Humility

by Magdalene Hornbeam

  Now the shorter policeman started to speak:

  - Mr. Frank we got to know that fifteen years ago you were a teacher of Leonardo, better known among gangs as the Reckless. Please tell us all about him.

  They took out a picture of a black man with blue eyes. Anna wished he could whistle out of surprise. She did not even know whys he was so surprised.

  - Leonardo was the son of a white mother and black father, but his father had left them, and the mother was not interested in him. When he was a little boy he watched wrestling all day long, because the wrestlers’ efforts are directed more to injury than to avoiding them. In wrestling opponents are trying to cause injuries in reality. That is why, even the smallest and insignificant error can lead to terrible injuries. This formed the attitude of Leonardo to life. He was extremely aggressive at school. He attacked two times larger and heavier guys than him. He was not afraid to feel pain and he always won. It happened to me in class that he suddenly got up and jumped on the chest of a child. He treated generally well male teachers, if that word is appropriate for him, but to women teachers to was extremely rude. Once he hit a young female colleague with his fist and one of the boys tripped him not to beat her and so that she could run away from the classroom. He publicly defied that this boy would never sit on the desk. The next day he cut his ass with a sharp knife without anyone seeing anything. The boy got treated in hospital and never returned to our school. He was extremely quick with the knife.

  - You mean that if vowed something, he makes it at any cost? - asked the burly detective.

  - Yes, what has happened?

  - Last month, they killed in a shootout the leader of the most dangerous gang and now Leonardo and another guy struggle for leadership. Leonardo defied to kill a policeman and to thrust his head on a stake here, on this the intersection, in front of your building - groaned the other detective.

  - By my calculations - said Dylan - he must be twenty-nine years old and he must have several children.

  - Yes, it is true, he has three children from a black lady, who is a sister of the shot-dead leader of the gang.

  - If he has said, he would. You must act decisively.

  - We could not we find anything positive in this young man, but still ne is the father of three children, he may have settled ... - the policeman himself did not believe his words.

  - Leonardo could paint extremely well. But he could not develop his talent. He came to school to eat in the canteen for free and at fourteen he quit because he won as a member in various gang.

  - Being able to paint is no use for us. Colleagues are up and about chasing him. Everyone is afraid, you know how it is...

  - I wish you success! The policemen went away, and the teacher continued his work in front of the desktop.

  ***

  It was in the middle of summer vacation, warm and sunny. Anna got out on the intersection, looking from above the building where her object lived. Undoubtedly, in this outskirt quarter, where the majority of residents were black, this intersection was the liveliest and building was great, big, erected on the corner, with five floors, the ground was, in fact a vast glittering zone of shops and first floor housed offices of companies. From the second floor up there were apartments, largely municipal property, but well-maintained and the tenants were employees, who had deserved to live in nice homes on a cheap rent.

  At night Dylan Frank slept without opening any window, because the noise of the intersection through the night was great and annoying.

  Anna looked again for his angels. BellX18 appeared immediately. "Why do I have to keep this grown-up man? He deals with the dangers in the neighborhood school, and now it is summer, school is on vacation! "

  „People never know what will happen at any moment. Whole countries disintegrate and fall apart in an instant, and life of the average person is threatened from everywhere.

  ''Bell, you know what will happen? "

  „No, we are just like you, but we see a lot more. And we "remember" the past without having witnessed it. "

  “Where is Black? “

  ”He is praying."

  "Really, what is he praying for? “

  "For your success in your next task. “

  "Are you serious? And why not also say a prayer to Sudar? "

  "We do not pray to Sudar. We pray to the Lord, just like you! '

  "You are wrong, again. I do not pray or believe in God. "

  "It's your free choice! “

  ***

  Ana walk around the neighborhood, which was quite large, then quickly looked around this downtown. She found it very familiar, but she did not know what connected her to this cosmopolitan center. In the morning she visited the teacher. Her object had breakfast, went out to buy a newspaper and drink coffee in the nearby bistro. He met some friends and came back home. At ten in the morning he was again working on the computer.

  He turned out to be a very boring and hard-working man. In the newspaper she learned -their location was London. She could read! Without eyes ... But wasn’t everything she could see just a hallucination?! Here, on earth, she thought of many things. Even if this was delusional, it was worth – because the brief meeting with Sudar was the most remarkable event in her life. She had to deal with all the tasks in order to have the privilege to see him again!

  She decided to find Leonardo. It seemed to her that this black thug and a former student of Dylan Frank was probably dangerous for him in some indirect way. She found him in a cage of tattooed, armed men, most blacks. He was buying a gun with erased numbers. Anna started following him. He jumped on his car and headed for a questionable shooting range where he fired a full clip. He did not have accurate sight, there was excessive fidgeting and some nervousness about him. Then he got back in his car. But two police officers in a police car turned on the sirens and they began a race. Apparently someone of their firing range had flagged and gave signal for the wanted criminal. The police car was gradually keeping up with him. He pursued abruptly stopped in a lay-by, he turned and started indiscriminate firing at the police officers. He missed both their car, and them. Suddenly, the gun jammed. Leonardo threw it angrily on the grass and put his head back in the car, to hit the road. At that moment the two policemen equaled with him, they closed him it his car and the one that was not steering, fired a shot. An accurate shot in the head through the open window of the car. Leonardo died on the spot. Other police cars arrived, people gathered round, there were many witnesses to the incident. Anna left them and returned to the teacher Dylan Frank.

  Exactly at twelve-thirty his alarm started, he left the laptop and went to the kitchen to warm the lunch. Automatically the TV turned on. They were broadcasting news. The hot news was that the police in the suburbs of the capital city had killed a young black man with a criminal record, but without prior convictions, a father of three children. They showed a picture of the victim and Dylan moaned. Then he ate in silence. Anna hopped up and down the room because she felt the anguish of the man, and she could not explain it. Sam had told the detectives that Leonardo was very aggressive and dangerous, and now he was mad and felt sad at his death.

  ***

  Leonardo’s wife, the victim of the two policemen greeted the television crew in his apartment. They showed weeping children, neat and well-dressed, as well as their home, all in order. She was without makeup, all in black and explained that her husband was an exemplary husband and father, and she was mortified by the police arbitrariness. Many witnesses of the incident supported her, because her husband had no weapon at all, when they shot him like a dog. His only crime was being black. The reporter pitied her how she could be able to handle the situation herself now and live broadcasting touched the viewers.

  At the same time gang members roamed around the neighborhood and called for protest. After Leonardo’s funeral these calls grew louder.

  In the day off in the evening, the agitators gathered at the crossing near the building where Anna’s object of protection lived, the tea
cher Dylan Frank. All kind of people began to join. First they started on a peaceful demonstration against violence. They started up the boulevard and walked two three kilometers, chanting. Before reaching the stadium, where it was announced to be the location of the rally, some police forces stopped them. They could not pass through the officers and started gradually to get back. But the presence of police with shields and armors make them feel bitter and angry. In many places, the clashes turned into fierce battles. Hundreds flocked in front of the police station to demand justice. The situation went out of control when a team of state television was interviewing a police chief. He announced that a significant part of policemen were sent from the city center to the site of the riots to "incarcerate calm and normal order in the area as quickly as possible." Then the team of the television was attacked by youths with homemade explosives. Demonstrators against the alleged police brutality threw "Molotov" cocktails on uniforms and patrol cars.

  Some buildings in the area were on fire. Dozens of police officers were injured and sent to hospital.

  The protest was increasing more and more, escalated and spread in the neighborhood. When they started breaking shop windows and looted shops in the vicinity, Anna tried to wake Dylan, who was fast asleep. The teacher was accustomed to sleeping at noise coming from outside and the crossroad of light from streetlights and it could not wake him up. She tried with nightmares, erotic dreams, anything, but it didn’t work. Although the rampaging demonstrators had already smashed shops on the ground floor and were getting out of the supermarkets with shopping carts full of products and the noise was terrible. A double-decker bus was stopped and set on fire. Some of the lower floors were on fire, too and all began to flee away. People from the upper floors were running on the staircases.

  The rebellion plunged into chaos the neighborhood, it made impossible for firefighters to go to extinguish the fires. The mayor of the largest metropolitan city urged to respect the supremacy of law and added that "violence and destruction of property will do nothing to facilitate the investigation." His words were the usual clichés in such cases: "We continue to collect the evidence and hope to announce the results soon. If overstepped their powers, the police will be responsible before the law." The statement was broadcast on television, but in the neighborhood no one was watching television. There were mounted police officers on horse backs - They were part of the squad that dealt with serious crime in the black community. Police horse became a target for the rampant protesters. They pelted them with firecrackers.

  The building was already engulfed by fire from all sides. The entrances were burning so that no one more could get down the stairs. But the fire service was able to get to using two cars and began to extinguish the fire in the building.

  Anna again tried to wake Dylan. His habit of sleeping at the windows closed helped, smoke had not yet entered the apartment, but the flames outside could break glass and then there was nothing he could do. The internal corridor to the dwelling was not yet covered by the fire. In this frustration she turned on the TV. After the latest statements and news of the riot in the suburban quarter of the city, the advertising were on. She turned up the sound. Then began an ad for baby diapers, and the musical setting was a baby crying. And the miracle happened. Dylan Frank woke up. She got up and looked out the window. He understood what the situation was. Although it was a hot summer night and the flames made her unbearably hot and scorching, he put on a suit, put on a coat, a hat, a scarf, took the documents, shouldered his laptop and climbed on a chair to the window to see outside. Firefighters spotted him and approached by their car with high platform to his window. They drenched with foam and waved at him to open. Dylan opened and jump onto the platform, without a second thought. In the following seconds, his home exploded.

  Ana felt relaxed. A police car got the person who was saved and drove him in a special dormitory, which housed victims of the fires.

  The situation began to calm down when more police reinforcements arrived.

  Chapter 8

  Anna woke up, but as she used to, when she was a little girl, she did not immediately open her eyes. She started smelling in the air, trying to guess what breakfast mum had prepared. Why did it smell like a hospital? She slightly raised her lashes, she thought she was dreaming, she did not want to wake up. Near the bed, which was not hers, two nurses were standing and talking. In French. Gradually she realized - no longer was she the little girl of her caring mom, and she was in the children's room. Something had happened to her, but she could not remember. Some instinct held her still and motionless with eyes closed.

  - The chief doctor wondering how from the resort they could not find out who was the woman who had fallen on the track in a coma. No relative had appeared, there was no such woman reported missing!

  - It is impossible that they cannot find documents. She could not be skiing on the main track with no documents and ID. They must have fallen out when she had the accident

  - It's been two weeks. You know how expensive treatment is here. Dr. Rivar has offered to transport her to a public hospital because she may not wake up at all.

  - Won’t you operate on her at last!

  - Dr. Musa Ziyad said that bleeding was bad and wound was on a very bad and delicate place and recommend not to operate. He thought that in this way the patient had a better chance.

  - Dr. Rivar was eager to hear these words. Knowing what how covetous he was, he would never waste an effort opening the skull, until he knows about how rich (or poor) the patient was.

  - Poor girl, an unfortunate circumstance and she turns into a living corpse.

  - Maybe, she will wake up and turn out to be a wealthy daughter. When will the masseuse come today?

  - No massages today. They have cut the procedures. The chief doctor made a complaint at the town hall of the lazy and slow actions taken by the police in tracing the identity of the victim. He wanted the treatment paid, if they are incompetent to find friends or relatives.

  - Oh, if she wakes up and doesn’t have money to pay money, she’ll be in debts for life debt! I hope she is not like us.

  - Easy, if we fall on your head, we will be taken straight to the municipal hospital because there is a beautiful track in the most expensive part of the snobbish ski resort. There, one hour skiing is worth all our pay day.

  - Well, we have not found a rich man, like Doreen, the nurse. Did you know, that she took a leave and went to Hawaii with her rich man?

  - No, I did not, but it yesterday that she was on duty.

  - She was, but she left the key from the locker, to open it for the boy from the washer to take the working clothes for washing.

  - Did you unlock it?

  - No, I have not yet.

  - Well, after a while he will be here. Let's go and unlock it, cos’ Doreen will be angry then with all of us. How many days off did she take?

  - A week.

  The two women arranged the system, looked around once again if everything was okay and came out of the hospital room smiling.

  Anna suddenly remembered everything –the way she prepared her suitcase to depart, the way Louis convinced her to stay, because he had paid a holiday in an expensive Alpine ski resort for two, but his girlfriend refused and he did not feel like going on his own. She had a plane ticket for two weeks and she went with him. She loved skiing. But Louis was on the ski slopes, why hadn’t he come with her to the hospital? The mere falling was a mystery for her, she could not recollect anything from it.

  But he remembers clearly how settled. At the reception, Louis did not announce that she was another woman and they didn’t need documents. Now these Internet reservations, where all the necessary tourists data was written in advance it seemed that the information of the other girl, his girlfriend was in their computer. The receptionist looked only at the ID card of Louis and that was it. Anna was ready to explain, but Louis was just like that, he did not like the details and formalities, especially bureaucratic. He took her away from the rec
eption and made her wait on the leather couches in the lobby. But what has happened to him, has he gone back to Paris? To not find the documents in her hotel room, he had probably run away with her luggage and documents without turning up in hospital. It seemed she he did not know him well. As far as she could tell, he had done that on purpose because he had hoped to get the best medical care in an expensive private hospital. But neither he, nor she could pay for such a luxury.

  Anna opened her eyes. He was lying alone in the room. In her vein they were flowing nutrient solution and her head was tied for encephalographic machine. She felt good. So what did she know about the situation which she was in? Dr. Rivar was her doctor. But the other, named Musa Ziyad, apparently naturalized Frenchman, has given opinion and statement on the case. It was most likely that he was the specialist of tomography. Long live that person, correct advice was given by him, because she was fine and feeling so well.

  She tried to get up, but the electrodes on her head pulled her down. She disconnected the system from her hand and began unbuttoning the electrodes. It was easy. She got out of bed. She stirred. Well, she was fine, she did not even feel dizzy. So, what did she have to take? If they understand that she was awoke, long and lengthy procedures will start in devising a method of payment. Now that her mother had already gone from this world, and her father was very old and sick, she had no one to rely on. At this point in her mind it came the feeling of guilt. She had to go back, her father was on his deathbed. What date was it? She looked on the wall –at the nice calendar. The plane ticket, which she bought with the last spare money, was exactly for that night. She had never saved any money. She may have to escape from the hospital. She opened the door slightly and peered out into the hallway. There was no one. She came out and started looking around the plates on the doors. She opened the door marked "Staff", taking the risk of seeing a doctor or a nurse inside. There was no one. The single lockers had neatly-written plates with the names of doctors and nurses. She found the one named Doreen, it was indeed open. Inside there were a white uniform, pants, and the badge of the nurse gone on vacation. Anne instantly put them on. They were a little bigger, but no one could tell. The working official white shoes turned out to be a much larger size and it was difficult for her to walk with them. There was no other way, she put them on. She was barefoot, only in a hospital gown. She found a bag and put his robe in it, then she took the bag and walked out into the hallway. It seems there were the severe cases, because there was no movement. There was a sick lady and she opened the door adjacent to the tomographic study. It was probably a booth for the patients. Anna went after the woman. The other patient was already in the testing room. The door to this room was left slightly ajar. Anna could hear the conversation of the doctor and the nurse with the patient.