George interrupted him, feeling obligated.
-“About the blitz. I'm sure it cost you boys a lot. “
-“Yes, we are indebted... we sold everything we had,” answered AL.
-“Just as I thought! You must allow me to reward you. It would make me extremely happy! You boys took a lot of risks and I don't think it's fair you had to give up on all of your things to do it.”
George asserted his seniority, relationship with the girls and considerable size.
Woody didn't argue.
-“As you prefer George!”
At that moment, the girls entered the house hand in hand. Nilanthi only let her go to embrace her beloved Woody and to whisper in his ear, “You told me a ton of lies! But, you are fully forgiven! I'll never be able to thank you enough as long as I live”.
-“I did it for the two of you, but also for myself: I feel good, satisfied, because - for once - I took risks to do something good.”
They all stayed at the Wilsons' until late that evening and, during dinner, Woody and George spoke of the legal immigration issues that had to be dealt with for Amandeep.
-“Let me understand, from the moment two perfectly identical Nilanthi Wilsons exist in the States...”
-“We landed in Singapore because our friend had contacts that could get us a "fake" visa on Nilanthi/Amandeep's passport and, from there, we left to come back to the United States.”
-“How did you get my passport,” asked Nilanthi, as she realized just when he had gotten a hold of it.
-“Right, when I was making you your rum and coke!”
Woody smiled in embarrassment.
Shaheen interrupted the silence.
-“Couldn't we call your cousin Robert, honey?”
-“Sure, I had already thought of it. He has an important legal office in Chicago and is really good, you'll see... We'll fix everything,” answered George.
After dinner, they all went into the living room and, as promised, Woody told them about all the details of their mission... word for word.
-“Before starting, I'd like to say a few words about my friends, without whom I never would have dreamed to embark on this adventure.”
He pointed to the skinny, medium-built, light brown hair and blue-eyed guy with showy tattoos and piercings all over.
-“This is Al, my childhood friend. He was my lieutenant in the gang and we were in jail together.
-“I couldn't leave my brother there alone.”
-“He's an alarm and lock expert. He was greatly missed when he decided to put his life back together. When people would talk about him, they would say ‘it's difficult to keep him inside, but impossible to keep him outside’. Then, there's Gary.”
Woody fixed is glance on the youngest of the three, whose face was marked from the blows he had suffered in the past, his hair shaved and his body huge; the type of person you wouldn’t want to cross in a dark alley.
-“We nicknamed him Big Bear, but you can probably already guess why. He is the only one here who doesn’t have a record... He was too small to join the gang at the time and this was his salvation. He is shy and introverted, but a very good friend to have at your side!”
-“In reality, I'm trying to change and MMA has helped me do just that. As a child, I was thin and wimpy, and everyone bullied me until I started hanging around Al and Woody. Then, things took an entirely different turn. Now, with the reputation I built by winning all of my matches, they are the ones seeking my protection. Woody was like a big brother for me and I would follow him to hell and back!”
-“In fact, we came close to it,” Woody started saying again.
-“As I mentioned earlier, we landed in Singapore, which - aside from the climate - is an incredible place. A few hours later, we were ‘unofficially’ in Sri Lanka. There, we scoured every hospital, clinic and other institution we could find in Batticaloa... Anything that had something to do with the twelve-year-old victims at the time of the Tsunami. After a series of endless failures, we finally found something to go on. Even though she hadn’t recognized Nilanthi’s picture, a nurse told us about a young Indian merchant, a certain Ekam Kher, whom had set up an incredibly lucrative child slavery business at that time. It was a small hunch to go on, but we didn't have anything else. The next day, we went to Cuddalore, in southern India, and found the Indian in no time, but still didn't know how to approach him. He barely ever left his palace and never without less than four bodyguards. This guy even had a strip club, where the bouncers and staff were armed to the teeth. Ironically, we saw that place as an opportunity and I decided to offer my services as a barman by enchanting everyone with by bottle tricks to get hired. Shortly after, I drugged the drinks of this despicable man and his entourage. Once passed out, Big Bear and I carried him to the back, where Al was waiting in the car. We had previously spotted a small abandoned factory that had revealed itself perfect for our purpose. Then, with a bit of persuasion tactics and a lot of patience, we were able to get him to admit he had stolen thirty-two children of both genders between the ages of nine and fourteen in 2004. Big Bear, was also able to get him to confess he had sold all the children to a single landowner, a Thai man. We weren’t sure that Amandeep had been amongst those slaves, but figured there could be a possiblity given any traces of her had suddenly vanished form the beach of Batticoloa right after the disaster and that she had not been recognized amongst the victims. Besides, we knew that piece of shit... oops, excuse my language... had fooled the children by telling them that he had been assigned by the UN to recover any survivors. Instead, however, those poor children were destined to the Thai rice fields, where they were doomed to work like slaves for the rest of their life. We weren’t sure how many of those children had managed to survive imprisonment for eight long years, but decided it was worth finding out. We decided that Big Bear would wait at the base with the Indian to convince him to give us precise and accurate directions. We decided to release him once everything had gone smoothly, so that he would be free to... go to jail. Our ‘gentleman’ friend made some annotations on a map and Al and I spent five days before finding the right rice plantation/prison, where Amandeep had been sent. After staking it out for a day with binoculars, we saw a girl that totally looked like Nilanthi and this was enough for us to decide to take action. All prisoners slept in the same hut. We wanted to act at sunset to make sure we’d have a bit of a lead before any pursuers would start searching in morning. Their alarm system consisted of photocells all around the building. For Al, deactivating it had been as simple as 1, 2, 3. Once we neutralized the guards, we gathered everyone in a corner. Even though she was malnourished and exhausted compared to Nilanthi, we immediately recognized Amandeep and my heart skipped a beat, as if confirming there were no doubts about her identity. Amandeep and her unfortunate companions had leaned against the corrugated steel walls and it took some time before they decided to listen what we had to say. In fact, they were all covering their ears with their hands, as if they wanted nothing to do with the insurrection. Every single prisoner of that camp was terrified.”
At that point of the story, Amandeep smiled in embarrassment, attempting to hide behind Nilanthi's silhouette, who reassured her by caressing her gently.
-“Finally, after showing her Nilanthi's picture, she decided to listen to what we had to say and said ‘take me away from here’! At this point, all the prisoners escaped with a renewed sense of hope and some even took great joy in spitting on the guards as we ran away. The four of us arrived in Singapore on the next day and were able to repatriate Amandeep with Nilanthi's original passport and the fake state of the art visa our contact had prepared for us.”
At that moment, Amandeep was fighting against sleepiness. Shaheen noticed and asked Nilanthi how they could organize themselves for the night.
-“Don't worry mom, my bed is big enough and we'll be very comfortable together!”
-“I get it, you'll be sleeping on the pillows on the floor! We'll have to find a bed for Amand
eep as soon as possible!”
The sisters thanked the boys and said good night to everyone.
The authors of the blitz stayed a while longer to speak with George, who offered them some grape distillate his mother had made according to an ancient recipe.
-“It's exceptional George and I know my spirits,” said Woody.
-“Right... Will you start serving drinks again?”
-“I don't know, competition is fierce and the best positions are already taken. In fact, I'm seriously thinking about finding a job that would allow me to be free in the evenings, so that I could see Nilanthi more often. This way I could make cocktails just for fun and for my friends.”
George became thoughtful and, after a few minutes of reflection, he said, “Woody, did you know my father decided to let me run the company because he wanted to devote more time to fishing? In reality, it was because he was tired of working! This means that there is an open position for someone we can trust...”
-“But, I don't have any experience,” interrupted Woody.
-“I repeat... For now, I only need to know that I can trust you. There will always be time to learn the tricks of the trade. Why don't you think about it?”
-“There is no need George, I would be honored to be part of your company!”
A few days later, a pair of identical twins was trying on swimming suits for the beach.
-“I wouldn't feel comfortable with this bikini, it shows too much skin!”
-“Honey! I understand that you're not used to show your body, but I can assure you that you'll make many heads spin on the beach!”
-“That's exactly why I don't want to show my body!”
-“Ok, then cover yourself with this pareo... you'll just take it off when you feel like it.”
Amandeep and Nilanthi were outside on the driveway waiting for Woody to arrive in his flaming pickup to go to the beach.
-“Listen, Nilanthi... You don't think the sea will separate us again, do you?”
-“I never believed in evil spirits or demons. We were just victims of a natural calamity that devastated the lives of thousands of people. We already paid our debt and can now just be happy. I will study with renewed passion now that I no longer need to estrange myself, but I also want to spend more time with the people I love.”
Their hands joined together.
-“And... what will I do in life?”
-“You will master your English, find a job and have a family.”
-“Really? With whom?”
-“With a good guy, like mine.”
-“Listen, will Al also be at the beach with us?”
-“Do you like Woody's friend? Bad girl, you've already laid eyes on him,” Nilanthi said to her sister while tickling her hips.
-“Don't even try to deny it, you're blushing!”
At that moment, Woody's lime green pickup had turned on the main road and was coming towards the girls.
"Here we are," thought Nilanthi, "it's like living a dream: I'm no longer sad for missing a loved one for the first time in my life".
Life had put that apparently frail creature to the test and was finally repaying her for never having lost hope, not even during the worst of times.
THE END
Daniele Galasso
Via del Capitano, 1
Siena 53100
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Struck by the Sea Page 4