The Adventures Of Isabel And Rosa

A transformation of life circumstances

The Adventures Of Isabel and Rosa

Saturdays came and went like clockwork. This one would be completely different on many levels. Isabel and Rosa are best friends. They go shopping every week end at the Apocalypse Market in Opa-Locka. This week they would be going as sellers. Both invested $50.00 each to be able to set up a couple of old tables in the open air market. They have to bring their own tables and goods to sell. The Apocalypse is nothing more than a plot of dusty open land in the middle of nowhere consisting of nothing more than yellow dirt and stones. People sell everything from grocery goods, fruits and vegetables to boats and guns.

Rosa and Isabel bought an old school bus, removed all seating; making it an empty shell in which they could fill it with equipment and things to sell at the market. Isabel's friend painted the bus hot pink and neon green with colorful butterflies and daisies adorning it all about to give it character. It would clearly stand out at the market parking lot.

They had to leave home very early in order to set up before the crowds arrived. The drive is a bit of a distance and coffee was the first order of business for the girls. Needless to say, they were late. Fortune was in their favor. A giant hale storm with gale force winds blew up from out of the south with very little warning that hit the market dead on accuracy. The hale stones were the size of large oranges. Extensive damage was done to the temporary cloth and plastic canvasses, which were set up by individual vendors to block out the sun and protect their goods. Today they were of no use. The white projectiles falling from the sky ripped through them like paper. Most of the items on the tables were destroyed or damaged, including many of the tables. Cars and trucks lost their windshields and the windows were all broken. Many dings and dents were left behind on the vehicles. Many people had to be hospitalized for extensive injuries inflicted.

By the time Rosa and Isabel got there the storm had passed. The show must go on. The poor vendors had to pick up the pieces and go on. This was their livelihood. This was their survival. The girls came in to witness the devastation and to brighten up the day with their carnival like bus.

They wasted no time in setting up their tables and signs side by side to do business. The ground was slippery with remnants of the melting hale stones. The sand had turned to a thick uncomfortable mud slurry. They both wished they had thought to bring along rubber boots for the occasion. Surprisingly, things got back to normal by noon time.

Isabel brought her large display of red ripe large tomatoes to sell. She had a large variety of tomatoes. Some were yellow. Others were orange color. She had plumb tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, green ones for frying and even can tomatoes imported from Italy. They were popular with the Asian and Spanish crowd.

Rosa set up her display next to her friend with large ripe pineapples and fresh bananas that she had imported from Guatemala and Costa Rica weekly. Orchids were and are the most inexpensive commodity produced and exported from Costa Rica. She had phenomenal deals worked out with growers there, men that she has known for years who help her to cut out the middle man and make pure profits. Orchids became very popular with the shoppers at the market.

Some time had passed and the girls became well off. Rosa purchased a veranda in Indonesia near an active volcano. She was able to live there six months out of the year because the market had a very short season of profitability and was closed for most of the year.

She had a farm and house built on her land. She owned sheep and a few horses for riding pleasure. She kept chickens for fresh eggs and she even bought exotic peacocks. Her favorite one was called Earl. It was a male with a gigantic display of fan like feathers spreading out in brilliant blues and bright aqua marine greens.

One of the few remaining places in the world were cannibalism still occur res is in Indonesia. It was outlawed there in the sixties but some of the primitive tribes did not get that memo so they still consume human flesh when they get the chance.

One Sunday, very early morning, a tribe of dark skinned marauders came onto Rosa's estate without warning and certainly without invitation. The natives had given up poison darts, bows and arrows and spears years ago. The Americans equipped them these days with modern weapons of mass destruction at a cheap price. Arms dealers seemed to be operating everywhere in the world these days. Anything for a buck as they say.

These little brown men were armed to the teeth with large automatic rifles loaded with large bullets to do bad things. Rosa woke up early. She was having her morning coffer when she spotted the invaders so she quickly took cover immediately in a hidden crawl space in the wooden floor.

Earl the peacock was the first to go. They shot his head clear off and stuffed his body, feathers and all into a large canvass bag. When they entered the house they stole silverware, dishes and a bottle of single malt whiskey. They also made off with two of Rosa's horses and a female piglet. The invasion only lasted for several minutes. The house and the barn were shot up pretty good and riddled with bullet holes but fortunately they did not burn the place down or find Rosa. Who knows if she might have ended up on someones menu.

The colorful fan feathers from the peacock would end up as a headdress for the tribal king or leader. Peacock breast meat was in high demand. It would be roasted over an open fire then Earl would be served in between two slices of small home fried bread with some raw onions. Only the king, his family and the witch doctor would be permitted to eat these specialty Earl sandwiches. They say it taste like chicken.

Rosa finally emerged from the hidden crawl space after she felt the danger had passed and loud noises ceased. She witnessed the destruction and devastation. She was also happy to be alive. Later on she would be more disturbed about her expensive bottle of whiskey being stolen than the lose of her favorite pet, Earl. All that remained of him in the yard was a little head blown to pieces. She placed it in a shoe box and buried it under the yum-yum tree in a close by pasture.

Isabel had purchased her own secluded island somewhere in the south pacific ocean. She officially named it Maria Dulce, (Sweet Maria.) Sugar cane grew wild on the island so it was an appropriate name for the place. There were no inhabitants so she had to start from scratch. Construction workers, electrical engineers and even road builders had to be hired to create a livable environment for herself and her servants. She had a few electrical scooters flown in on her private helicopter so she and her company could get around conveniently on the small land mass. She hired a full time pilot to be on call 24 hours a day for medical emergencies, shopping for supplies on the main land and for any and all unforeseen contingencies that might crop up.

Solar panels were installed to give her endless electricity. The electric scooters could be plugged in nightly to the generators so she would always have instant access for normal transportation needs in the region.

There was a sound reason why and how Isabel had access to all these extravagances that most people can only dream about. Several years ago she sold off her collection of rare Spanish coins she had acquired or inherited from an elderly relative who had passed away while living in Sri Lanka. The coins were extremely rare and extremely valuable. Isabel was sad for the relative but happy at her new found fortune.

She sold off her homes in Florida and the French Riviera to buy the island. She sold the magic bus, equipment and vegetables to begin her new life of leisure.

When Rosa called her friend to tell her all about the problems she was experiencing in Indonesia, Isabel immediately invited her to stay on her island. She would have a cabin built for her and given her own parcel of land free of charge. Rosa took her up on the offer.

Weeks after Rosa sold her veranda and moved to Maria Dulce, the volcano near her estate in Indonesia unexpectedly erupted and completely wiped out all life forms and leveled all buildings and man made structures for hundreds of miles around. You would have never thought that any inhabitants ever lived there.

Once Rosa got settled in with her new home and yard, which was situated only about a mile away from Isabel's mansion, she would visit her friend by scooter and have afternoon coffee and lunches with her.

The servants quarters where about two mile away from them situated on the southern shore. Isabel always kept a young servant girl from India to live with her in the main house to take care of small chores and cleaning. There were always dishes to be done and meals to be prepared and served. She stayed in her own apartment downstairs.

One of Isabel's favorite pass times was to go to an old cave she found a while back. She loved setting off sticks of dynamite inside the cave and running like hell after set lit a long fuse on them. The explosions were massive and thrilling. Who knows? Maybe one day those explosions might expose gold or some other precious metals or gems.

Rosa had some chickens and small sheep helicoptered in from the mainland. She loved her fresh eggs and the sound of miniature sheep bleating in the morning. It made her feel like she was back in her homeland.

There were no real natural predators that could hurt them. Monitor lizards however became a nuisance for the chickens. It turns out that these lizards like eggs and chickens for breakfast. As a matter of fact they will eat them at any hour of the day or night. Chicken wire and some more fencing would have to be installed.

In addition to Isabel's natural love of explosives in the form of dynamite, she also had a proclivity for hand grenades. Once you pull the pin on them you could throw them much further than a stick of dynamite. She and Rosa would set them off for hours just outside Rosa's fenced in area to scare off monitor lizards and other unwanted creatures of the night.

Author's Note

Where fact and fiction clash. A lot of this is factual. Anything having to do with wealth is obviously fiction and fantasy. We can only dream. Rosa and Isabel are real people in my life and they are best of friends.