Finding Direction: The Wind Vane Chronicles

[Note:  Really bad medical news Tuesday - as in not much hope for relief of any kind for my pinched nerve from C3 through C7 trauma in my neck, but today I am in considerably less pain than the past few days & considerably more optimistic, seeking all options from here to Birmingham to Houston, where I have a good lead.  Praise God for hearing my pleas & thank you for uplifting me so.  Dee]

 April 1st – Late Wednesday Night in DiamondJack Casino Hotel

If you remember (it’s been a while), I left you last time (here) with us – okay, Mom - beating the system by walking out of the casino with her $8.75 of their money late on the first day of our road trip.  

We slowly (Mom’s bum knee) walked back over to the hotel side to go to our room and to bed because it was about 10:30 p.m. and had been a long day.

 As we entered the hotel lobby, I saw Steven (Hotel, remember!) still behind the counter and also saw a tall young black man crossing the lobby from somewhere wearing loose clothing, sort of work out type, and carrying a very large shopping bag.  We crossed the lobby where I was going to talk with Steven and take his picture, because he had been so helpful to us when we’d arrived, but he was busy on the phone.

So, we went through a short hallway to the six elevators.  The three of us entered, Mom & Laura talking away, and I stopped in front of the panel to punch in our floor.  As I did so, the young man I had seen in the lobby strode in and stood behind us.  For some reason, I felt very wary.

As I punched in our floor, I saw that we had to put our room card into the panel to be able to get the elevator to work.  I had the card (being the "commander" of this endeavor), so started to look in my purse to pull the card out, while at the same time asking the young black man what floor he wanted.

He was mumbling something about his girlfriend having the only card to their room (in other words, he didn’t have one).  At the same time I was asking him what floor he wanted and he couldn’t tell me.

I immediately told Mom & Laura, "Come on, we’ve got to go talk to Steven.  I wanted to get his picture, remember?  Come on.  Come on."  (It was the only thing I could think of to get them out.)

They hesitated, looking confused, but I kept pressing them and said, let’s go.  I wanted all of us out of that elevator as fast as possible.  I herded them along till we got around the corner of the hallway into the lobby and told them I was highly suspicious of that guy & why.  Mom had not even noticed him at all & Laura had only noticed the big shopping bag.  She didn’t even see that he was black.

We went over to the counter & told Steven and I insisted he call security, which he did.  We then safely entered the elevator and went to our room, me cautioning both Mom & Laura the whole time that they must be more aware of their surroundings and what’s going on.  The guy had no card and could not tell me his floor number.  ‘Nuff said.

Here’s some pictures of our great room taken before we went to bed.  The first is Mom sitting on her bed (Laura & I took the other bed, Laura closet to Mom & me on the far side by the short "wall") counting her loot & putting it away!

The second is of Laura.  Our room was very tropical looking, with lots of mirrors, which made it seem much bigger than it was.

Finally – here is the huge whirlpool jacuzzi tub that Laura so wanted to lie back in to relax for a while before going to bed and watch the little 13" TV just across the way (see it in the mirror next to the coffee pot).  But it was so late, she didn’t get to do so.  Bummer.

It had been an eventful day and Mom was sound asleep by the time her head hit the pillow.  Laura and I took longer, but were in bed with the lights out (except in the bathroom) by 11 p.m.

I was very tired out from driving all day and expected I’d drift off to sleep.  We had another long day on the road ahead of us from Shreveport to Picayune and I badly needed the rest.

It was dark & quiet except for Mom’s soft snoring and all was still – except my mind.  It was cranked up in high gear.  I lay there as still as possible trying to think calming thoughts.  Instead, every 15 or 20 minutes or so I was checking the time on my wonderful new "indiglo" watch.

The day ended with me wide awake.  As a new day began, I prayed for sleep, to no avail.  

Then, some 45 minutes into the new "day," – 12:45 a.m. Thursday morning – me still in bed wide awake, the peace was shattered by a loud knocking on the door.

What on earth, I thought.

To Be Continued . . .