In our latest flash essay contest on sister site Narratively Academy, we asked you to tell us about something that wasn’t as it seemed. You shared wild, sad and funny stories about fraud, impostors and good old-fashioned trickery — all great. In the end, it was this one, ultimately about making lemonade out of the strange, sour lemons one writer was given, that stayed with us.As always, thanks to everyone who submitted!
I’d always dreamed of being on Broadway, so when the wealthy people I babysat for offered to take me to New York City as their nanny, I said goodbye to my roommate and both my jobs. We flew first class to JFK, got picked up in a limo and moved into a Park Avenue hotel.
Each morning, they gave me a cash per diem and left me to entertain my 2-year-old charge. Mr. Rich owned a toy factory, and he’d bought his lovely blonde wife a Park Avenue flower shop to run.
Early November was magical, with the leaves turning gold in Central Park where I sat with the other nannies and watched the toddlers play. In my off hours, I went to plays and read the trades and dreamed of auditioning.
When Thanksgiving approached, Mrs. Rich said she was taking “the baby” home to Palm Springs and did I want to stay in the hotel room for the week on her dime? Did I ever! She and the little one drove off in a limo and I never saw them again.
A U.S. Marshal showed up and said they were closing the flower shop for unpaid taxes. I was given 24 hours to get out of the hotel room or risk losing my things. All the checks bounced, to the floral suppliers and all the employees like me. I’d been pocketing my paychecks and living on my per diem and room service, so I was penniless. The accounts had been frozen by the SEC. We found out that Mr. Rich was a crook who’d never sold a toy or anything else, except stocks.
I moved in with my new friend, the flower designer, found a job waiting tables and lived in NYC for many years.
Jennifer Silva Redmond is a freelance editor, writing instructor and speaker. Her award-winning memoir, Honeymoon at Sea: How I Found Myself Living on a Small Boat, was published by Re:Books of Toronto.
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