Humility

by Magdalene Hornbeam

  Musa undressed, put the dressing gown, warmed his dinner in the microwave, ate a bit again and stared at the contract. This Anna was a full vamp and such an adventurous person! Only now did he realize that he helped her at the airport, rather than to tell her off to the police, because he admired her courage, resourcefulness and her ability to handle the most intricate situations. And he felt her so close to him. Why he felt those feelings for her – he could not explain. Was it because this woman was unique?! Fully healthy person could not make this escape from the hospital, and for the awakened after a severe coma - her willingness was superhuman. It was less than two months since then and she still ran into some risky adventure. The contract allowed these TV producers to put the participants to everything and anything. Apparently a team of experienced lawyers had written it. He himself did not like reality programs and was not watching them. But his mother, who lived in Paris with his sister was watching television all day. He give her a call. He realized that recently they aired a similar TV format, called "Survivor." Two teams competed in primitive conditions were racing to catch fish and animals to feed on almost anything and overcome obstacles and ditches, then they became a team and finally the winner was chosen after voting with SMS. The most difficult task for the players was to endure how long they could stand on one foot on an uncomfortable stone under the hot sun.

  His mother was very talkative but this time he did not cut her, not even once. He let her tell him everything about this TV game.

  Then he sat down with a glass of wine in front of the TV. He heard nothing of what spokeswoman from the screen was telling. This company which Anna had signed the contract was fraudulent. For him, there was no doubt about it. If the money come from mobile voting, should the contract have described it, and also the television which will broadcasting the race? Such clauses were not present. The company "Production Company Sahara Limited" did not come into any search engine on the Internet. The document said that the permanent office was in the Cayman Islands.

  Again, he began to read the clauses. Anna had a family name Zanesheva, and was living on an address in Sofia, but in parentheses it indicated that it was rented. In the browser there came out that Anna Zanesheva was assistant in philosophy at the University of Sofia and a founder of the Association "Debate", organizing rallies and anti-government riots. He was the same age - thirty-two years. He thought he was younger. It occurred to him a ridiculous idea that he could have taken his jacket with him when he started to Africa. Why didn’t the contract say a word, not even mentioned, about the country where the reality would be held? How could there be such an omission? Well, yes - it was written - in Africa. Which serious company recorded the name of the continent as its address? What had Anna communicated to him? That she had no relatives? And how about any close friends? On top of it all, she was the governor of the whole society, does “association” mean exactly this - like-minded people.

  Dr. Musa Ziyad could not sleep that night. He had taken a very wrong decision when he helped this reckless woman - Anna Zanesheva from Sofia.

  Chapter 9

  Anna once again looked at the ticket, which she had received in the mail. The letter was sent from Sofia to her address in Sofia. Similarly, she had received the contract in two languages - English and French. She left the signed copy in one central post office, to be requested. The next day she received the ticket. She supposedly there would come a representative of the company here, but why he had not come personally to deliver it and explain remained a mystery. It was a return ticket. She had to arrive in Niger. The outward ticket was with a change in Paris to Niamey, the capital of Niger, and the return from the airport "Dior Amani" - Niamey, with a stop in Istanbul, and then back in Sofia. The trip took three days for the game according to the contract - twelve days; a total of fifteen days she was going to be absent.

  She had to fly that same night. So she scanned the contract and sent it to Dr. Ziyad on Skype. It was OK that she managed to get connected.

  Some despondency fell upon her, a feeling that she was not familiar with before the coma. When she returned to Sofia, escaping from the French hospital, she immediately sought her healer. He was an elderly man who healed with herbs. He prescribed her a herbal combination she insisted on her lying in bed at home and strictly preparing and drinking the potions. She did not comply with his advice.

  She hurried to the office of the Association "Debate." There was a big surprise for her. They had chosen a new board without informing her. Her friends either did not answer their phone or made some excuses that she had gone abroad for a year and did not expect soon to come. Anna had a specimen with a signature because everything about registration and establishment of the association was paid and done personally by her. She was praised it as an indispensable leader, and it turned out that her had been removed. It was like a bolt of the blue because before leaving, she managed to get sponsorship and the bank account of "Debate" had a large amount of money. He considered paying the hospital and then to withdraw a loan to recover the money. She even hoped that Management Board could vote the sum as a donation because the money was exactly donated personally because of her reputation and name. They all had betrayed her. And she was fighting for real ideas!

  Herb made her feel better and she got up on her feet quickly, so she soon felt in good condition. But after the death of her father, she fell depressed. She could not imagine how she had to fight with her recent allies who she had thought considered as friends with a common cause. They didn’t want to meet her, they were avoiding her. Continuously, a young girl appointed as secretary greeted her and shrugged shoulders instead of answering her questions. Her supporters, claiming to be smart and beautiful representatives of the civil society were impostors and usurpers, but if she started suing, it would harm the association, it would be a long period, dragging on for years and in any case, she and her reputation would suffer the most. Anna found with astonishment that even for herself she could not prove that she had a common cause with those who had betrayed her.

  That is why she accepted the surprising proposal for this TV game. Everything happened very quickly, there was no time to consult a lawyer. Behind, she had two divorces, but she felt terribly only imagining that she would have to ask for money from her former spouses who she had so easily abandoned and whom she never felt beloved ones. Why do some people confuse sex with love?

  Salvation lay in the Sahara desert! She received a sum of five thousand euros in her account. She paid for her accommodation and thereby made herself sure that this company was serious.

  The people around her turned out to be such as she was. They she had cheated on her, but she had also cheated the hospital that saved her life. You meet typical people for the orbit you move in. But Anna had received the support of Dr. Ziyad. He showed towards her some true Christian mercy. That was a different person, one from another orbit and she had to trust him. So she called him and sent him the contract. How ridiculous it was that at thirty-two, despite the countless socially significant causes to which she was devoted, she proved to be completely alone and alienated. Previously she believed that the reason and the fight against injustice are leaders in human life, and all teachings and theories of universal love are just utopias ...

  After losing her parents she realized how much she loved them. She had been gripped by some emptiness, emptiness without beginning and so much impersonal, lacking any feelings, even the one of despair. But her strong will still helped her be alive and kicking. There was only that temptation of the indomitable spirit that her exceptional intellectual abilities are still needed by humanity.

  ***

  The trip was hard, but each and every trouble has its end. Anna arrived at the airport in Niamey safe and sound. They were waiting for her. The interpreter spoke decent French. The hotel where she stayed proved acceptable.

  In the morning they gathered in the lobby. Two girls and a boy of the participants were also very young, probably about 18-19-years old. There w
ere two men - one Asian guy, maybe t about her age or no more than thirty-five and another - about fifty, white, looked like the Englishman. The young girls were also Caucasian. Having in mind their dark hair and eyes one could assume that they were Latin or Arabian, but he could not guess just by appearance. The boy was the only representative of the black race. There were six people altogether. She expected that more participants will arrive.

  A local guide took care of them, who spoke bad English but understood it quite well. There were other guests. They were about to go on a trip to the famous cave discovered in 2003 in the Sahara Desert, where they had found prehistoric wall paintings depicting giraffes, ibex and other animals.

  They got on open vans or rather jeeps, which were adapted for travelling in the sands of the desert. It was hot and strenuous depressing to see only sand. By noon they came to the rocky hills, where the cave was located. Anna hoped that when they go inside, it will become cooler, but it would not. It was a relief that they had taken enough water. For a man all in sweat, the guide started very enthusiastically to explains to them:

  - Unlike today, 5,000 years ago the Sahara desert and the lands of present-day Niger were covered by fertile plains. These were lands of ancient cultures engaged in farming. The pictures and drawings left by those civilizations testify to a developed society, the people were able to tame various species, made chariots and pottery. The oldest images are dated about 12,000 years ago. According to a report by UNESCO it is possible that the processing of iron in this part of the Sahara may have started 5,000 years ago. The Prehistoric murals depict giraffes, ibex and other animals. The largest country, existed on the territory of present-day Niger is the Songhai kingdom. After its destruction in the late 16th century there start to form alliances between the Tuareg tribes. The first Western explorer to set foot on this land is the Scot Mungo Park, who toured round the Sahara desert together with the German Heinrich Barth in search of the springs of the River Niger. In about 1900 French settlers arrived, and in 1922 and Niger officially became a French colony, part of French West Africa. By 1960 the French government banned all parties except the Progressives. Niger is a one-party state. Independence was declared on August 3rd 1960. Now you can see the frescoes and then ask me questions.

  Anna went to one of the girls. She was very beautiful, with white skin and thick brown hair.

  - What is your name? - She asked in English.

  - Laura, and yours?

  - Anna. You're American, right?

  - How did you know?

  - By the accent.

  - I’ve always thought that I had no accent.

  - Do you have English friends?

  - No.

  - That’s why you cannot sense the accent. Because you have lived only among Americans.

  - And …You’re also not English - said emphatically the girl.

  - I'm not. These frescoes are really fantastic. See here, it is depicted how a man swims. Really, there was a lake around.

  - Which animal is the ibex, I have missed this science lesson - The girl looked at her expectantly with her big hazel eyes under her arched brows.

  - Goats and Capricorns. Do you love goats?

  - No. I am a bit afraid of animals, even though my father was a photographer in "National Geographic."

  - Your parents …How did they allow you to participate in a reality?

  - I told you, my father died while shooting in the Amazon, and my mother is an eco- activist and she has never worked for money. It turned out that I urgently need to find a way to earn some income.

  Anna smiled form the inside. Laura’s mother was something like her, only worse. She has taken care of her daughter and without her husband she could not cope. "Will I ever dare to take the responsibility for a child?" – She thought while asking the next question to the girl.

  - Doesn’t your father have insurance?

  - He does, but they haven’t found his body yet and the magazine says that the insurer will pay when it is determined that no chances are left.

  - When did your father die?

  - Five months ago.

  - You haven’t finished school, I guess.

  - I have, but I have not sat for the final tests.

  They were no longer looking at the frescoes. The guide said that they should go because they can be caught in a desert storm. They got into the jeeps. Anna happened to sit on the bench with the young black man.

  - You are Ethiopian, right? - She cried out because the wind had risen wind and nothing could be heard.

  - Yes, how did you know?

  - From the black race I like only the Ethiopians, I hope that does not offend you?

  - No, on the contrary, I feel your statement as a compliment. The conclusion is that you find me beautiful.

  - Yes, such is the conclusion. Apparently you have been to school, you speak English well.

  - I still go to school, but why did you decide that I'm not an African-American living in the US?

  - Wasn’t my guess right?

  - It was. I live with my mother in Turkey.

  She looked at him sharply and the boy understood the question without words. So he continue:

  - I want to study at university. Mechanical Engineering.

  - I got it - you need a large sum of money.

  - Yes - he nodded and laughed with a beautiful smile, revealing a row of even white teeth.

  - What is your name?

  - Baz, it means a "hawk" in our language.

  - So you still consider Amharic as your language?

  The boy gently tightened his face, which was hardly noticeable in the strong wind. Anna felt oddly and strange, it seemed that this name was familiar to her. She asked no more questions to the ebony handsome, because she realized that he was not in the mood to trust anyone.

  When they arrived at the hotel, the others tourists went back to their rooms, and the six of them gathered in the lobby. Somehow tacitly they thought that one of the producers of the show would be waiting for them.

  - There is sand all over my body - complained the other girl with brown skin and heavy black eyes.

  - We are all so - confirmed the man with the Asian characters and slotted eyes.

  He was probably Japanese. His English was very bad. The eldest, Dillon, was the tallest. He was sitting on a couch stretching out his long legs and blinking his eyes filled with sand. Anna took the initiative.

  - I suggest we introduce each other. My name is Anna and I'm from Europe.

  - My name is Dylan and am also from Europe, but it's a very broad term. We must present our country at least.

  - Yes, I agree, you are from London, UK. I'm from Sofia, Bulgaria, but I expect that you have not heard about my country, so I said generally where I come from.

  - And you, Anna, how did you guess that I am from London? - The tall Englishman stroked his silver temples with a nervous movement, but did not interject that he knew where Bulgaria was.

  - She knows by the accent - slipped Laura - I'm from San Diego, California, United States. My name is Laura.

  - My name is Baz, I live in Turkey - the black youth was smiling and everybody’s mood was on the rise. – It seems that we are all form one country –Internet.

  - My name is Vaykua, which in English means Evening Breeze. I live in Japan. I signed up on the Internet and got a plane ticket again via email.

  All eyes stared at the black-eyed young girl who was silent all the time. They were not sure if she understood English.

  - I am Hyulaya and I live in Spain.

  - In which city in Spain? - Anna asked in Spanish.

  - In Barcelona, Catalonia. I live with my mother. - The girl spoke very fast and melodic in Spanish, but others did not understand.

  - Anna, please translate, because we do not understand Spanish - Baz was very polite and spoke English well. - By the way, how many languages do you know? Because in Bulgaria people speak Slavic, right?

  "Ohoo, the little guy knows where Bulgaria is an
d what language is official!" - Anna thought with great satisfaction that the boy is fairly well educated.

  - I can Speak and write in seven languages - English, French, German, Spanish, Italian and two Slavic - Bulgarian and Russian.

  Then Anna translated the words said by Hyulaya.

  - I think she is not a Spaniard, but a native girl from Kurdistan - Baz explained - I know a girl named Hyulaya.

  - Is there a state of Kurdistan? - Asked Vaykua. - As far as I know Kurds live in the three neighboring countries.

  "That guy from Asia is probably the most intelligent of all of us. Vaykua, Evening Breeze ... Why do I think that I’ve heard that name before? "- her thoughts were chasing to catch up frantically and Anna got dizzy.

  - Well - Anna took the floor again without translating into Spanish the words spoken by others. – I, as a translator, take the organization of the group, and I would like you to go back to your rooms, to have a bath and relax, and our producers will find a way to call us. No need to wait here –they stirred and stood up. - And another thing, everyone will speak English. No matter what country we are from, it is important to understand each other.

  They were accommodated in single rooms with baths.

  Chapter 10

  Anna could not sleep at night. She lay with his eyes closed, waiting for the dawn. After waking from the coma she was suffering from severe insomnia.

  She took a shower, sorted her luggage, looked around her hotel room, but some despondency fell upon her. Probably it was due to some hormonal imbalance in the body after the unfortunate fall on the track in the Alps. She didn’t feel how it got dark. She went to bed, turned off all the lights and started praying to her guardian angels to come and help. But BlackX18 and BellX18 didn’t appear. Once again she got convinced that she was daydreaming or she was dreaming during the coma. Because she had a vague recollection that the angels in white and black hoods were constantly with her. And the brilliant chance and the feeling of bliss to meet Sudar!

  Her colleagues from the University of Sofia had dialed Louis, their French colleague and friend to ask why Anna did not call, and he had answered them that she was attending a symposium in Germany. They knew how unpredictable and adventurous she was, and the business trip was paid under the program of European exchange so they didn’t bother to call her again. In fact, she went to the university only once. In the capital of Bulgaria it was always something that was happening. There were riots, rallies to topple the government, there came new political entities. They expected that she would be actively involved, as always, but when she began to appear less frequently, so much immersed in their passions, they decided that she had seriously taken up a dissertation, which she had begun to write in Paris.