Archive for September 2009
Okay, so I got up this morning, took my shower, blah blah blah. There was water in the second store (below the apartment I live in, also the store I work in regularly) when I first got in. Matt and I figured it was just the street cleaners from the previous night. The day started like normal, Heather went to lunch, the boys went to lunch and I was left completely alone in the second store. I noticed, only every once in a while, an odd scent. But I couldn’t place it…Oh what an idiot I was.
Heather returned from lunch and Tienne came across the street with the boys. Matt gestured to the floor (this was before I could hear their words) as though it proved something. It wasn’t until Tienne stepped inside and just about swore that I realized what he meant. I glanced at the floor under the fudge tables (this is across the shop from me) and blanched. Water…Lots and lots of water. But I was obviously missing something, because Tienne had wrinkled her nose in disgust. Matt turned to me. “You can’t smell that?”
I was trying to figure out what he meant when I heard the words ‘sewage water’. There were several moments of panic while Tienne went down into the basement to see if it was flooded and then sent Ray upstairs to have the water turned off up in the apartment. Afterwards, I was sent to tell Heather what was going on while the trio (Ray, Tienne, Matt) moved valuable things off of the floor. Then I went to lunch. Which is where I sit now, worrying about what Corrina and I are going to do. No water. Meaning…no flushing of the toilet, no washing of the hands, no washing dishes, or even just rinsing them out….No showers. I, luckily, took a shower this morning and she took one last night. Still, I’m gonna desperately want another shower in two day’s time. What are we gonna do?
Sooo, tonight is Emma’s last night on the island. She leaves tomorrow to go back home. It’s a mile marker for me since I have three weeks left. This is the last of my roommates to leave before me. I will be leaving next month and then Corrina will follow later on in October. And the girls gathered together for one last Hoorah for Emma’s going-away.
Everything started out great. There was drinking, music and I was sort of vaguely watching Happy Feet while keeping an eye on how drunk everyone appeared to be (not even tipsy). Emma was in an out, probably to say good bye to other friends around the island.
A little while ago, she disappeared again. And then news came about a friend of a friend’s dad. He’d committed suicide. Conversation became rather serious. Apparently, the son was in the Pub drinking his sorrows away. He didn’t want to go back to his place because he was afraid he’d start destroying things. As I listened to this news, I tried to imagine how he could be feeling. Not so much the betrayal suicide might bring, but the sense of loss. It is such a huge feeling, in my mind, like a gaping hole in the wall of a beautiful house. I could only envision how, in the incredibly distant future (like 3 million years) it might feel. But even that agony was strong. I have the strangest urge to cry for the boy who has just lost his father…
In any case, the topic of conversation caused me to withdraw from the living room in order to think about such news. In all of my young life, I have never really come across something so terrible except in movies. And even though it is not someone I know, I feel sorrow for his loss as it is not something I can even bear to imagine.
I finally got my summer souvenir!!! Of all things, it is a sweatshirt. It was from a specific shop where I first fell in love with the ideas of the sweatshirts. Basically, you pick out your sweatshirt/tanktop/shirt/whatever and then they’ll put things on them. My sweatshirt is purple and it has a Love/Peace thingie on the front and a Summer 2009 Mackinac Island, MI on the back. It is spectacular, especially because I got it and the stuff on it all for $29.99. Not everyone gets that sort of thing for such a fantastic price.
I think I got such a great price on it all because: 1) It’s end of the summer, 2) I work on the island, and 3) I’ve talked to the lady who did mine several times about buying something from her shop.
This is the last big thing I plan on getting and I am incredibly happy with my purchase. After this I’m going to start storing my money away. In fact, I’m gonna stuff any extra money I have on me currently into my secret box or something. No more spending for me!!! (Other than cell phone bill!)
Monday was certainly very interesting. I got off the boat and picked up a ferry schedule so that I wouldn’t be late for the last boat.
And then I wandered off down the street, in the general direction I knew Shepler’s (another ferry line) to be in. I was lucky in that I was right in my choice of direction. I walked past the restaurant I’d had dinner with Bob at a week beforehand and paused to cross the street. Once on the opposite side of the street, I stopped in at the first store to ask how far Subway was. Down on main street, I was told. And when I asked where that was, the person I was acquiring information from gestured vaguely in the direction I was already walking in.
So I kept walking, stopping at an ice cream shop to get me something cold (it was hot). It didn’t take me long to reach main street. I began wandering down the street, eying the shops as I past them, pausing now and then to inquire as to the whereabouts of my destination. From the way everyone was speaking, I thought I still had several miles to go. But no, it was about halfway down the street where a lot of the tourist-y shops weren’t.
I stopped in, got my sub and ate. I thanked the employees for working there, too. I’m certain they thought I was strange. I don’t care, I’m honestly grateful that they were working there and got me my sub. After that I spent the rest of the day wandering about the shops, stopping in to check various things out.
I tried on a dress, almost went through a maze of mirrors, tried to see a movie and meandered around a tiny bookshop…Those are some of the highlights of my ‘vacation’ from the resort island I live on.
I rather excited to be able to get off the island for a little while.
I’ll be going into the city and wandering around aimlessly until I catch wind of Subway. And then I’m gonna go there.
Somehow, I need to find my friend…And a bookstore.
And then somehow I need to get back to the ferrylines before the last boat…This’ll be exciting!
