Passport Part Deux

Great news! My passport nightmare is nearly over. As a matter of fact, I think I made a big deal over nothing.

I went to the US Embassy dressed in my finest sarong shaking in my flip-flops.  I was petrified they would deport me immediately or worse! I envisioned them calling all my friends in NYC and my family in San Francisco to tell them what a failure I was. I thought they would tell me I would have to hire a lawyer at $500 an hour.

Turns out, I will be able to get a new passport relatively easily and quickly. I do need proof of identity, but Mervin coming into their office and giving them an affidavit is enough verification. They will also call the Passport Office in the US next week to validate that I had a previous passport through the Department Name Check System. Since I don’t have the number and they want to prevent fraudulent use of the identification, they will report my passport lost. They will not need to fill out a police report. They were so helpful.

My situation kept improving.  My new passport fee is waived since they consider me a victim of disaster because of my boating accident. The kind people in the office were the messengers of only great information and seemed genuinely fascinated with my dolphin rescue.  They told me that they have heard about dolphins saving other people. They recommended that I go to the marine history museum of Tortola.

Then the other shoe dropped. They gave me a routine series of questions and requirements in order for me to receive a new passport.   This list included that in no circumstances was I to be gainfully employed. This included the farmer’s market that I had planned to work that weekend. They also assumed that my boating accident happened more recently. They thought that I would call home immediately for someone to wire me money to stay in a proper hotel in Road Town.

I decided to face the inevitable now and tell them the truth. I told them the boating accident happened about 1 and ½ months ago. Their attitude began to change towards me as they asked me abruptly with a tone, “Where can we contact you? What hotel are you staying?” I got scared that everything would fall apart if I told them where I was staying. I couldn’t think of the one I stayed at, so I asked, “which one do you recommend?” I added sheepishly, “I was staying at another bay - in Brandy Wine Bay.”

They gave me a name of a hotel in Road Town and offered to call them for me to make a reservation. I hemmed and hawed. I would have to suck it up and call someone to ask for money.  I thought of Isaiah’s slavery speech of freedom and my new inspiration to be a better person. Why is it always easier to talk about doing the right thing then to do it? 

They were offering their phone and I got swept up in their helpfulness and called Eddie.  I was very brief and told him that I would tell him the full story later, but that basically all my money was gone through no fault of my own and that I needed him to pay for a hotel.  He asked me what I was doing in Road Town, was I ok and when I would be able to tell him the full story. I said I was ok, but had been through an ordeal and that I would tell him later that night when I was settled in.

You would think after nearly drowning, I would be fearless. Unfortunately, I still have my insecurities. Dealing with my passport was not as bad as I thought. The thought of calling Eddie later was more painful.