smarts
Active member
It was some summer ago, I had a job working for the Grand Hotel in Mackinac Island, MI. Let me break it down for you. I'm stuck working on an island for six days a week for six months out of the year. On the day that anyone working on the island has off you go off the island, get on a shuttle, and go to cheboygan to pick up all neccessities.
It was my day off. I went to the bank and withdrew 100$ from the bank, I payed 15$ for a round trip ferry ride, 5$ for the shuttle to cheboygan, 50$ for my pay by month phone, two dollars on shampoo, and another 5 on a dvd. That's a total of 78$ spent leaving me with a whopping 12$. After my shopping was done I called the shuttle for them to pick me up. They said they would pick me up at five when the last shuttle came through for the day. I waited outside from 4 to 6 and no one came. I called and the line was dead because it was after business hours.
So, I ask the lady at K-mart where the nearest ATM was she said right down the street. Then the people down the street said down the street. So the people down that street said that their atm was empty. Eventually someone pointe to the bank. I go up town, and someone on a motorcycle (who must have seen me on the shuttle) stopped and said "you know the shuttle leaves at 7 right?" "what time is it?" "6:30" I then ran to the bank, slipped my card in, punched in some numbers and proceeded to tell me that I have already eceeded the amount i am aloud to take out a day.
So now I have no money for a cab or for a place to stay. I start to panic. I pace for hours trying to figure this out. Trying to talk myself into just putting my thumb out, but I couldn't. (I was young and foolish) I started to get dark. I have no idea what time it was at this point because I had no watch and I forgot my phone in my dorm room. It had to be 11 when I finally decided I needed to find a place to sleep. I looked around and found a thin patch a woods. It was a good spot away from any attention a person sleeping in the woods in small town america would normally be having. I was in nothing but a T-shirt, basket ball shorts, and I had my shampoo bottle as a pillow while I slept about a 1/4 mile from one of Michigans great lakes. I had to have layed their for about 2 hours until I fell to sleep.
I woke up maybe about a half an hour later to the strong scent of a skunk. I figured it was nothing and the skunk would leave me alone. Next thing I knew the bushes was shaking, and leaves were crackling under some unknown weight, so I got up in my paranoia and ran out of the woods into a ghost town.
It was real late in cheboygan. There was a terrible mist about. A car drove passed every now and again reminding me that their is still life in this now lifeless town. I started walking aimlessly through cheboygan with nothing to do but to wait untill the morning. I found myself walking into a grocery mart just to have some sort of human connection. Eventually I sat in front of McDonalds on some curb with the time 2:30AM blinking on some enormous sign. That's when I see a sherriff drive by, then stop, then turn around, then park.
"Hey you" "What seems to be the problem officer" "What's are you doing out here so late at night" I told them (there were two officers) my story. "Well, wait here like ten minutes" He drove off with me dumbfounded. Sure enough ten minutes go by and the cops are there to save the day. One pops out, frisks me, I get into the back and they drop me off in Mackinaw City which is where the ferry is.
Now I'm stuck in an even smaller town that was more dead then the last. Now I'm aimlessly walking down the middle of main street looking for a place to sleep. I see a stage in the middle of a field. I layed down on the cold cement with my shampoo pillow for a good 40 minutes not able to go to sleep. Then suddenly the sprinkler system turns on. I get up and run, dodging sprinklers left and right I run off the field and across the street to sit on a bench. Soaking wet, thinking my day couldn't get any worse the sprinklers stop across the street and start up right next to me. So I get up and start running again. Finally I get away from it all. I pick up a newspaper and read it from start to finish. By this time it was 6:00 AM. I was hungry so I popped in to one of those hotels that gives their guests free breakfast and made myself some waffles. I got onto the ferry, went to my room, changed my clothes, and barelly made it to work. Later a friend of mine asked "why are you so tired" I told him the story and he said "Wow, that's the greatest story I've ever heard"
And that's...almost...the story of how I am the way I am
It was my day off. I went to the bank and withdrew 100$ from the bank, I payed 15$ for a round trip ferry ride, 5$ for the shuttle to cheboygan, 50$ for my pay by month phone, two dollars on shampoo, and another 5 on a dvd. That's a total of 78$ spent leaving me with a whopping 12$. After my shopping was done I called the shuttle for them to pick me up. They said they would pick me up at five when the last shuttle came through for the day. I waited outside from 4 to 6 and no one came. I called and the line was dead because it was after business hours.
So, I ask the lady at K-mart where the nearest ATM was she said right down the street. Then the people down the street said down the street. So the people down that street said that their atm was empty. Eventually someone pointe to the bank. I go up town, and someone on a motorcycle (who must have seen me on the shuttle) stopped and said "you know the shuttle leaves at 7 right?" "what time is it?" "6:30" I then ran to the bank, slipped my card in, punched in some numbers and proceeded to tell me that I have already eceeded the amount i am aloud to take out a day.
So now I have no money for a cab or for a place to stay. I start to panic. I pace for hours trying to figure this out. Trying to talk myself into just putting my thumb out, but I couldn't. (I was young and foolish) I started to get dark. I have no idea what time it was at this point because I had no watch and I forgot my phone in my dorm room. It had to be 11 when I finally decided I needed to find a place to sleep. I looked around and found a thin patch a woods. It was a good spot away from any attention a person sleeping in the woods in small town america would normally be having. I was in nothing but a T-shirt, basket ball shorts, and I had my shampoo bottle as a pillow while I slept about a 1/4 mile from one of Michigans great lakes. I had to have layed their for about 2 hours until I fell to sleep.
I woke up maybe about a half an hour later to the strong scent of a skunk. I figured it was nothing and the skunk would leave me alone. Next thing I knew the bushes was shaking, and leaves were crackling under some unknown weight, so I got up in my paranoia and ran out of the woods into a ghost town.
It was real late in cheboygan. There was a terrible mist about. A car drove passed every now and again reminding me that their is still life in this now lifeless town. I started walking aimlessly through cheboygan with nothing to do but to wait untill the morning. I found myself walking into a grocery mart just to have some sort of human connection. Eventually I sat in front of McDonalds on some curb with the time 2:30AM blinking on some enormous sign. That's when I see a sherriff drive by, then stop, then turn around, then park.
"Hey you" "What seems to be the problem officer" "What's are you doing out here so late at night" I told them (there were two officers) my story. "Well, wait here like ten minutes" He drove off with me dumbfounded. Sure enough ten minutes go by and the cops are there to save the day. One pops out, frisks me, I get into the back and they drop me off in Mackinaw City which is where the ferry is.
Now I'm stuck in an even smaller town that was more dead then the last. Now I'm aimlessly walking down the middle of main street looking for a place to sleep. I see a stage in the middle of a field. I layed down on the cold cement with my shampoo pillow for a good 40 minutes not able to go to sleep. Then suddenly the sprinkler system turns on. I get up and run, dodging sprinklers left and right I run off the field and across the street to sit on a bench. Soaking wet, thinking my day couldn't get any worse the sprinklers stop across the street and start up right next to me. So I get up and start running again. Finally I get away from it all. I pick up a newspaper and read it from start to finish. By this time it was 6:00 AM. I was hungry so I popped in to one of those hotels that gives their guests free breakfast and made myself some waffles. I got onto the ferry, went to my room, changed my clothes, and barelly made it to work. Later a friend of mine asked "why are you so tired" I told him the story and he said "Wow, that's the greatest story I've ever heard"
And that's...almost...the story of how I am the way I am
