Memoir
Date Published: July 5, 2023
We all have two lives. We only get to experience living in the second after we realize we only have just one.
Simon Yeats had his first real scare in life when he was attacked by a kangaroo when he was seven years old. His first brush with the cliff-face edge of death came when he was 12. His father drove his family down the dangerous, 4WD only Skipper's Canyon dirt road in New Zealand in a rented minivan.
Including the occasions he was almost involved in two different plane flight crashes, in the same night, there have been at least a half dozen more times when the author has come within a moment's inattention of being killed.
However, none of those frightening incidents compare to what he experiences after his son is abducted to South America.
This memoir is the story of how Simon used the traumatic experiences of his life to give him strength to forge on during an incomprehensible 13 year fight to be a father to his son.
What did it take for him to get to his second life?
It took him to truly understand what fear is.
Excerpt one.
As I cross the hotel lobby floor towards the elevator, a man approaches me and addresses me by name.
Oh god, not again. I know what this is. Another process server who is going to hand me court documents to tell me I am now being sued for refusing to follow my ex-wife’s demands to buy my son another cell phone.
That would have been far more preferable.
The man leads me over to the couches in the hotel lobby, and we sit. He speaks only Portuguese so that I can only understand some of what he says. So, I use Google translate so I can fully understand what is going on.
His name is Michael.
The man is not from the court.
He is on the direct opposite side of the law, as it turns out.
He is a killer for hire.
My ex-wife has hired his services.
What? Right now, I know I am sitting in bizarro world.
Excerpt two.
I am woken up by the feeling of a hand vigorously tugging at my hip pocket. Opening my eyes, I am perturbed to find a dark-skinned woman sitting in the back of the taxi with me. She is just as surprised when I wake up.
Her hand immediately goes from my pocket to rubbing my chest. “What would you like to happen tonight?” She suggests.
This is not kosher at all. Looking at the meter, it reads over $30. While outside the cab, we are still in the hubbub of South Beach.
It does not take a genius to work out what has happened. The driver has gone and picked up a female accomplice after I stupidly fell asleep.
I may be inebriated, but panic sobers the mind quickly. My first real thought is the taxi driver has a gun. Any taxi running a shakedown where they allow a hooker accomplice in the cab with an intoxicated passenger most likely carries a weapon. Soon to be featured on Shark Tank.
Second thought is, just get closer to my section of the beach, then I can make a run for it. “I'd like it all to happen tonight, baby,” I convincingly lie. “Get us to 71st and Collins.”
A friend told me a story about their friend on a trip to South America. The taxi driver drove him into a dark alley, where a gang of thieves were waiting to assault and rob him. The poor guy barely escaped with his life. 134 That was in the bubble of South America. While I am not outside my bubble, right now.
But there are people looking to take advantage of other people everywhere in this world.
About the Author
Simon Yeats has lived nine lives, and by all estimations, is fast running out of the number he has left. His life of globetrotting the globe was not the one he expected to lead. He grew up a quiet, shy boy teased by other kids on the playgrounds for his red hair. But he developed a keen wit and sense of humor to always see the funnier side of life.
With an overwhelming love of travel, a propensity to find trouble where there was none, and being a passionate advocate of mental health, Simon’s stories will leave a reader either rolling on the floor in tears of laughter, or breathing deeply that the adventures he has led were survived.
No author has laughed longer or cried with less restraint at the travails of life.
Contact Links
Instagram: @authoryeats
TikTok: @authoryeats
Purchase Links
No comments:
Post a Comment
Comment here - or - share your views on Social Media Platforms of Choice..