finding happiness in the unexpected

The air was dusty and sweet as I stepped out of my bus that warm spring day. A light breeze jostled the tree leaves and whipped hair slightly into my face. I looked around, “where are we?” my right hand man; Les cleared his throat almost nervously, “okahumpka, Florida” “you’re kidding right?” I said with a slight chuckle, the thought of spending a few days in okahumpka Florida was not happening in my mind. I mean how long can it take to fix a bus? “We’re going to have to stay till tomorrow night” I snapped back from my thoughts and realized Les had been talking. “What?!” “Why? Les I’m a model your telling me there is no way we can get back to Miami now?” “ I’m afraid not I tried everyone no one can get out here in time, besides it won’t kill us to stay one night” I looked around me. A small run down church with a nearly half-bent steeple and peeling paint was beside me. Along with a few just as run down houses with a lot of yard surrounded by chain link fences with at least 3 animals roaming about each of them. My nose twinged as I faintly smelled a cow somewhere. “Okay then, where are we supposed to stay?” “Over there” replied Les.
“Where? I don’t see anything”
“Over just beyond those trees with the flowers”
My worst fear was confirmed, I, Soliel James, saw my fate for the next day and night. It could barley been seen because it was covered by trees all covered in what seemed like millions of things: birdhouses, bug zappers, fake birds, plastic icicles, cloth flowers; just random things. There was no grass which I think was fault to the goats which roamed the yard eating most of the bushes bare too. The house itself was lower at one end then the other for whatever reason, a lot lower. There were some flimsy stairs leading up to the building that was painted maroon with bright blue around the doors and windows. Over to the side there was a post where a sign had been once before that now lay on the ground, the edges half chewed by the small beasts of the yard. The sign read: Miss Eve’s Cottage-three rooms to rent-short time only-VACANCY. No surprises there.
As we started across the lawn the two goats ran up to us like dogs I felt myself actually bending down to pet it and the animal started rubbing his head on my cheek and what felt like kissing me. I never would have thought that goats would be that friendly.
A small, stout, middle aged woman holding a teakettle, which I presumed to be Miss Eve, soon greeted us, smiled, and said “What can I do for you folks today?” She wore an aged, rose-dotted apron over a pair of faded blue jeans and a colorful shirt with sequined cats on it. Her frizzy blonde hair was pulled back loosely as some hung wildly around her kind looking face and eyes. Les quickly explained what happened and she offered us her two best rooms. I was waiting for her to say something about because of a celebrity staying here and gone off to call all her friends but she seemed unfazed by me like I was any other tourist broken down with no where to go. Inside the small house wasn’t much different then outside covered in knick-knacks and things that I would have thrown away in a heart beat: shells, baskets, fake flowers, and family portraits, all cluttering the small space. My room was pretty plain. Small with a wrought iron bed that creaked every time you moved with an antique quilt and two flat, hard, pillows on it. Next to the bed was a nightstand worn from age with a bible sitting on it. The innocence of it made me smile a little. I picked up the book and turned it over in my hands and ran the gold-edged pages by my fingertips. I set it down and turned to see the highlight of the whole room. A huge window set just beside my bed. I was awestruck as I saw the sun setting into the rolling hills as if that were its bed. The yellow, orange, and pink spilled into my room flooding it with color and warmth. I sprawled across my bed soaking it in. I didn’t get these times back in Miami being a top model. There were no quiet times, no friendly unorthodox pets, no quietly sweet caretaker and no sunset over the hills. Just the same old hustles and bustles of my life.
And for a moment, lying there in the quiet on my creaky bed, that sunset and I were one and I almost hoped it would last forever.