by A. L. Jambor
"Life magazine, when the hell was that?” The man had a big face with small, oval brown eyes that were looking Antonio up and down.
"I believe it was dated 1953.” Antonio waited for the man’s reaction.
"1953! Are you crazy? What makes you think she’s even here after all that time?”
Antonio sighed. He looked at the man and indicated with his hand that he would like to sit down. The man nodded.
"I’m here to ask her about her Mortevida plant. The article said she had found a miracle plant that helped women hold a pregnancy. I’m working on the same thing. I really need to talk to her. Please, is she still here?”
"There's a cot over there. You sleep there tonight. We’ll talk about this in the morning.”
The man turned back to the desk he’d been working at and finished his paperwork. Antonio went outside and got his duffle bag and brought it inside the hut. He placed it beside the cot, and the man got up to leave.
"Goodnight,” he said and closed the hut door behind him. Alone for the first time, Antonio could hear the sounds of the jungle surrounding him. It felt like the loneliest place on earth.
In the morning, the scent of coffee wafted through the windows of the hut. Antonio sat up and threw his legs over the side of the cot. Then he saw the tall, thin, elderly woman sitting at the desk. She was looking at him.
"I spent many a night on that cot waiting for a mother to give birth,” she said.
Antonio looked around and noticed the table in the corner with stirrups. This was a makeshift hospital room.
"Are you Miss DeMorte?” he asked.
"I am indeed. And who might you be?” Her hair was white now, but the hat shown on the cover of Life still sat on her head and her brown eyes sparkled mischievously.
"I am Antonio Russo of Florence, Italy. I read an article in Life magazine about your amazing plant and I came to ask you about it.”
Antonio was looking at the floor the whole time he was speaking. Maggie was watching him with a benign little smile on her face.
"Why, that was a very long time ago. Where on earth did you find that magazine?”
"A professor at my university knew of my work and he gave it to me.” Antonio looked up at Maggie.
"You have very nice eyes, Mr. Russo. Why don't you come outside and have some breakfast with me?”
Maggie got up and left Antonio alone to collect himself. He got off the cot and looked into an old mirror on the wall above the desk. He took a brush out of his duffle and worked it through his thick black hair. He looked around and was grateful to see a small bathroom with a door in the corner of the room. When he was done, he walked outside and down the stairs.
He could see Maggie and the big man from the night before sitting at a picnic table near one of the huts on the other side of the clearing. They were talking when Antonio walked up to them. Maggie indicated the spot next to her and Antonio sat down. A young girl brought him a plate of food and left.
"Do you need some coffee Mr. Russo?” Maggie asked.
"Yes, please,” he replied.
Maggie called the girl and asked her to bring some coffee. Then she turned to Antonio. “What makes you think I’d give you my plants?”
Antonio was surprised by Maggie's candidness. He hadn’t told the big man that he wanted to take her plants. He was going to work up to that. Antonio knew he had to be as persuasive as possible. He wanted her to believe his sincerity regarding his mission.
"My mother died on the floor in front of me when I was 8 years old. She bled to death waiting for an ambulance. It was her fourth miscarriage. I have all my life wanted to help women so this would not happen again.” Antonio managed a very sincere expression on his face.
"That’s a very tragic story, Mr. Russo. I genuinely feel for you. However, I trusted someone with my plants many years ago, and I will not do so again. I’m sorry you came all this way. You’re welcome to stay for a few days if you like.” Maggie had finished eating and she got up to leave the table.
“This is my friend, Mateo. If you need anything, he can assist you. Goodbye, Mr. Russo.”
"Please, Miss DeMorte, please wait.” Antonio followed her while Mateo jumped up and blocked his way. “I want to work with you. I want to learn from you.”
Mateo was looking down at Antonio. Maggie kept walking away. Antonio went back to the table and sat down.
"Why won't she listen to me?”
"She didn't invite you here,” Mateo said and walked in the direction Maggie had gone. Antonio sat dejected at the table. The girl came out and gestured towards his breakfast. He gave her the plate but kept his coffee.
That day Antonio watched for any opportunity to talk to Maggie. He saw her occasionally through the window of the other large hut, but she didn’t come out again. He was very disappointed by her lack of understanding of his plight. He also couldn’t understand why she hadn’t taken to him the way other women had.
Antonio saw Mateo walking towards the jungle. He followed him and caught up with him just inches from the foliage. He grabbed Mateo's arm to get his attention.
"Please, sir, please, I just want to talk to her.”
"You heard her. She doesn’t trust you.”
"But she doesn’t know me!”
Antonio had a low threshold when it came to frustration. He was using all his strength to remain calm. His sad face must have had some effect on Mateo for he suddenly said, “Come with me.” Antonio followed Mateo into the jungle.
"We don't get many visitors here. Maggie isn’t used to talking about herself anymore. No one has found her interesting enough to visit in over 30 years.” Mateo was cutting some of the leaves out of their way with a machete.
“I’m going to show you something,” Mateo said.
They went a little deeper into the jungle. The insects were really doing a job on Antonio.
"We have to get you something for that,” Mateo said when he noticed Antonio's discomfort.
Soon they stopped before a large tree. There were small purple particles around the base of the tree.
"Look behind the tree, but don't touch it.”
Antonio walked over to the tree and looked around. There, at the back of the tree was the Mortevida plant in all its glory. It was magnificent to Antonio.
"That’s the plant!” he said, smiling at Mateo.
"Yes, that's the plant. But don't touch it. The center will kill you in a heartbeat.”
Mateo turned to walk back to the village. Antonio stood transfixed by the Mortevida. If the plant was so deadly, how did Maggie manage to cultivate them? Antonio had so many questions. Maybe she would relent if he pretended not to care about it anymore. Maybe she would just talk to him out of friendship. That’s what Antonio would try.
That evening at dinner, Antonio asked if he could join Maggie and Mateo for dinner. Maggie said yes, if he would refrain from asking her about her plant.
"I’m sorry I offended you Miss DeMorte. I will only ask you questions about your life here. I’m amazed that you could live out here so long. Don’t you miss the United States?”
"Well, when I first came here I did. But I have no family in the States so after a time I became used to it here. It’s so peaceful here. The people accepted me and educated me. I in turn gave them what I had to give. We all got along swimmingly. Until lately, when for the first time this beautiful jungle is in peril.” Maggie was referring to the daily encroachment upon the jungles of the rainforest.
"And now this is your home.” Antonio was trying to make a connection with Maggie.
"Oh, yes. This is my home. I will die here.”
Maggie looked wistfully at the little village. She had had such hopes that this place would be the cradle of discovery she had so longed to find. What she had discovered instead was that no one seemed interested in this part of the world, that they were more interested in toxic chemicals than natural substances that could save millions.
"Will you share with me some of the thing
s you’ve learned here, the discoveries you’ve made besides the Mortevida?” Antonio’s face was an open book. While he believed his face was pure innocence, Maggie could read him like a book.
"You’re not going to go away, are you, Mr. Russo?”
"Please call me Antonio. I just want to learn.” He could see Maggie’s hard outer shell crumbling.
"Oh, very well. But I warn you, I’m old and when I’m done I’m done.” Antonio quickly nodded. “Meet me by the infirmary tomorrow morning after breakfast. Good evening Antonio.”
Maggie got up from the table and walked inside the hut. Mateo, who had been listening without speaking, looked at Antonio with hard appraisal.
"She’s a good woman. She will help you because she wants to. But if you turn out to be a little snake, I will crush you. Do you understand me?”
Antonio nodded. He understood completely.
Chapter 23
Antonio stayed with Maggie for three months. During that time, she showed him all the plants she’d cultivated with the help of the indigenous people. After the first month, when it was clear Antonio was not leaving, Maggie decided to show him her Mortevida. She didn’t make this decision lightly.
In 1953, after George Ranier had so thoughtlessly used her, she’d made a decision never to allow anyone near her miracle plant again. Maggie had been attracted to George the moment she saw him. He was a striking man, tall and muscular, and Maggie thought he looked like Cary Grant. She remained aloof for fear of appearing too interested.
However, by the end of the week, she had agreed to his request for her Mortevida because she felt George had intentions of returning to see her again. George had never said this to her, but Maggie still believed it in her heart. She was lonely and George had paid her so much attention that she naturally felt he was interested in her as well.
When the supplies began arriving, it confirmed her belief in George. She didn’t know that George lived in dire fear of her showing up at the lab in New Mexico, demanding to see what he’d done with her plants. That fear had kept George Ranier authorizing supply shipments for 30 years.
But George himself never materialized, and after two years of pining for him, Maggie finally understood that George had only been interested in her plants. She was heartbroken and threw herself into her work, and she never forgave George, nor had she forgotten what he did to her.
Now, she had this cute little Italian panting after her day after day. Not bad for a 72-year-old woman! Besides, she liked to make Mateo jealous once in a while. It kept things fresh. She liked Antonio. He was such a flirt and she knew he was full of baloney, but she still found him so enjoyable that she could overlook his blarney.
“If you were Irish, I would have bet your mama’d hung you over the Blarney Stone straight out of the womb, Antonio,” she would say. Antonio had no idea what that meant, but he would smile just as though he did.
He liked Maggie as well. For an old bird, she had it all going on upstairs. She never missed a beat. One day they were walking through the jungle and Maggie began telling Antonio how she happened to learn about the Mortevida.
“I’d been here a few months. The woman who acted as midwife came to get me one afternoon. She wanted to show me what they did for a woman who had suffered a previous miscarriage.
“The woman was in a hut and when we entered it I saw a cup filled with a purple liquid. The midwife gave it to the woman to drink. When the woman drank the liquid, her face glowed with a mild purple sheen. It was the damnedest thing I’d ever seen.
“The midwife explained that this is how they stopped the loss of the baby. Somehow this liquid tightened the cervix, allowing the woman to carry the baby to term. After a minute her face normalized, but I never forgot that glow. I asked the midwife where I could find the plant and she told me I couldn’t touch it or I would die. Only what I now call a Mortevida baby could touch the plant. Subsequently, I discovered that if you hold only the outside edge, anyone could touch the plant.
“I started working with the midwife to see how she prepared the purple liquid. I thought this was a marvelous discovery that would benefit so many women. Back then there was a baby boom and pregnant women were everywhere. The midwife showed me how she would scrape the spores off the edge of the plant. She would then mix them with water until the mixture thickened slightly. Too much and the mother would gag, she said. That was all. It had been working for hundreds of years.
“She told me the babies born with the Mortevida spores never got sick and lived a very long life. She also told me one more thing. She said that Mortevida babies were immune from the poison of the plant.
"I asked her how they disposed of the poison center. She told me that once they are separated from the plant, the leaves will wither in a few days and lose their power. The cells that produce the poison dry up. I studied them myself because I didn't believe it could be that easy. But it was. The leaves wither and the cells dry up into tiny hard balls. They die and are rendered harmless. Then you can burn them for fuel or let them decompose naturally. It always amazes me how nature takes care of itself."
By the time they had finished walking, Antonio glowed with excitement. He could see himself creating a living elixir out of the Mortevida that would save all women with cervical insufficiency from ever suffering another miscarriage.
Antonio also began to wonder if the Mortevida could help people already born. Could its amazing properties cure sickness and the ravages of old age? At dinner that evening he brought this up to Maggie.
“I’ve thought of that many times. In fact, Antonio, I was thinking of offering myself up as a sort of guinea pig for the sake of science,” she said.
Antonio’s eyes widened.
“I have a little secret that I’ve not shared even with Mateo. If he were here tonight, I wouldn’t be talking about it. I believe I have cancer. I’ve been having a bad pain in my right side for some time. Nothing I take seems to stop it. Sometimes it gets so bad I long to touch the center of the Mortevida leaf. It would be quick and painless. But then I think that the spores might have some sort of effect on the cancer, maybe even shrink it.”
“Have you tested your blood, anything to be sure you have cancer?”
“I’m relatively sure, and our local Shaman has confirmed it. Oh, look at your face. That man has powers, believe me. I’ve seen things in this jungle you can only imagine.”
Antonio thought for a minute. “What do you want me to do?”
“I want you to bear witness, to record the experiment. If this trial is a success, then you would be famous as the man who found a cure for cancer!”
After pondering her request, he agreed to witness Maggie’s experiment with the Mortevida plant. They agreed to meet in the infirmary the next day so he could watch Maggie prepare the liquid Mortevida elixir.
In the morning, Antonio had breakfast with Maggie and Mateo. Maggie explained that she had told Mateo what they planned to do and why. She told him about the cancer. Mateo slowly got up from the table and walked away.
“He has to be alone for a while,” Maggie said to Antonio. “He’ll come to terms with it in his own time.”
When they finished eating, they walked to the infirmary. Maggie had already cut the leaves she planned to use and had them laid out on the lab bench. She put on gloves and picked up a small knife to scrape the purple spores into the mortar. She placed some on a glass slide and put it under the microscope.
She motioned for Antonio to come to the microscope. Under the microscope, the Mortevida spores looked like mildew spores with a brilliant purple color.
“Take a look,” she said to Antonio.
Maggie then took her pestle and ground the powdery spores to better enable them to disperse in water. She gently poured water into the mortar until there was about a half cup of water mixed with the spores. The elixir was not too thick or too thin.
Maggie poured the elixir into a cup and handed it to Antonio while she got into the infirmary hospital bed
. She then reached for the cup.
Maggie slowly drank the elixir, pausing only once to take a breath. When she was done, she handed the cup to Antonio. Antonio put the cup down on the lab bench and when he turned back to look at Maggie, he watched in amazement as Maggie’s face glowed with a slight purple sheen.
The glow lasted only a minute, but the thrill it gave him lasted the rest of the day. That evening, they enjoyed a special dinner with a homegrown beverage that sent warm shivers down Antonio’s spine. Maggie was having a good time with Mateo, teasing him about marrying her and making an honest woman of her. For the first time in three months, Antonio saw Mateo smile.
For the next two months Antonio monitored Maggie’s vital signs. She seemed to be growing younger every day. Mateo noticed the changes too. Maggie reported that her pain had decreased considerably and that she was hopeful that the healing properties of the Mortevida were at work reducing her tumors and perhaps even destroying them. Whatever the outcome, she was glad she had participated in the experiment because she felt so damn good! Just like a teenager. When she said this, she would wink at Mateo.
As much as Antonio loved being with Maggie, he was longing for home. He missed his papa and his nona, and wanted to finish his doctorate. His time in the rainforest had been better than any classes he might have taken at the university. He’d learned so much from Maggie, and he truly believed he could never repay her for all her kindness. When he told Maggie that he would be leaving, she smiled and told him she understood. He was young and there was a whole world to conquer.
On the morning he was set to leave, Maggie accompanied him to the landing spot on the riverbank. She had a boy follow her with four Mortevida plants specially wrapped to protect Antonio from accidentally touching the leaves.
"You will take care of these plants, won’t you, Antonio?”
Antonio nodded his head and grabbed Maggie in a big bear hug.
“I will protect them with my life,” he cried.
When he let her go, she looked him in the eye and said, “Antonio, use them for good. Please use them for good, even if you have to do it on your own. The women need them. Don’t let the greedy bastards keep this miracle away from the women who need it.”