Steem Island #2: How the Steemians helped me & Tour around the Island with Mayor Ned!

- Read Part 1 of the Steem Island Story first if you haven't already -

Stranded, exhausted... I had salt water in my mouth, and sand in between my teeth.
I was completely drenched – it’s already pretty bad what happened, but now it started thundering as well.  

Now I had to get home quickly. When I arrived at the front door, I hesitated and thought about what to tell my sister. How should I explain to her, that I lost everything? I shook my head, took some deep breaths, and then knocked on the door.
She opened the door and said “What happened to you?! You look awful!”
I explained the whole story to her, and she wanted to support me so she said “don’t worry. Everything’s going to turn out fine”.
She prepared dinner (1 fish, that we had to share.) She wanted to give me another piece from her half and acted as if she was already full, but I knew she was lying and just trying to fill me up more. I couldn’t accept that though. I stood up, and said: “Tomorrow, I’ll catch a huuuuuuge fish for you!”, and I opened my arms wide to show the length of a fish. Her eyes got big and excited. I managed to put a smile on her face. 

Now I had lost everything, and even gave my sister a promise although I’m not sure I could keep that promise, but I just wanted to cheer her up. Chances were low that I could actually.. STOP! Don’t think negatively. If I think this way it can’t get any better, so think positively and we’ll find a way.
After all this thinking and worrying I fell asleep. 

So the next day, I went outside to make a plan. The weather was much better and the sun was shining again!  I saw a Carriage on the street, slowly coming closer. There were people with masks riding horses in front and behind the carriage, and many people of the streets were waving and shouting.  

I knew instantly that this was the carriage of @stellabelle , because everyone of the Team was wearing masks. It's not that we're living in a medieval time and everyone has to get around on horses - she just preferred this elegant way of travel.
The carriage stopped right in front of me, and the door was opened. Stellabelle, with her sparkling mask, smiled at me and threw a bag in front of my feet.
“What’s that?!”, I asked. “These are some of your Steem Dollars that I found floating around the Ocean. I’m sorry it’s not much, when I arrived at your fishing spot most was already gone, but it’s better than nothing. What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger” she said, and the carriage left.
I couldn’t believe it – such a kind gesture!

In a good mood, I made my way to the bank – the dollar bills she gave me were still wet so I had to exchange them. When I arrived at the bank, the lady at the counter asked me “Hey, aren’t you Sirwinchester?” Surprised, I nodded. “Your boat got destroyed yesterday, and your Steem Dollars went into the Ocean, right? Well, you know how @wang is always the first at everything. (@wang is a submarine bot). He went to your fishing spot at once, collected your Steem Dollars from the ground and handed them over to the civil service, the witnesses of Steem Island. So now, all the money you lost has been deposited back into your account.”
I couldn’t even believe my ears! I had never seen such kindness and fairness in the city.
Happy beyond words, I took some cash from my account, and went to the harbor to purchase a new boat. 

On my way there, a couple passed by me. The girl looked very annoyed, and the guy super happy. “Look what I got!”, he shouted at me full of excitement. “I have a signature! Of HER! On my arm! I’m never gonna take a shower again!!” I had no clue what he was talking about. Signature from whom?!
“Don’t be such a jerk!”, the girl scolded him, and hit him on the back of his head. I had no idea what this was all about.
As I came closer to the harbor, I saw that there was a huge crowd of people waiting around the arrival terminal. Every new citizen that gets into steem island, after being greeted by @wang , is brought to the arrival terminal and then gets dropped off at their homes. But I had never seen so many people around, it’s like they were waiting for someone special to arrive. 

I stopped, and finally saw who everyone was talking about: it was @brendazambrano , a playmate, who was now going to be a new citizen of Steem Island. 

People were taking pictures of her, shouting and waving.
But on the other side, there were also people demonstrating and holding up signs, screaming “She’s fake! This can’t be real!” 

Behind Brenda, there were some other new citizens that had also just arrived - @barrycooper , @dollarvigilante and many more, but everybody seemed to only have their eyes on her.  

Then, I heard the noise of a car engine behind me. I turned around and saw people rolling out a red carpet, and then a Rolls Royce Phantom was stopping right in front of the arrival terminal. The driver opened the doors (they were coach doors, which looked pretty impressive), and I saw very elegant, shiny leather shoes taking a step out of the car. Exiting the car was a man in a fine, blue Italian suit, with a white pocket handkerchief, and one white and one blue rose in his hand to represent steem Island.
It was the mayor of Steem Island: @ned himself.
Now the crowd turned around, waving and shouting at him “Look! It’s mayor Ned!”.
The demonstrating people suddenly looked disappointed, and they slowly took down their signs as if no one would notice (but of course everyone noticed).  
Ned snapped his fingers, and the driver immediately started carrying Brenda’s luggage into the car. Ned then greeted Brenda, and said “Let me take you on a Tour around Steem Island to show you everything!”
So she entered the Rolls Royce and they drove off.   

“Steem Island is a very peaceful community”, Ned explained to Brenda. "We have a strong Police system, led by @cheetah and @anyx. They do background checks of every citizen, take care that everyone is obeying the rules etc. "


"Then over here we have the farms, where the SteemianFoodNetwork is planting crops and producing local groceries. All our produce is locally sourced and from very high quality."

"Next up here is the Business Sector, where our local Newspaper, SteemStats is being printed and where people like @clains , @heimindanger , @mauritso and many others are working on creating awesome new content and statistics to help our community grow.   "

 

As they were driving through Downtown, they saw a crowd of people protesting.

“We work and go fishing everyday, we prepare awesome bait everyday, yet we never get rewarded and never catch any fish!”, one protester was shouting.
“YEAH!!”, the crowd responded.
“Others have just made 1 single bait and yet caught the huge whales! That’s not fair!”
“EXACTLY!”, the crowd was screaming.
Then, a wise man was stepping into the scene. “Folks.”, he said with a raspy voice. “Stop focusing so much on the money. You have to fish for fun. Because it’s your passion. Not for the reward. You have to enjoy preparing your baits, enjoy going fishing, and do what you love. If you do that, you will have success and catch a whale one day. But if you only chase after the money, you won’t get anywhere in this system, you’ll only end up being upset”. 

There was a brief moment of silence. 

“We want the money! This is not fair”, the crowd shouted. It was as if no one had listened to the wise man’s speech. 

Ned shook his head and sighed. “It’s always like this, some people just don’t understand how our economy works” .
So they drove off and continued their Tour.     

“Here is our creative art school, where @klye and @fyrstikken are teaching. It’s a place full of creativity, for everyone that just wants to make their visions a reality and have some fun!”, Ned explained.   

They continued to drive along the borders of Steem Island, past the housing community where @stellabelle and all the others loving piece and quiet lived, and passed by a huge green field.
“What’s that smell?” Brenda asked curiously. “Oh this is our own Weed Farm, led by @berniesanders “, Ned explained, while slowing down. “Let me show you”.
They exited the car, and were greeted by @berniesanders himself, who proudly showed them around: “All these plants are taken care of by myself personally!”, he smiled. 

Suddenly, they heard a bus arrive – it was the travel bus that brought all new Steem Island citizens to their homes. Exiting the bus was @barrycooper, one of the new citizens and self-proclaimed marijuana specialist. He was like the Crocodile Dundee of Marijuana Plants.
“I’ve heard a lot about you”, Bernie said with a big grin on his face. “I’m excited that you’re a part of Steem Island now!”  
Barry kneeled down and looked at one of the plants. “Hmm. There is much room for improvement. I think the way you water these plants is probably not correct.”
“But we always do it this way, and it works just fine!”, one of Bernie’s employees stepped in.  
Barry smiled, and said: “I have a welcome present for you.”. He reached to the inside pocket of his jacket, opened up a glass container, and handed the employee a blunt wrapped in shiny gold paper. “This is from my quality plants, try it and experience the difference. I can help you improve these plants to the same level. ”  
The employee took only 2 hits from that blunt, and started dancing – the effect was amazing!
Bernie seemed more excited than ever to have a new citizen on Steem Island.   
“Come on, I’ll drop you off at home”, Ned said to Brenda and they left the weed farm. “I hope you enjoyed learning about your new home, Steem Island!”     

In the meantime, I (@sirwinchester) had bought a new boat (second hand, but definitely better than nothing) and lots of groceries, and was on my way back home to surprise my sister.
As she opened the door and saw my 3 bags packed with food, her face lit up with joy.
That day, we ate a huge dinner, and even had some Shrimps which my sister loves.
That was a good day, and I would’ve never imagined that the Steem Community would be so kind and generous!     

After Dinner, I sat down at my Desk. I knew that if I wanted to eat dinner like this everyday, I had to catch some big fish again. 

So I started working on a new bait to go fishing the next day.   

- To be continued  -