Hanley, watching them go, blinked hard twice and said, “Well, shit.”
24
“Have I heard what? I’ve heard nothing. Has my schedule changed?” Hanley asked.
“I was in Rumbek this morning. There was a news report on the radio in the cafe. I stopped for coffee and a roll. Something happened in America. Terrorists. Apparently, they hijacked airplanes, passenger planes and flew them into buildings in New York and maybe Washington. I am not clear about all this; the reports were a bit confusing. I do not think the reporters had good information,” the young French doctor said. He was new, had replaced Dr O’Connell, who returned to Ireland, much to the relief of his family, Hanley supposed. The new doctor’s name was Courtier.
“Just New York and Washington? Are you sure?” Hanley pushed himself up from the old lawn chair, thinking terrorists would not be interested in Kokomo, Indiana. His fear made his mind race; would Elizabeth have a reason to be in New York? Rocky’s twin sons lived in New York. She must be frantic. What was the best way to reach his family?
“Excuse me, will you? I need to use a phone,” Hanley said, walking off toward the mission office.
***
Making s-shapes and their reverse, a centipede-like bug swam fiercely through the warm broth to the inside wall of the white bowl, wedged two of its tarsi into small spider-web cracks in the glazing and hoisted itself out of the soup and headed for the rim, unnoticed by the nun, whose soup the bug had just dog-paddled through. Once over the rim, it made an inverted beeline down the side of the bowl for the tabletop, hit the wood at a dead run, scurried for the edge of the table and was smashed flat only one inch from its goal by Jumma. A bug’s existence in Sudan was only marginally better than a human’s, Hanley thought as he watched all this.
Jumma scraped the bug’s guts from his hand on the table’s edge. Hanley checked his soup for swimmers while listening to the nun as she discussed the proposed flight to Kosti. Hanley asked many questions over the last half hour, none of them pleasant.
“Have you heard from your family?” Sister Marie Claire asked Hanley, momentarily changing the subject.
Hanley, his head cupped in his left hand, elbow on the table, pushed a spoon around the rim of an old white bowl, making a rough hum as it bumped along the uneven, cracked edge, said, “Yes, I spoke to my daughter and my, her neighbor. Everyone’s fine. Rocky, the neighbor, has twin sons living in New York. They’re also fine. The entire country’s shaken, mad, you know. This must be like what my parents felt when Pearl Harbor was attacked. I’m afraid all hell will soon break loose. Someone will pay, it’s just a matter of who. I wouldn’t want to be a Mid-Eastern country right now. Thanks for asking.”
Beneath the shade of a trellis attached to the mission’s dining hall and kitchen, the three sat at a picnic table. They sacrificed what comfort the inside provided from the heat of the day and the bugs for some privacy. As they talked, hushed tones rose in intensity as the discussion grew heated. The nun stood up to Hanley’s persistent questioning of the plan’s details, his concerns about the reliability of her co-conspirators and the safety of everyone involved, especially the children to be rescued. Finally, he wanted to know what the nun expected would be the Catholic Church’s reaction to the mission, should they return safely or not.
“I expect the church will deny any knowledge or involvement in the plan and its execution. They will be telling the truth, as they are not aware of it. At least I do not know that they are aware of the plan,” she said.
Hanley stared at her, his mouth open slightly, a black fly buzzing, interested in his ear. “Yeah, well, ask Father Laslo what he knows. What will they do to you when they find out? How bad will the repercussions be?” he asked.
“I believe the church will transfer me immediately, probably back to France. After that, I expect I will be asked to leave the order. Hopefully, I will be allowed to stay here to continue to help, but I expect that will not happen. Khartoum will want to punish someone and will pressure the church. If I’m out of the country, the church can more easily refuse to cooperate. I am putting the church in a difficult position, but they have been there before,” she explained.
“What’s the chance they don’t hear of this, they don’t find out?”
“Very little, I am afraid,” she said.
“Yeah, I understand the church has been there before, but not with Muslim extremists. The rules don’t apply to them. Their rules are no rules at all. If we didn’t believe that before, we should now. We will be putting the church and others in a bad position.”
“Is not the church already in a bad position?” Jumma asked. “I’m sorry for interrupting Sister, but the persecution of my people will continue, no matter, will it not? We are at least doing something,” he said.
Hanley looked at Jumma for a moment. His expression softened a bit and he smiled slightly. He said, “You aren’t interrupting. This is your life and your country. If anyone has the right to speak, it’s you. God, what would ever make you think you can’t? You have more at stake here than anyone. We need to know what we will do if we make it back. This is your home, you will have to stay and accept the consequences.”
Jumma’s expression demanded an explanation.
Hanley said, “It means if you stay, and your involvement is suspected by the government, you may be the one they will try to punish. The sister will probably be made to leave Sudan and I, I will probably be forced to leave also, immediately, I expect.
