Letters From Paris

Chapter Two

Chapter Two

            When Julie got home, she noticed the door was unlocked. She had forgotten to lock it before she had left. She wasn't worried though because the hotel seemed like a really nice place. She couldn't imagine anyone stealing from her.

Julie unpacked her new clothes into the closet and then went over to the dresser. She wanted to count how much money she had left now. So she opened the drawer and lifted up the two shirts concealing the money, but didn't find it. She panicked for a moment, but reminded herself to try to stay calm. Maybe she had put it in another drawer. She looked through every single drawer, the closet, underneath the bed, underneath pillows and blankets, even in the bathroom and still couldn't find it. Her money was gone. Someone had stolen all of it.  

            Julie sat down on the bed. She couldn't believe it. Over three thousand dollars was gone. Just like that. All the money she had to live on had disappeared. Julie felt like crying. Just curling up in a ball and crying. She now knew why it was so cheap to live there, but no one had mentioned before that her life savings could get stolen. Okay, so maybe it was kind of her fault for not locking her door, but it wasn't like it was an invitation for someone to come in and steal her money.

            Julie sighed. She couldn't give up now. Sure it was only her first day in Paris, and her money was already stolen and most people would have just gone home. Gotten on the cheapest flight they could get and just fly home. Julie doubted she even had enough money left for a plane ticket. Then she remembered the money she did have left. She had started off the day with three hundred dollars in her purse. She spent a total of $35.15 in American money. So three hundred dollars converted into 221.88 euros. And $40.15 converted into 26 euros. So that meant she had a total of 190.88 euros left. She was incredibly grateful that she already paid a week's worth of rent for the tiny space. She could probably pay for another week's rent after that, but that was without eating. And she needed to eat.

            Of course, Julie could always ask her grandma to wire her some money, but she wanted to be independent. Julie would just have to find some way to make money. Since she couldn’t speak French that would cut out most jobs. Maybe she could talk to Lela about it. She pulled out the sheet of paper that Lela had given her and dialed her number on her blackberry.

            "Bonjour?" Lela answered.

            "Lela? It's me, Julie."

            "Julie! II est bon de vous entendre! It's good to hear from you!" Lela sounded genuinely happy to hear from her.

            "Hey… I'm sorry to bother you, but I have a problem and I was hoping you could help me." Julie told her.

            "Of course, hun! What do you need?"

            Julie explained that someone had stolen all her money and that she needed to get a job, any job.

            "Whoa! That's terrible! I'm so sorry! It'll be kind of hard to get a job when you don't know French though… well, umm, let me see. What are you good at? Are you  an artist, singer, musician perhaps?"

            "I'd say I'm a pretty good artist." Julie said. "I've gotten some awards for a couple of my drawings and paintings."

            "That's great! Okay, so here's what we'll do. Meet me in front of the café tomorrow around noonish, okay?"

            "I don't have any art supplies with me, though."

            "Oh… Well, we will just have to make an extra stop then. Don't worry about it. I've got all the bases covered."