My first thought when she spoke to me was “But I don’t even know anyone in Australia. The only person there I knew was a woman I dated in University, but that was like 24… years… ago… Nah. Couldn’t be.” It wasn’t.
When I went into the kitchen and picked up the phone I spoke to a woman who was both frantic and relieved. She was indeed the mother of the tearful woman who greeted me at the door, intent on making my coffee break disappear. The mother was frantic because her daughter who was traveling far on the other side of the world from her hadn’t contacted her in a couple of weeks. Not only that but her bank account had been emptied and her credit card was over its limit. She was relieved as her fears that her daughter was in an unmarked grave somewhere had proved unfounded. She had also been in touch with the mother of a friend traveling with her daughter and he also had not been heard of and no longer had money or space on his card.
There were two young women in the restaurant that day, and sitting down with them we quickly determined that they had been traveling with two other Australian youths, another woman and a man. In Vancouver they had met a man who had offered them all a dream job, leading rafting tours on the Yukon River. For the past two or three weeks they had been traveling across western and northern Canada while waiting for the river to break up. He had told them that he was looking after all of the expenses and had already put them on the payroll. He had their credit cards for “safekeeping”. His name? Leo.
A quick check on the computer revealed several warrants for fraud related offences for Leo, including one from Interpol. The light was slowly dawning on the two youths sitting across from me, their dream job was actually a nightmare.
One of the features of their travels around the country was that they were never able to call home to their families. Leo always had an excuse when they went to call home, phones not working, something else to see or do. When they reached the Northwest Territories they headed north to Yellowknife and were actually on their way south again, but the lake ice from Great Slave Lake had broken up and had filled the river, stopping the ferry. They were stranded on the north of the mighty MacKenzie River, and would be for anywhere from a couple of days to a week.
The group checked into Big Rivers motel. Leo wanted to go explore the area, and sensing an opportunity to finally call home our first victim feigned sick. The other girl offered to stay behind to care for her while the three others went exploring. One phone call home and the young woman found herself broke, in debt beyond her ability to pay, and a long long way from home.
Finishing the Reader’s Digest version of the story, the woman looked out the window as a Toyota FourRunner pulled in beside the restaurant. Leo had returned.
Comments
4 responses
(heart pounding) You are a master of the cliff-hanger…
I’m soo hooked.
thank you. More coming soon?
Hurry up with part three!