It's 11:30 am, Cassandra arrived to the island on a cruise ship. She was lured onto a tour with the promise of receiving $250 just for looking at a condo for 30 minutes. Cool. She had run out of money anyway, but didn't want to ask any of her friends for money -- too embarrassing -- especially her cabin mate, miss diva.
She was driven to a beach location over on hour from the port she docked at. She is the only person there from her ship. She finds out that the people showing the condo are really trying to pressure her into buying something ... for $350,000 ... for a 99 year lease ... huh? Plus they had her waiting until all of their tours for the day were completed before she could be taken back to civilization. Because she was not buying, they put her on a patio to wait -- no food -- not even agua. That was projected to be at 5:00 pm -- the ship leaves at 7 pm.
A livid Cassie pouted and shut-down on the people. They told her she was welcomed to go back earlier ... at her own expense ... which is a $45 taxi ride ... needless to say that was not going to happen. Thankfully, many of their scheduled tours were no-shows, so Cassie was able to get her $250 voucher at around 4 pm. The voucher must be cashed-in at a location in the city -- no name, an address only.
So, Cassie gets back into a raggedy school bus, not the air conditioned coach she came out on, but a smelly junker that smoked of oil. She prayed hard for safety. The money was the least of her concerns right now. Slowly, the bus creeks, pops, bounces and sheepishly approaches the city and drops her of at the faaaaaar end of the shopping strip. She gladly gets off and begins to walk to locate the address on the voucher to get her $250. It turns out, the address is a special place ... the cash comes from the local casino -- that's right, a casino!
As she peeks around each corner in the casino, there are greasy looking men peering all over her body, but she pushes on. The woman behind the cashier bars glares at her without a word, she just throws $250 at Cassie in $5 bills. As she exits the dungeon of gambling, Cassie realizes that she has exactly 5 minutes to make the ship. No way. Her cell phone does not work on the island. She hears the ship horn in the distance -- oh no! OH NO!
As Cassie hits the dock, she see the ship heading to the horizon. Cassie's heart absorbs her air, brain cells and all of the feeling in her legs. Cassie drops to the curb screaming that she has to get on that ship or she will kill herself. She clutches the cross she has pressed into her skin all day. The day flashes in her mind and the money seemed so insignificant now.
Darkness compresses reality around her on the curb, the dock is empty, except for a few locals and some of the same casino men. Fear turns to terror and hysterical thoughts. As she screams, Cassie notices a strong light in the sky. The dock area begins to spin. All of a sudden a huge hand presses on her shoulder and she jumps and releases one massive shreeeeek!
The hand belonged to a police officer. His voice and touched calms her down and tells her that he saw what happened from his office. He summoned a helicopter to rescue her and deliver her to the ship. Cassie cannot speak. She shakes uncontrollably. Her mind is misfiring. She is sure her brain is seeping out of her ears.
The officer escorts her to the beach to board the helicopter. She silently hugs him with gratitude and turns to get in. A hand reaches for her, a woman's hand, a strong woman's hand lifts Cassie in one pull. As Cassie looks into the face of the woman, she sees one of the men's faces from the casino and the pilot is the female cashier. She quickly spins to look at the officer and it is the bus driver!
Her soul screeches Oh my God! All of a sudden a bright light appears all around her, consuming her. Just then Cassandra hears and feels her cabin mate. A gentle hand is shaking her shoulder. As her mind and vision clears, Cassie realizes that she is back in her cabin.
Her cabin mate tells her, "that's what you get for trying to sneak and drink at a club until daylight." Cassie realizes that she never left the ship. She had slept the entire day away. Her ordeal was a nightmare. She is safe, broke, but safe. She grabs her friends neck and won't let go.
All she can repeat is, "thank you Jesus."
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