Chapter one: The dynasty of the four floating white caps
I was wearing my
favorite green t-shirt with a pair of grey Capri pants and, of course, green
snickers to match the t-shirt. It was my first time on a plane. I wasn’t
feeling too good about it, especially because I’m really afraid of heights and
pretty much of everything I could easily get killed by…I was sad, though really
excited in a strange way…
I knew that trip
was going to be life changing and I never thought I would miss that place so
much. I’m not going to tell you the exact place, but I am going to say that
everything happened somewhere in Greece , in a wonderful village with
pink trees…well…they weren’t actually pink…their leafs were, which is pretty
much the same. It was a magical place; the most magical I’ve ever been to…and I
couldn’t enjoy it for a second…except that one day: the day I finally found out
how a real man should look like.
His name is not
important, especially because nothing happened between the two of us (not that
I didn’t want to), but I’m just going to call him D. I was sitting on the
balcony enjoying the fresh air, then I heard Janice, my boss’ friend, saying: “I’d
like to introduce to you my youngster, D.”…and then he came…we shook hands…smiling…I
was shocked. My brain suddenly forgot every single word in English and my eyes
were as big and innocent as a lemur’s. I
can’t even remember the stuff we’ve talked about. I can only remember that sexy Ryan Reynolds smile and one question he asked: “Where have you been
shipped out from?” I didn’t understand the question at first…what?? Did I look
like a package to him? But I think he was only trying to make conversation and
though I was really interested my mouth blew it …”I have a boyfriend!” A
boyfriend that I literally wanted to kill that moment!
He was making my life a living hell. My phone
never stopped ringing that night. You don’t meet a fine English man every
evening and I blew it just because I couldn’t turn off my fucking phone so I
could eat some of that delicious barbeque and drink my beer straight from the
bottle like I knew what I was doing, while having a conversation with one of
the sexiest man alive! I instantly knew I wasn’t his type. I was only a chubby
housekeeper. The thing is that we were sitting on the balcony, watching the
sea, talking about swimming and about the group that uses to swim every single
morning at 8 am, a group of four women with
white caps that ‘float’ in that tiny golf for an hour or so…”The floating white
caps!”, he said, laughing. I started to laugh because I couldn’t imagine the
rest of their bodies, beneath the water, and because one of them was my boss,
while another one was his mom. I never knew the other two, but I will give them
names…
Well…the main
subject is not D. I didn’t get to know that guy that well in order to write a
book about him. It’s just that he did give me this idea: the four floating
white caps…I added “dynasty”…it just sounds…royal…and oh! That English accent I
just love! So…let’s go back a little to see why I had to go to that marvelous
village in the first place. I think it was the 9th of July 2012. I
came back from my final exam. I had to wear a deux-piece suit and high heels. I
had to be elegant, though rough. So I chose pretty much the only deux-piece I
had in my closet and unfortunately it was black, with a white satin collar, but
black. And it was damn hot! I went for a turquoise purse and a ‘swept to one
side’ bun…I also wore the watch my mom gave me years ago on Amulet day, “so
I’ll never forget her” (silly mom). Well…it was pretty late in the evening and
it was still really hot outside. I started to pack some things: some of my
summer clothes, cosmetics, some towels, flip-flops, sneakers, sandals, one or
two books…I was ready to move to Bucharest
with my boyfriend, starting a new life. I just finished my last year of
university, totally sure that I’ve passed my final exam. I was more than sure
that, if I move to Bucharest, I’ll find a perfect job as a secretary or a
manager’s assistant but I was about to find out that those are just utopias for
a 1,64 m chubby Moldavian girl…
Anyways, the
window was open and the curtain was drawn aside…that’s when a huge butterfly
flew in. He was pretty annoying because I kept kicking him out but he kept
coming back. And then it hit me “something’s wrong…something’s wrong with
mom…she’s trying to tell me something”. Stupid me! What did that butterfly have
to do with mom…I don’t know…that was just the first thing going thru my mind..
Did I believe that shit?? Of course I did, especially the next minute when my
phone rang…it was my mom: “please don’t get alarmed; I’m in the
hospital…something’s wrong with me…” I went to the kitchen and told my brother
what happened, and then we’ve lighted a cigarette and started crying like she
already died.
Next thing I can
remember is that I was on my way to Bucharest .
I was nervous and I kept calling her to see if there was anything I could do
for her. I probably forgot to mention that she was in Greece and she
almost died that night. Her period lasted for more than 10 days and she was full
of bruises, she was weak and couldn’t do pretty much anything. She used to work
as a housekeeper for a really cute couple: Valerie and Nestor. Mondays were her
only days off but she wanted to earn some extra money so she used to clean some
of Valerie’s American friends’ houses. That Monday she didn’t go…she couldn’t
get out of bed! So Marcy went by to her house later that day. When my mom
opened the door, Marcy was terrified: my mom never looked worse…her arms were
severely bruised and she was pale and weak. “You are going to put something on
right away because we are going to the hospital! Now, for goodness sake!”
