When we first bought our home in Corpus Christi back in 2012 we did a minor makeover job to it. This mostly was done before we moved in. We hired a contractor to do the remodeling and painting. We also found a pool contractor to build what I called the largest hot tub or smallest swimming pool in Corpus. 

I couldn’t find a good and affordable landscape company so I was glad when Madeline handed me a business card that a fellow had stopped by and given her.

Madeline had been out in the front yard, when this very large fellow appeared. Heiko had parked his old junkard minivan in the middle of Ocean Dr., something most people would know to never do and walked up to let her know his services were available. He spoke very broken English, but got his message across.

I called him later that day and made arrangements for him to come back the next day to help with various de-weeding, planting and other tasks. When he arrived he was very large, maybe 40 years old, bald and talked way to much to suit me, but I tolerated him. We struck a deal and he started to work. He constantly needed something. Another type of implement, a drink of water, how did I want this or that. In spite of that he got a bunch done the first day. Each day he got less and less done. In the meantime I would invite him in for lunch each day. 

During our lunches I would ask him everything I could think of. He had come to the United State just a few months before. He was in this country on a temporary visa, given to him because he was being persecuted in his native Germany because of his political beliefs. He had belonged to the Communist Party for his whole life, but found religion and changed his allegiance to the CDU (Christian Democratic Union). That is the political party that is currently headed up by Angela Merkle, the German Chancellor.

I guess the Communist Party Leaders didn’t take kindly to his defection so they put out a contract on him and his family. They found his father in the hospital and caused all his major organs to be harvested and sold. At least this was what he told me.

They were sending him signals that his wife and two small children were going to be killed and after what had happened to his father, he knew they were serious. He got them on a plane bound for Atlanta, Ga. He stayed behind to dispose of property he had in various locations in Europe, before he came over.

His wife, that wasn’t actually his wife, just his girlfriend gave birth to their 3rd child within weeks of arriving in this country. It was strange but if I asked anything about his wife, he would correct me to say that was only his girlfriend. Now besides having diplomatic immunity, he had a child that is an American citizen. At that point the Catholic Church was helping them with food and shelter.

Heiko found out that the CDU, his new political party had turned on him. It seems that the Communists were able to make the CDU think he wasn’t really a convert, but just a plant to monitor their activities. So being a man without a country it was time to get the hell out of Germany, even before he was able to dispose of all of his real estate holdings. He joined his family. Someone in the church gave them an old minivan and they started driving. They ended up in Utah. Maybe he had heard that the Mormon’s were very charitable. That relocation didn’t last long.

They decided to head to Corpus Christi. Once they arrived he bought a small house out in the country and several lots near downtown Corpus. He didn’t realize that he would need to have plans, permits and rezoning to start building the rental housing units he dreamed of.

He soon ran out of money and the banks wouldn’t loan him any. Imagine that. So that’s when he made up business cards seeking landscaping and yard work. Then he found us. 

One day I suggested that he bring his family with him and the kids could play in the newly completed pool. His companion was a very nice lady and had a much better grasp of the English language than Heiko did. I decided to push the envelope at lunch and made my speciality sandwiches, Reuben’s. They loved them, said they were the best they ever had.

By this time in our relationship I had friended him on Facebook and had invited him to join my newly formed political discussion group, Ronnie Lewis Speaks? I thought it would be good for him to see how good conservative politics works. I took for granted that since he didn’t have a great grasp of the language and customs of this country that he would be mostly passive. Wrong. He by far was the most active participant.

He schooled us all on how bad of a system we have in this country and how we are all greedy and don’t give a poor man a chance. He never seemed to take a breath. He was sure that we just needed to give the current elected leaders a chance to make changes. (This was in 2012) No matter what was being discussed he would always bring it back to what a sorry place this was and how we needed to do things like they do in Germany. Yes the Germany he had just left because it was such a horrible place.

I would try to explain how he needed to shut up and listen and maybe learn something. Just when I thought he was starting to understand the ways of this country, he would pop back up. I likened him to being like a Whack A Mole. He’d pop his head up and I’d whack him. But just like the machine, he’d just keep on popping up. He wore us all out. I could just see the group imploding right before my eyes. Heiko is one of only a small handful that I’ve ever had to unfriend and block.

While all this was going on his visa was running out and he enlisted my help to find an attorney to help with his situation. I made several calls to various immigration attorneys in the Corpus areas. Every time I would get around to giving them a name of their prospective new client I was told they really wouldn’t be able to help. It seems that he had already made the rounds of immigration attorney’s. The best I could tell, he wanted to sit and argue about everything. I could relate. I finally gave up.

I had been rid of him for a year or two but for whatever reason, I messaged the lady, his girlfriend, to see if they were still in the area. They were, “but Heiko hasn’t been able to work because the weather in Corpus doesn’t agree with him. His body never adjusted to the climate”.

So I guess the charity of the church or the government is keeping them fed and comfy. Isn’t this a great country. I suppose with the changes to the immigration system that has happened during the past few years, he doesn’t even need an immigration attorney any longer.

With Corpus Christi and my short retirement far behind me, I still wonder sometimes what ever happened to Heiko and his family.

Update; It seems that Heiko has moved on. And so has his political views. A while ago he was in Florida.