by Emma Easter
“Jude! It is really not fraud. It’s simply exchanging one service for another. You have a need, and someone else has your solution. You help someone get what they want — in this case, money — in exchange for the service the person provides you.”
“And that can include any illegal exchange from drug trafficking to marrying a US citizen to get a Green card.”
Ben held up his hands. “Fine! If you don’t want to do it, you don’t have to. But do you really have a choice? This isn’t the time to start moralizing.”
Jude thought about what Ben had said. He was right. He had to do something right now, and he had no real options. He sighed wearily. What had he been reduced to? Not only did he spend his days partying and drinking, he was considering committing fraud. He should be sending Ben on his way, but he was actually beginning to buy into what Ben had said, even knowing it was wrong. But just like Ben said, he had no choice.
He shuddered. What would his late father the pastor have said if he were alive and knew what he was planning to do?
“What if we are caught by the authorities?” Jude asked.
Ben touched his arm and said, “Don’t worry about it. Shaffar will handle it all, and it will go well. He knows exactly what to do. He’s been doing this for some time now.”
Jude rolled his eyes. “I’m sure he has.” He exhaled. “So I am about to commit fraud.”
“Don’t look at it that way, Jude. If you get to know the girl well enough before you get married, it might not be fraud. Who knows? You might even fall in love with her.”
Jude narrowed his eyes, and Ben held his hand out. “Okay, I was just joking! But seriously, the quicker you get to know everything about the girl Shaffar introduces to you and vice versa, the better your chances are that you will successfully scale through your immigration interview. Once you get married and get your Green card, you won’t have this threat of deportation hanging over you anymore. I can call Shaffar now if you like.” Before Jude could say anything more, Ben brought his phone out of his pocket and began to dial a number.
Jude leaned his back against the balustrade and folded his arms across his chest. So he was really going to do this. But it was the only thing that might give him a chance to stay in America. Hopefully, it would all work out. He would have to leave his partying behind and concentrate on trying to build a good life for himself in this country.
“Hey, Shaffar!” Ben held his phone to his ear. “I have a business deal for you.” He began to talk, and Jude listened anxiously as Ben told Shaffar about his immigration problems. Ben stopped speaking for a full minute, and then he shook his head and said, “Ten thousand dollars, Shaffar! That is a lot of money.” He glanced at Jude and added, “I doubt my friend has that kind of cash.”
Jude’s mouth went dry, and his heart began to race. He definitely didn’t have that kind of money. In fact, he didn’t have anything close to it. Since he was not allowed to work, he only had about a thousand dollars to his name, and that was money he had saved while he did his CPT and the little left from what his father had sent before he died. Hopefully, Ben would be able to convince Shaffar to reduce the amount from ten thousand dollars to something he could afford. He waited impatiently for Ben to finish his conversation, all his hopes hanging on the outcome of Ben’s discussion with Shaffar.
“Okay, Shaffar,” Ben nodded. “I will let him know what you said and then get back to you.” He lowered his phone from his ear and tucked it into his pocket. He faced Jude. “I have good news and bad news. Should I tell you the good news first?”
Jude sighed. “I guess. I already know what the bad news is. Shaffar wants me to pay ten thousand dollars, doesn’t he?”
“Umm... a little over that, Jude. He wants fifteen.”
“What? I don’t have that kind of money. You know that.”
“He said you will have to pay five thousand before the girl is introduced to you, another five thousand before you get married, and another five thousand before you get your Green card.”
Jude rubbed his temples. “Where am I going to get that kind of money?”
“I can plead with him again on your behalf... ask him to reduce the amount. Maybe the girl they find for you will agree to take something less. Which brings me to my good news.” Ben smiled. “Shaffar said he already has someone he can introduce to you. He said her name is Maya.”
Jude felt a tug on his conscience at what he was about to do, but he pushed the guilt away and focused on Ben. He exhaled as a sliver of hope ran through him. Maybe, just maybe, this might work out for him. However, he had very little money. He said to Ben, “You know I’m not allowed to work right now. Even if Shaffar reduces the amount to half, I still don’t have anywhere near that much money.”
“Just as I said earlier, you don’t have to pay the money all at once.” He tilted his head, and his eyes studied Jude’s. “So, how much do you have?”
Jude sighed. “I have about a thousand dollars left over from the money I earned during my CPT. It was a good thing that paid well, but if I had opted for the OPT, I might still be working now and have a chance to extend my visa, and then this deportation thing would not be hanging over my head.”
“This is not the time to dwell on regrets, Jude. We have to act now. Shaffar owes me one. I will talk to him and see if he can accept your one thousand dollars as payment for the first installment. You have to get more money soon, though.”
“But how am I going to get more money if I am not allowed to work?”
“I know you are not allowed to work, but there are ways around that...”
Jude arched his brows and glared at Ben. “You mean work illegally?”
“You heard what I said. Shaffar already has a girl willing to marry you, my man. And you need to start the process right now. I don’t want you to get deported, Jude, but it’s your choice.”
A group of guys stumbled out of the apartment, clearly drunk. They whistled and sang as they held each other for support. One of them fell, and the others laughed. Jude watched them as they staggered away. He could go on partying and drinking, pretending that he had no problems, and then suddenly be deported back to Bakali, or he could take what was being offered to him.
“Okay, then,” he said to Ben. “But do you also have some illegal work waiting for me?”
“I know you can handle that on your own, Jude. I will call Shaffar later on to let him know you’re interested in proceeding with the deal. I will also try to get him to decrease the amount of money you have to pay.”
Jude didn’t know whether to thank Ben or scold him for pulling him into this sordid arrangement. He finally thanked his friend. At least Ben was providing a way for him to stay in this country and build a future for himself.
Ben patted his back and they exchanged their usual handshake.
“I have to go now, my man,” Ben said. “I’ll see you later.”
“Yeah! Thanks again, Ben. Please call me as soon as you speak with Shaffar and let me know if he agrees to take one thousand dollars. I’m sure I won’t be able to sleep tonight until I know that what we’ve talked about will work out for me.”
“I’ll let you know as soon as possible,” Ben said. “If Shaffar agrees, he will expect you to come up with the rest of the money soon. Okay?”
Jude nodded. “Okay.”
After Ben left, Jude looked up at the sky. It was a starless night, and apart from an occasional breeze, the weather was hot. It reminded him a little of his country, how hot it always was. He missed it, but he could not go back. Not when he had no more close family members there and with the madness going on right now.
He shut his eyes for a brief moment as pain tore through him. He pictured his parents in his mind smiling at him as a child; the proud look on his father’s face the day he left the country to come here for his post-graduate studies. He opened his eyes again. His parents were no more. There were many times in recent days when he regretted applying to the University of Arizona. Maybe if he
had not come here, his father would not have died.
Stop, Jude. Stop blaming yourself. His absence was hardly the cause of his father’s heart attack. His mother had died years ago, when he was only nine. He had been really close to his father, except when it came to religious matters. They’d had many arguments about that. If only he had not argued so much with his dad.
He groaned and chided himself again. Stop thinking about what you cannot control. But his mind refused to shift to happier thoughts. He began to think about Keziah, and then groaned once more. Keziah, the first girl he’d ever loved, and the last. Maybe they would still be together if he’d known that she wasn’t happy with him. But she’d never shown any signs that she wasn’t. He had thought she was truly happy, but she had broken up with him two weeks prior to their wedding. He’d been heartbroken and tried to figure out what exactly he’d done to cause her to break their engagement. But he’d not seen it coming. He didn’t know what he could have done to prevent her from leaving him.
He looked up at the sky again. He had always thought Keziah would be the only girl who he would marry and spend the rest of his life with. Now, he was thinking about marrying someone else. If things worked out, he would be married to another girl soon, even if it was only for a short time and only to get a Green card.
Guilt tore at his heart as he thought about the plans he was making to marry a US citizen just so he could stay here. He was about to involve himself in illegal activities. His father would have been so disappointed if he were alive. He knew exactly what his dad would say — that he was sinning against God.
He felt anger rising up in him. God. The same God who his father had served for years but who hadn’t deemed it fit to keep him from dying. The God who hadn’t helped him much during his stay in the United States. A grim determination entered his heart. He would do what he had to do even if it was illegal, and then he would live with the consequences, no matter what they were.
He entered the house again, ignored the guys who were still drinking themselves to oblivion, and went straight to the small room he slept in. It had been a box-room where Samuel stored his suitcases before he moved in. He and Samuel had met at a friend’s party months after he came to America, and even though Samuel was younger than him and still doing a bachelor’s degree, they had hit it off. He’d had accommodation problems then, and Samuel had asked him to move into his off-campus apartment for free. The tiny box-room had been converted to a bedroom for him. After he finished his Masters and had nowhere to go, he had remained in the apartment, as Samuel didn’t mind.
He sat on his small bed and leaned back against the headboard. He had to clean up his act as best as he could if the marriage thing was going to work out. He had to at least make a good impression on the girl Shaffar had found for him. He would not be able to do that if he kept drinking his life away. The last thing he needed was to get stupidly drunk when he was with the girl, the way he did many nights now, and have her change her mind about helping him get his residence card.
He brought out his phone from his pocket and stared at it. He chuckled with self-mockery. This was probably what he would spend the rest of the night doing until he heard back from Ben. He thought about praying that this whole arrangement — the marriage, the money he needed to pay — would work out for him, but he immediately brushed the thought away.
Ben, dude, come on! Call.
Once more, the urge to pray swept over him, and he stifled it again. He was not going to ask God for any favors. God had never really listened to him, and He certainly wasn’t going to start now, especially with the way he’d chosen to live his life recently. God would probably give him some illness or trouble if he prayed for help for this illegal deal he was about to enter. Guilt rose up in him, but he instantly squashed it. No more. No more guilt.
The jubilant voices of the remaining partiers in the living room floated to him, and for a minute he struggled with himself, yearning to join them. He had not yet met the girl Shaffar had found for him. He could drink some more tonight just to calm his nerves. Tomorrow he would clean up his act. He began to get up from the bed, and then he gritted his teeth and sat back down. No, if he began to drink tonight, he would not stop. He needed his wits about him. Before the end of tomorrow, he would find out what his fate would be — whether he would be able to afford the solution that would make him a permanent resident of this country, or be deported back to his own.
Chapter 4
The almighty Green card. It was all Jude thought about now. It was the first thing on his mind when he woke up in the morning and the last thing when he went to bed. It haunted his dreams and made him extremely nervous every single day.
Jude shut his eyes briefly and shut out the noise in the student cafeteria. He opened his eyes again and took a sip of his Coke as he waited for Ben to come. For a short moment, he glanced around. The cafeteria was bustling with college kids. Some were walking to empty tables with trays of food, some were seated, chatting while they ate, a few rifled through textbooks or typed away on their laptops.
The sounds of students chattering around him faded again, and his thoughts became consumed once more with his present dilemma. An intense fear had taken residence in his heart ever since Ben had told him about their mutual friend who had been deported.
Shaffar had agreed to accept the one thousand dollars Jude had on the condition that he paid the rest before he and the girl he was to marry wedded. He hadn’t met her yet, but Shaffar had said they would be able to meet today and start getting to know each other. There was nothing he wanted more than to get married now so he could be on his way to getting a Green card. The problem was that he had been working two jobs for the past month trying to raise the amount he needed, but he’d only been able to raise an additional two thousand dollars, and that was spending because he spent as little as possible on himself. He was still two thousand dollars short. If he did not come up with the rest soon, there would be no marriage. It would not be long before his luck ran out and he got deported like Paul.
He took another sip of his Coke, but he couldn’t even taste it as his stomach roiled with worry. If he did not get enough money to pay Shaffar, he would be deported. If he didn’t get along with Maya, the girl he was to marry, she might refuse to marry him, and he would be deported. If someone found out he had overstayed his visa and was working illegally, he would be deported. If he crossed the wrong person for whatever reason and they reported him, he would be deported. If he …
Stop, Jude! He was freaking himself out. He gritted his teeth as he remembered what his father had told him before he left his country. He had told him that God would take care of him when he went to America and would bring him back safely to Bakali. But he had apparently not been at the top of God’s list of people to take care of. His dad’s God had forsaken him. His only hope now was in an unscrupulous fellow called Shaffar and in a girl he had never met before.
The thought of going back to Bakali and facing the fact that his father was dead and that everything he’d owned had been seized by the government, felt too much to bear. His father had acted as a pastor to several leaders in the government until he was captured by the faction that opposed the current president. He’d been accused of treason and killed like many others. Jude had been bitter at God and everyone involved in his father’s killing ever since.
His cellphone rang, pulling him out of his reverie. He picked it up from the table and looked at the screen.
“Shaffar!” he said, answering the call. “What’s up?”
“I have bad news, man,” Shaffar said in his gravelly voice.
Jude’s pulse spiked as fear gripped him. “What is it now?”
“Maya has pulled out of the deal, Jude. She decided she didn’t want to go ahead with it anymore.”
Jude felt as though someone had poured ice cold water over him. For a few seconds, he could not speak. All he could think about was that his life was over. He would be deported back to Bakali and, just lik
e his father, he would be shot.
“Jude! Are you still there?” Shaffar asked.
“Yes.” Jude sighed. “What am I supposed to do now? Is there any way we can convince her to change her mind?”
“I’ve tried everything,” Shaffar said. “There’s no way she is going to do it. She wants nothing to do with us.”
Jude closed his eyes as fear and desperation raced through him. This was another blow, another sign that God had not only turned his back on him but was actually punishing him by thwarting his plans.
“Jude?”
Jude opened his eyes. “What now? What are we going to do? Can you find another girl quickly enough?”
“It’s never easy to find a girl, especially these days. You were lucky we found Maya before you came to us, but now that she isn’t interested anymore, finding someone else will be hard. It will take a bit of time.”
“But I need to get married as soon as possible,” Jude said.
“I know that, but you’ll have to wait for us to find someone. You have no choice. I’ll ask around and see if there’s another willing candidate.” Shaffar chuckled. “But it means that you might have to be open to marrying a very ugly wife.”
Jude shrugged. “That doesn’t matter to me. It’s not like we will be getting married for love. As long as she is an American citizen and can get me a Green card, she can look like an ogre for all I care.”
“Yes, I know you will not be marrying for love and all, but you want to be able to look at her face. Now, if she’s nasty looking….”
“Shaffar!” Jude exclaimed. “Just find someone. Okay?”
“Fine!” Shaffar laughed. “But as I said, it will take some time to find another girl.”
When the call ended, Jude sighed with frustration and groaned. This is great! This is just great! Right on the day he was supposed to meet the girl he was to marry, she decided to pull out. He had been hoping and praying he would make a good impression on her and that they would be able to get married as soon as possible so they could start the process of filing for his permanent residence. Now there was no girl. Hopefully, Shaffar would find another willing girl soon, but if he didn’t…