The Arrival of the Santa Maria...

Almost as momentous as Christopher Columbus stepping off his ship unto the sands of San Salvador, the arrival of the Santa Maria would prove to be very profitable to Aunt Lori, Uncle Mark and the people of the Planalto. Although she had left her sister ships the Nina and the Margarita at home, Aunt Maria went right to work organizing the boxes of freshly unloaded materials and preparing them for distribution.

She was not the only one who had made the trip from New Jersey. Melissa Olpaka, also from Livingston, had left the comforts of home to venture to a hazardous land that could be disastrous to ones health. I am not talking about Brazil, but the House of Horrors located on Lobster road. Soon after the pool fiasco had come to a close, the roof once again sprung a leak and needed immediate repair. Everyone prayed that this would be the final task in a long punch list of repairs that had been completed within the past month.

William and Caroline wasted no time informing the two women of the Gamba that shared their home, but it was not long before the creature vanished and has not been seen since. Making the long trip from New York’s JFK airport with the girls was baseball equipment. Bats and gloves were now readily available to get the baseball clinic in the Planalto moving at full steam. The only thing they were lacking were the balls to make it happen.

It was around this point in time that I had solidified the thought in my mind that I was in fact going to return to Natal, and soon. I planned on leaving two days after my sisters wedding, which coincidentally was the exact same day that Lori’s brother Paul, his wife Patty and his children Stephanie, Eric and Amy were heading down. I talked to Aunt Lori shortly after buying my ticket and she informed of the need for baseballs and bases so they could begin playing games on a more regular basis. I told her I would be happy to bring some down with me, only to learn that this was the beginning of a long list of items that would needed to be packed.

Lori had been informed of a children’s hospital run by a Christian woman right in downtown Natal. She has some stuffed animals that had been donated and shipped down, but she wasn’t sure she had enough. She didn’t want to go to the hospital with them unless she had enough for everyone. I told her I would see what I could do, and soon thereafter added to the list a video camera for Momma Luis, a medical device (to be named later) and a pile of index cards of assorted colors for the English lessons.

One final thing that was told to me on this last conversation I would have with Lori before my departure was the condition of Don Corleone. Some of you may recall the night of the cockroaches, and the one cockroach that I had sealed in a plastic Ziploc bag. Well it is now one month later and the bag is still sealed, and no food, water, or air (that we know of) has entered the plastic prison. But this godfather of all garden cockroaches is still living, breathing and crawling around his small cell as much as ever. I am anxious to see if he is still alive one week later. I know it is said that duct tape and cockroaches are the only things that are able to sustain a nuclear blast, but I am curious to see if the insect will be able to withstand constant prodding from one William Procopio. I am willing to bet that this six legged creature will soon be shedding his exoskeleton and giving up the ghost...