As soon as I got back to my apartment that afternoon, I started reaching out to people.
I texted Mistou.
M. I miss you.
You do? What does that mean?
It means I want to see you.
For how long?
By that point, I knew Mistou well enough to recognize that to her, the only correct answer was forever. But that wasn’t our reality.
For as long as you can stay with me. I want you to come down for Easter. For my birthday.
She said okay and that she’d put in time at work and see what she could get approved.
I wanted to tell her I loved her but, instead, wound up texting Lemme know dates and I’ll send you a ticket.
Then I hit up Édo.
Frè’m. Se Pierre. Kouman ou ye???
He hit me right back.
I’m okay! I was in Jamaica when it happened. I’m actually still here.
Thank God! Your family?
House in Jacmel hit hard. House in La Boule still standing. All immediate family survived.
Mesi Bondye!
Wi. Praise Jah.
Let me know when you go back. I think it makes sense for me to go in July- I can try to find a construction project to help out on. And you can always come chill in Panama any time!
Thanks, frè’m. Let’s keep in touch.
Then I took a step outside of my comfort zone and texted Mireille. She was one of the women who Edo had brought with him for drinks at Hotel Montana. I hadn’t forgotten how she’d told me, “Well, you can take the skills you gain in Panama City and come back here to work.” Hopefully she wouldn’t think I was being insensitive for reaching out so soon after such a tragedy. Hopefully she was okay.
Hi Mireille, this is Edo’s friend Pierre. We met at the Hotel Montana. I’m just checking on you.
Mireille, like Edo, replied immediately.
We actually wound up texting back and forth for a while. She’d been working on a development project in Okap when the earthquake hit- she was still up there.
I told her about my scrapped plans to return to Port au Prince in April and asked her opinion about when it would make sense for me to go back, as a construction consultant.
I’d say July or August would be a good time to come back. By then rebuilding should at least be in the planning stages. In the meantime, I’ll keep my eyes out for you.
I told her to text me if she ever needed anything and asked her if she’d mind if we kept in touch and she said it would be a pleasure.
So, it looked like my 2010 calendar was shaping up to be a busy one. From the seeds of tragedy and discontent springs a plan.
First off- I wanted to learn the next level of the money changing business, now that I had Hopeton in town for a few days.
