The Atheist's Messiah: Yanif
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“Why would we need his help? It's our Chama.”
“Straus said Yanif has given a lot of lost souls hope. He wants to help us. He has connections in Europe. People searching for a new path. He can bring people here. We can make The Retreat work even without Heather or Steve.”
Kwasi and Mosi carried their tool-bags to the car and jumped into the back seat.
“Riaz thinks we should keep the Chama going,” said Tremus. “What do you think?”
Kwasi shrugged. “There are people visiting Keneth's Chama Hut. Angelie goes every day. She said she saw Yanif there too, exactly like Eshe. She even carries a little Y with her now.”
“That's just the girls talking,” said Mosi. “You can't believe what they say.”
“No,” said Riaz. “I believe her. Eshe too. I saw him. I saw Yanif too.”
“What do you mean?” asked Tremus, “Saw him?”
“I saw Yanif,” said Riaz. “Clear as day.”
Mosi chuckled to Kwasi. “Are you becoming a girl Riaz?”
“No,” said Riaz. “I'm serious. He was there across the grass while you were in the house. He waved. I'm sure it was him.”
“Riaz,” said Tremus. “This is not something to joke about.”
Riaz shook his head. “It's not a joke. Believe me. Eshe, Angelie, Pamela. We have all seen him now. Yanif is still with us. If we believe we can carry on his work. We can heal Kenya.”
Tremus’s phone rang.
Joe’s deep chuckle came over through the earpiece and Tremus stepped out of the car into the garden.
“Well Mr Tremus,” said Joe, “it seems I know something that is worth you paying me to keep quiet.”
“What do you want Joe?”
“Oh I don’t know,” said Joe. “Mr Chiumbo said the Chama is rich. People always giving you money. Maybe it’s time for me to have a share. You know, for a little protection or maybe I say what you really did.”
Tremus bared his teeth and cursed. Then he smiled and spoke into the handset. “OK Joe. You have us. I will meet you. But this has to be the end of it. You understand. I will see you at the clay works.”
“Sure boss. Sure.” Joe laughed.
Tremus returned to the car and hissed, “No-one betrays me.”
68. Dr Hill in his study
“Dr Hill, one last question, how can you be so sure?” The interviewer paused leaving a silence on the telephone waiting for a response.
“Look at the New Testament. Ask yourself who it was written by and then ask yourself who benefited most from the stories of the New Testament. It certainly wasn’t Jesus. Jesus was dead and if the gospels are to be believed had taken a vow of poverty. So the people who wrote the story seem to be the people who got the most out of it. They stopped being poor, if you believe they were poor in the first place, since many were already in business with their own boats and would have known about buying and selling. They became important, they circulated with rich people. Rich people invited Jesus to their houses and even gave Jesus their tomb. And then ask yourself why, if this was some radical seditious sect, only Jesus was killed. You don’t finish off the figurehead of the terrorist army only to allow his deputies to survive, and certainly not if you’re Roman or Jewish from that time. And look at the point of view. There are things said that none of the disciples could have known, and in other places where only one disciple was present. It’s Cicero’s question then: Cui Bono. It’s the answer to this riddle. Cui Bono?”
Dr Hill put down the telephone.
In front of him lay a postcard from Nicholas. A great golden altar of St James gleamed out of the photograph with the caption, “Greetings from Santiago de Compostela”.
He turned up the music and sat in his office listening to a CD of his favourite band from student days. The website on the computer displayed an article on the mission of Monsignor Straus and the Chama. He smiled. From Africa to Rome and then the world. What else would you expect?
“And the word is kangaroo,” came the chorus from the CD. “So I said Kangarooo-o. Yahoo.”
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