and turns for me.
The day started off as a normal Sunday, where CQ and I made a brunch of mushrooms and eggs fresh from the Saturday market. Topped with strawberries as dessert. We then went shopping for food again and was stuck in the store due to a very monsoon-like rain. Before I knew it, my weekend’s nearly over and it’s 3.20pm. Reached the apartment and I just decided to recheck the bus timetable for OopsyDaisy. Lo and behold, the last bus is at 4pm.
Rushed like crazy (while CQ made strawberry+Haagen Daz milkshake for me) and reached the bus station. I asked at the counter for the bus that will take me to OopsyDaisy and it seems like I need to change buses in Rivendell.
I had a nice enough ride to the beautiful Rivendell. Only to be told that I missed the last bus of the day and the next one is tomorrow morning! Stuck in the middle of nowhere!
The lady behind the counter gave me a number for a taxi but they won’t send me to OopsyDaisy. Called a number of companies, but it’s all the same. So, I cried and wailed like a lost child asked the lady for any other options.
“Hold up a sign with ‘OOPSYDAISY’ on it?”
“Take the train?”
Seeing my obvious urgency, she said she’d send me there, but only after 9pm.
Then, along came a mother and daughter, overheard my plight and said they’d send me there. Something seemed a bit… hmmm… strange. My eyes were looking at the shopowner lady beseechingly but I think she mistook it for gratitude or happiness or something and before I knew it, I was bundled off into a red car, kidnapped, obviously.
First, she drove to a derelict looking place and went to talk to a man (“my husband.” she said) and two men in a dark blue Ford. I talk a lot when I’m in a car with kidnappers it seems. The daughter said the guys in the Ford are her cousins. She has 2 other sisters and a twin. We then moved on (as in the car and the conversation) and it came to the point where I said I have a man waiting for me, who is also a doctor and that we’re getting married (probably not the best idea, to say this, because they’ll think we’re super rich and ask for more ransom money. But because I was on a roll, it just came out. And I thought that having someone waiting for me at home will deter them from kidnapping me).
Oh, she said she doesn’t like being a twin because people compare them too much. And that she has 4 other brothers and that they’re poor.
“wait, I thought you said you only have four sisters…”
“yeah, four sisters and four brothers. The guys you saw in the car just now, they’re my brothers”
“but you said they’re your cousins…”
“yeah, the ones on the roadside are my cousins. the ones in the car are my brothers.”
hmmmmm…
Anyway, the talk ranged from religion to cutting people up to Italy to make-up artists (she wants to be a hair-dresser) and we finally reached Roscommon.
The mother asked for 50 euros and I know that 50 is too much. I mean, I paid 100 to move my stuff all the way from Gold Leaf to OopsyDaisy. But because I don’t want to end up trussed up like a chicken in the back of her car, I gave it to her. Anyway, I had a nice, albeit weird conversation with them and I am safely back home, so, that’s OK.
BUT!
She asked for another 20 and now, that’s TOO MUCH and I said NO. I have to pay my rent and stuff. NO CAN DO. She said she needs it for food.
Nope.
“I’m separated and I’m poor and I have 8 children”
I thought you said that you have a husband.
“I need to feed my kids”
Sorry, no.
“I need to go to Dublin”
No, sorry.
“I need a nose job” (Ok, I made this up)
“Oh, ok then. Well, bye and good luck”
And she kept on looking at me for a while…
Well, few lessons learned. Always check the timetable in detail. Never get into a car with a woman who is separated and has eight children and a big extended family and a gun. Buy a car. Drive again. Learn karate.
Maybe she really is poor. And maybe she has to go to Dublin and feed her kids…
Shhhhhh…
