You don't get something for nothing

It was a couple of weeks before my father's anniversary of his death and Christmas was just over a month away.

This could not come at a better time .

I had just moved into my new place with my 3 children, this was a fresh start .

I received a call from my friend with an amazing deal, "How would you like to go to Grenada for a week, no expenses, you just have to pay for the name change?" "what's the catch?" I said ,

 "no catch, just a name change, it's a guy I know , I'll pass you his number so you can chat to him" he replied.

This sounded amazing , I spoke to the guy shortly after, he explained this holiday was booked months in advance for himself and his wife but his wife was unable to make it, he offered it to my friend Sonny but Sonny had work commitments ...so am I interested? Hell yeah! Of course I was!

So I arranged for my brothers to watch my children, stocked up my fridge and I was off to Grenada .

This is amazing I thought, a perfect Christmas break before our new life .

The flight was good and we landed on time . A man in his early 40s met me , we had a chit chat and he took me to the hotel, we spent an hour chatting, grabbed some food and then he left, wow, there were really no strings! I thought to myself and smiled.

I went for a shower I was literally in paradise .

I was a very outgoing person, so I made friends quickly, spent my days sun bathing and nights checking out the town.

A couple times that dude, who went by the name "Snapper” would pop over , just to check in on me.

 A few days before we were due to fly back , he offered to take me on a day trip to a neighbouring island . "You might aswell do a bit of sight seeing whilst you're here, check out some spots, I'll show you around, I have family here , so I know the place well".

I smiled and agreed .

The day trip to Carriacou, turned into an over night stay, I was fine with that, late night shopping, drinks and then a midnight swim on my own and caught the boat back to St George's the next morning.

My last night I went to a party and had a panic weather I'd make it back on time or I'd miss my flight. I made it back, just in time for a swim, shower and breakfast and then we were on our way to the airport.

At the airport Snapper said he was going to have a cigarette and he would meet me inside, I checked in . What a wonderful holiday , I'd definitely come back here, I might even bring the children next time ...my daydream was interrupted. " excuse me madam, could you step this way please", a young lady dressed in uniform said to me.

I smiled and followed her, "where are we going?" I asked.

"It's just a random check" she replied . I obliged and we went to a room so that she could search my hand luggage, once that was done , I smiled, "oh great" , I said, finished just in time to board.

As we left the room a gentleman approached me, "we would like to check your larger item too please" I smiled and followed him.

At the back of the airport the officer made small talk with me as they put my luggage through, I saw them whispering to each other , I asked if there was a problem and one of the officers said - "did you pack your luggage yourself?", I nodded.

The officer said , "we have reason to believe there is something inside your wooden statue, we will have to open it up"

I replied, "do whatever you need to do because I do not want to miss my flight"

They began to drill it open , and a poof of white powder went up into the air, the officers all turned and looked at me, my mouth dropped to the floor, I was in shock, they arrested me on the spot...I should of known better, I read about these things all the time, was this really happening to me!? .

It was, it did, I was arrested on the 8th of November, the actual 1 year anniversary of my father's death.

Now looking back at everything, there were signs, signs I missed because I was having so much fun, too much fun? I have video evidence with snappers face, he broke my cam cord a few days into the holiday, I thought nothing if it, he said he would replace it. He kept disappearing when we were in Carriacou, he bought the wooden sculptures and asked me to carry them on the boat. All of those things seemed innocent to me.

On our last day when I went for a swim, I arrived back in my room to field.my suitcase broken, he said he was moving it and it popped open! Why didn't alarm bells ring then? What about when he offered to go to the market and replace my suitcase!? And finally when he told me his luggage was over and would I mind putting his souvenirs in my suitcase, I was such an idiot! , he said he would collect them off of me once we landed in London, stupid nieve me just went along with everything.

It was a month before I was sentenced, my lawyer advised me to plead guilty, they did not even try to fund Snapper, why would they?, they had me. I always said I wanted to be famous, and here I was on the front page with the heading " Another Drug Mule Caught". Definitely not how I imagined I'd get my fame.

Sentenced to 3years or pay a fine of $200, 000.00, I did not have that sort of money so I did my time , missed out on vital milestones with my children. Gutted .

I'm not so trusting anymore.

I have a criminal record now, that was definitely not worth a week in so called paradise.