As far as our trip to England was concerned, as usual things did not go as planned. The flight was fine and the boys were enthralled by everything. Mum had arranged for us to be picked up by a taxi and it was foggy most of the way from Heathrow to Huntingdon. The boys had never seen fog before and had no idea what it was. We eventually arrived at mum's house and they went from room to room marveling at everything. Shoes came off so they could walk on carpet, and when Danilo told them about the pleasure of a bath they both jumped straight in the bath, full of bubbles. Thereafter they each had at least one boiling hot bath a day and mum's water bill went through the roof. As we had arrived early afternoon, there was plenty of time so we all went straight to see my grandmother in the old peoples' home she lived in. Mum had told me that she was ill, but when I saw her I was horrified. She was unconscious and although I told her I was there I do not think she heard me. I went back the following day, and she seemed a bit brighter and I took her in my arms.
"Is that you Linds? Is that really you? Are you really here?" she said in her lilting Welsh accent. She then whispered "Ï am tired now, Please hold me. I want to go home. I just want to go home."
She died during the night. The day before the blessing. The family suggested that she had waited to see me, not that that was any consolation, I was heartbroken. I really wanted her at the blessing and I hated to think that she had spent the last five months wondering why I had not contacted her.
The next day I went into St Ives, the local town to have my haircut. Dominican hairdressers are a nightmare so I was desperate to have a decent cut. Here you can ask for a trim and they scalp you. You ask them to leave the fringe and they cut three inches off it. They seem to have no idea how to cope with European hair. Your hair is washed in cold water and you always end up being drenched at the same time. And the blow drying is the most painful thing I have ever experienced, apart from being shot. I have no idea how they manage to get the dryer so hot, and they hold it very close to your scalp so not only do you see steam rising from your head, you are literally fried. The hair is pulled very hard as I suppose they are trying to straighten it, but mine was naturally straight and did not need such vicious treatment. Hence, whilst in England I was looking forward to a decent haircut at last. I left Danilo and the boys in an olde worlde pub opposite the salon but they kept coming in to see how I was getting on, which caused a bit of a commotion. In the end they stayed in the pub, but when I went to look for them they had left. The barman said they had won on the slot machine and left. That did not surprise me as before they were banned in the DR, Danilo adored slot machines. So then I had to try and find them. It did not take long as I do not think the town had ever seen one Dominican let alone three together. I eventually tracked them down to Woolworths where they were busy spending 70 pounds in five pence pieces.
The blessing was lovely. Around 40 family and friends came and as usual I went the whole hog with a lovely new wedding dress. Dany gave me away and Alberto was Danilo's best man. Danilo wore his Air Force dress uniform. There was however an air of sadness as neither my father nor grandmother were there. Dad would have been so proud seeing Danilo in his Air Force uniform. As I walked up the aisle Danilo was waiting at the altar, and in true Dominican fashion he stretched out his arm and shook my hand in greeting which caused titters in the congregation. The vicar then blew his nose just as we were about to start and then put his handkerchief in his pocket. Danilo was appalled, turning to me and saying in Spanish; "How on earth can he stand there with a pocket full of snot?" In the DR they just blow their nose between their fingers and throw it on the ground which I suppose is equally disgusting to us.
The service was of course all in English, with Danilo saying the vows after the vicar in his broken English. Mind you he had to say "repeat plis" a few times. We then went back to Mum's house for lunch and Danilo made a speech in English saying thank you to everyone for coming and although he was sad that neither my father nor grandmother were there in person he knew they were there in spirit. That caused a few handkerchiefs to come out.
The rest of our stay was uneventful but fun. It was freezing cold, but we managed to get out to the shops, where the boys were overwhelmed. They had each been given 30 pounds to spend. Alberto as usual spent his right away but Dany kept on looking and making notes on what he might buy.
I am afraid the boys drove my mother mad. She would buy fruit for a week, and they were so taken with English fruit that they would be typical Dominicans and eat it all straight away. She just could not understand that if there is food in the house then they eat it. All. They would sneak out of their bedroom at night and raid the fridge and the freezer as well. And they adored the dishwasher which they had never seen before. We took them to London which they loved, especially Hanleys the toy shop. We went on the London Eye, and to the Imax cinema, all of which were big hits. They were fascinated by the underground, and the trains and could not get over how clean England was. We all went down to see Perry, who I had taught to dive and who had visited me after I was shot, and the boys then stayed a couple of nights with her, eating burgers and going to Windsor castle and ten pin bowling. At least mum had a break from them for a couple of days and was able to stock up on food again.
We all returned to the DR in good spirits, and as well as working in the shop I was now giving private classes in Spanish to a range of people which kept me busy, and also made sure my Spanish improved.
We also decided that we had to do something about the boys. The guest house was a tip, and they often had all their friends around. They were skipping school and not concentrating on studying at all. Dany was also beginning to be lazy and arrogant, and would answer me back. He was also nowhere near as helpful as Alberto. And things still kept going missing from our house. Danilo felt that Dany needed more discipline and so enrolled him in the Air Force academy, where he boarded. There he would get discipline, a good education, and a chance of a good career. Alberto wanted to be a baseball player so we sent him to baseball school in Consuelo, a small town the other side of San Pedro. At least we were trying to give them the opportunity for a decent career.
I must admit it was a relief to me when they went. Less things disappeared from the house, and although I was pleased to see them when they came home around once a month for a couple of days, life was a lot less stressful without them around and without having to clear up after them. I wanted them to have a good future, but every time we had tried to help with their education, they just did not see it through. They went to English classes but left after three or four. We had sent them to a private school, not the top of the range, but better than the standard state school, and they did not study and failed exams. I could give them the opportunities but could not make them take advantage of them.
I had tried to adopt them a couple of years previously, and we had provided all of the paperwork. We had been for interviews, I had had psychiatric tests to check I was sane enough to be a mother, the children also had been interviewed. Unfortunately when the adoption service moved offices they lost all of our paperwork and so they said we would have to start again at the beginning. Given that Dany was nearly 18 by this stage, it was just going to be too late. The boys were disappointed as they wanted to have an official English mother, but on a day to day basis it made no difference.
