Some Times Destiny is a Seagull

Tacos and Tortillas Fights

Apparently Marco's family had immigrated over from Mexico to Ireland a couple of years ago. After a long struggle, they finally were able to open their own taco restaurant. Anna was gathering that the reason Marco took her in was because he thought she was a homeless immigrant, and he wanted to give her a good job because he could relate to the struggle.

Anna had spent the last couple of days dutifully making taco shells. She never knew how much of an art form taco shell making was. Marco's family spoke Spanish mostly when they were together. Anna had taken Spanish in high school, so she could understand a little bit of what they were saying, but she really regretted not paying more attention in high school. Marco had two brothers and a sister, so things were never boring during or after work. They were letting her sleep in the closet. It was a tight fit, but it was the best room she had ever had. Often at home when she went into the closet to get a grip on life, she wished she could just live in the closet, and now she pretty much did live in a closet! Things just couldn't get better!

Anna had just started on a long day of taco shell making, when her phone rang. She picked up. "If this is Jerry from the farmers market again, I did not steal your apples; I just calmly took a couple. There's a difference." She said defiantly.

"Anna, why do you not have my number saved in your phone by this point? No, it's me, Erik. We think we've located Dust. We've been monitoring local newspapers around where the crash was, and one of them just posted an article about a man falling from the sky onto a potato farm." Erik said, matter-of-factually.

This was great; this was exactly what she had wanted. She should be jumping for joy. And yet she wasn't. She had even felt more joy yesterday watching Marco and his brother get into a fight with tortillas than she did right now. She didn't want to leave now; she was just beginning to discover the artistry of taco shell making, and Marco's family was so fun and interesting. Back home she was always bored. She was always relying on Dust to make things interesting, because, Lord knows, life with Dust was never boring. But here there was always something new to do. She had a purpose. And she definitely couldn't leave right now, because today was unlimited queso day. Things always got a little out of hand on unlimited queso day. They needed all the hands they could get.

Anna spent the rest of the day warring with herself. She couldn't just leave her life in the U.S. But she really didn't want to leave Ireland. That evening she walked up to Marco, prepared to tell him that she was leaving. She tapped him on the shoulder feeling immensely sad. Marco turned around with a huge smile on his face and handed her a tortilla. At first she was confused but then she realized he was inviting her in on the evening tortilla slap down. Anna stared down at the tortilla. This felt like a big honor to be included in his family's evening tortilla fights. She knew she couldn't leave now.

After the tortilla slap down, which took a good half an hour and a lot of screaming and running, everybody was back doing their own thing. Anna knew what she needed to do. First she called Dust. He didn't respond, so she called Erik back. Erik said that Dust was off his rocker and had refused to come back to the U.S., because he was convinced that he had found his destiny of becoming a potato farmer or something. Anna was relieved to know that Dust was safe and happy, but also mildly offended that he also didn't want to spend his life with her either. Next, she called her friend Brittany and told her that all of her dreams had come true; she could have her and Dust's house and dog. Brittany was beyond excited.

"Yes, this is perfect! Now I don't need to go through the trouble of stealing your dog! And I really needed a house since my boyfriend kicked me out because I accidentally set his door on fire," she said exuberantly.

There was so much to unpack from that statement that Anna just didn't, and prayed that the dog was going to be okay.

She knew this sounded crazy, but it almost felt like she had found her destiny here.