Notes from captivity – day 22

I don’t know what I’ve done, but I am being held prisoner. Against my will. That may seem obvious – can you be a willing captive? but based upon the delicious baked goods I am provided after the occasional meal, maybe so.

My captor is a woman I am familiar with, who keeps reminding me of our “shared history”. Whatever that means.

My problem is, I don’t know what I can do – or tell her – that will get me out of here. Today she turned to a clip of Al Roker conducting an interview of a Thanksgiving Day parade float, and after a few minutes, I would have told her anything – everything – she wanted to know. I told her about my role in the capsizing of the Golden Ray, but that didn’t seem to impress her.  What does she want from me?

She provides the illusion of freedom every few days and asks if I want to go for a car ride. I always say yes, because she lets me hang my head out of the window, and I keep hoping I can escape while we are out.  But we never stop, we merely slow at the curb and someone runs out and hands us food, and then we go home. A very generous community I’d say.  

Today she took me to the Winn Dixie, but the people working there all wore masks , and the shoppers all avoided each other – my guess is, pretending they didn’t know each other, so maybe they’re all in on this together. Turns out she only asked me along so I could carry out the 30 cases of water we bought.  Not sure why we needed that much water, but the other shoppers appeared envious.

Recently, someone she calls “The Governor” said we could walk on the beach again, which seemed like another golden opportunity for escape, but I can’t outwalk her, and there are armed men on 3 wheelers patrolling the beach, so this Governor fellow keeps us on a short leash.

As a procrastinator I thought this would be a great experience, because I love putting things off until tomorrow. But putting things off until April 30^th?

But there are fun moments. We have begun playing games and cards again. Our current favorite game is “What did we do last Tuesday?”

The only truly good news about being stuck here is that we have beer.  And pretty much every day right at 5P.