by Jack Ford
Realize the truth, but to find it you need to look beyond.
40
‘That looks interesting. What do you think it is?’ Maddie called out from the back, breaking Cooper’s chain of thought. Not that his chain of thoughts were beneficial to anyone else, given he was currently wondering if AJ’s Fine Foods diner in Phoenix was going to carry any new flavors of iced tea this summer.
Across to the left, standing in a valley, were a handful of large industrial buildings. They looked very much out of place in the middle of the wild, provocative, paintbox-colored countryside, where fields and tracks slunk up the hills and mountains.
A large, pale yellow sign, with an embossed image of a drop of water with the word Lemon, in bold white writing, loomed by the side of the road.
A thought suddenly crossed Cooper’s mind which he hoped was going to be more relevant than his previous ones. Sticking to the Toyota seat with sweat, he went into his jeans pocket. Pulled out the pen he’d picked up from the New Revivalist Church and passed it to Maddie.
‘I don’t know what it quite means, but here you go… The same logo’s on the pen. What do you reckon, Rosedale? Worth taking a look?’
‘Well, there’s only one way to find out!’ Rosedale shouted as if they weren’t all sitting next to each other in the same car. He turned the Toyota round at speed. Veered off the dirt track road, to the rolling of eyes of Cooper and Maddie.
*
Parking up a few feet from a tall, solid black fence, topped off with razor-wire and a multitude of security cameras, Cooper jumped out of the car. Peeled off the sweat-drenched t-shirt that was stuck to his body. Wrung it out. Flung it on the floor of the car.
Throwing Cooper a dry t-shirt from the back, and breaking open a bottle of water which was supposed to be cold, Maddie offered it around.
‘Anyone want some hot water? I have to warn you, the only thing it’s got going for it, is it’s wet.’
‘Don’t mind if I do.’ Rosedale snatched the bottle as Maddie and Cooper walked ahead. They looked around, taking it all in.
The perfectly tarmacked road to the wrought iron gates was in absolute contrast to the roads they’d encountered on the journey. The ones outside Goma, which Rosedale had driven on a couple of hours back, had been the worst. Built-up craters of uneven tarmac encrusted with lava from the active volcano nearby had made it one hell of a precarious drive.
Almost at the gates, Cooper watched the cameras track their movement. An intercom system buzzed.
‘Hello? Can I help you?’
Cooper looked at Maddie, whose expression reflected his surprise. The voice was American.
‘Hi there!, Me and my friends were just driving past, saw the place and wondered what it was.’
‘Well, it’s great you’ve stopped by.’
The cheerful reply surprised them once more. And having been joined by a well-hydrated Rosedale, Cooper continued to chat to the intercom. ‘It just seemed a bit out of place. A bit…’
The person on the other end laughed. ‘New built? Listen, come in if you like. If you want to leave your car there that’s fine, though it’s a fairly long drive. Either way it won’t be a problem. Just come up to the main building. Follow signs to the main lobby. I’ll meet you there. The name’s Charles by the way. See you in a minute.’
The intercom crackled before going silent. Maddie looked at Rosedale. ‘What do you think?’
‘Anchorage,’ said Rosedale. ‘I think that’s an Anchorage accent.’
Cooper said, ‘Maddie, I’m relying on you to keep me sane.’
41
The lobby, along with the building, was nothing like Cooper had expected to find in such a rural and out of the way place. It was of high spec. Expensive, state of the art security matched the expensive interior. Streamline smoked glass and chrome. Meticulous white marble flooring, topped off with a curving ornate stairwell going up to a glass-walled second floor. But he had to admit, as impressive as it all was, it was the high quality and high powered and no-expense-spared air conditioning system which really got him. Cool. Soothing. Luxurious. Something which seemed at that moment to have vice-like qualities.
‘Anyone thinking the same thing as I am?’ asked Cooper.
‘This place needs a moose?’
‘What…? What? What in all that is godly, Rosedale, are you talking about now?’
Rosedale stared at Cooper scornfully. ‘You know nothing, Thomas. Every lobby needs a moose… Even the CIA had one in their headquarters in Langley.’
‘No. No, they did not.’
With pride encasing his words, Rosedale said, ‘Yes they did. In fact, part of the reason they had one was because of me. When Barack Obama nominated John Brennan for the second time to serve as Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, and he was successfully voted in, by way of a celebration, I suggested we get a moose.’
‘Are you for real?’
As both Maddie and Cooper continued to shake their heads at Rosedale, a rotund man, ruddy-faced, with thinning remnants of brown hair, descended the stairs. His smile was warm and genuinely welcoming.
‘Hi guys, I’m Charles. Charles Templin-Wright. Welcome to Lemon.’ Charles stuck out his hand to shake Cooper’s. He took it. Noticed and was surprised at the strength of the grip.
‘Good to meet you, sir. I’m Thomas Cooper, this here is Austin Rosedale Young, and this is Maddie Coop…’
Cooper stopped not knowing quite how to introduce Maddie. She cut him a stare.
‘Maddie Cooper, but not for long. I’m going back to my maiden name. Menga.’
Charles gave an awkward smile. ‘Well it’s good to meet you Maddie Menga. That’s a Congolese surname isn’t it?’
‘It is. I’ve got family to the east of these parts.’
Templin-Wright nodded and then said, ‘Drink?’
Cooper could almost taste it.
‘Yeah, that would be great. Cold water if you have any.’
Charles laughed. ‘Well you’ve come to the right place. In case you didn’t guess, what you have here is a water treatment plant, providing the drinking water for public faucets around the local towns and villages. It’s somewhat of a challenge, for a variety of reasons, but we’re up to the job.’
He stopped to point to a large brown book sitting on the front desk. ‘You wouldn’t mind signing in the visitor’s book, would you? It’s crazy but even here, in the middle of nowhere, we seem to have all kinds of guidelines and regulations.’
Rosedale nodded, answering as pleasantly as the situation called for. ‘Sure. No problem.’
‘What brings you guys here anyway? I take it you’re visiting family?’
With his back to Charles, Cooper signed in. He took the opportunity to, as discreetly as possible, look at the other couple of names written in the book. He frowned. A distant unformed thought beginning to play on his mind.
Suddenly, realizing nobody had answered Charles’s question, he was about to apologize but Maddie got there first. ‘Sorry, I’m a bit tired, not to mention hot… We’re just touring the Congo before we move on to Rwanda. If we’ve got time we’ll visit my family, but I don’t think we will.’
‘Well, I hope you manage to do what you have to do, but I’m delighted you stopped by… Come on.’
The three of them followed Charles into a board room. A fridge full of ice cold water took center space. To Cooper it was like some kind of mirage. A man could drown in such desire.
Talking as he handed the bottles out, Charles, affable in his manner, led them back into the lobby.
‘We’re a bit off the beaten track, really.’
‘Yeah, it’s quite a distance from any towns,’ said Maddie. ‘Didn’t you want to go nearer?’
‘Well Maddie… Sorry, it’s alright if I call you Maddie?’
She nodded, smiling as Charles continued to talk, never having missed a beat. ‘There were a few other places the plant could’ve been built, but this location had a lot of things
going for it. Firstly, it’s on high ground, as well as directly next to the river. Secondly, it makes it easier being away from the towns, less junk to clear out of the water. You go anywhere near the towns or villages and you’re adding raw sewage, fertilizers, as well as the chemicals they use for mining – which is predominant in the area – to the water. Makes purifying the water costlier. So right here was the sensible choice. Look, if you’ve got time I can show you around.’
Rosedale glanced at Cooper as he spoke to Charles. ‘Appreciate the hospitality and all but it seems a bit unusual for us folk to wander off the street and you just show us round.’
Charles grinned, sliding open the glass door leading out to the smouldering heat.
‘Actually Mr. Young.’
‘Rosedale. Just Rosedale.’
‘Actually, Rosedale, not so. This is both a water treatment plant and an educational facility. The powers that be back in the States thought it was important to show transparency and let the locals see what we were doing. So we do guided tours, as well as teaching an educational programme. It gets really busy. I think you must be the third or fourth lot of people in… oh, the past six months.’
‘Who were the others?’ asked Rosedale in good humor.
‘I never took them round myself, so I don’t know, I usually leave that pleasure to my assistants.’
Charles smiled, heading down to a grassy river bank as he began to explain the full scope of the water plant’s work.
‘So the river fills these sedimentation basins, the ones over there which look like giant swimming pools, and we get the dirt out which stops it from looking so cloudy, basically.’
Maddie, surprising both Rosedale and Cooper with what seemed to be a keen interest in water systems, asked, ‘How?’
And although the simplest of questions and smallest of words, it seemed to make Charles Templin-Wright spring with animation.
‘Good question, Maddie. Big bits of dust settle at the bottom and then we add chemicals that encourage any remaining, smaller particles to stick together in clumps, so they’re easily filtered out when the water is pumped to the next stage. We also add chlorine to kill the bugs so it’s drinkable – tastes like crap, but it won’t kill you. This whole plant feeds faucets around the towns good, clean water, which is great. All the fighting in the area destroyed many things, whole villages were burnt down and people had to flee, but we’re trying to rebuild and clean water is a great place to start. It’s still a very precarious part of the DRC, of course. Hearing about militia raids and people being killed is, unfortunately, a weekly occurrence.’
‘Though at least this water plant helps to cut down on disease.’
‘It does, Maddie, but there are still a number of people round here, believe it or not, who won’t use the faucets, they prefer to use rain water or water straight from river like their…’ Charles paused, rolling his eyes to emphasize his point. ‘Like their ancestors always did. They have some strong, traditional beliefs around here.’
Maddie gave Charles a piercing look. ‘I take it you don’t believe in spiritual traditions?’
‘Look, I’m a scientist from Anchorage, Alaska.’
Rosedale nudged Maddie who scowled.
‘Which is a long way from here. And whilst I respect everyone’s right to freedom of belief, I put it down to a lot of mumbo jumbo.’
‘Mumbo jumbo?’
‘That’s just my opinion. We’re all entitled to one. Shall we…?’
With her mouth open to tell him exactly what she thought about his opinion, Rosedale touched Maddie’s shoulder and shook his head. Oblivious, Charles pointed to a path leading towards the side of the main building.
Cooper watched Charles waddle away. The back of his bald head, round and flat, reminding him of the bulls-eye on an archery board. He felt irritated by the man. Maybe he was hungry. Maybe the trip was beginning to take its toll. Or maybe he just needed a bit of a fix. Whatever the reason, he couldn’t stop himself wanting to pull Charles back. Shake him up a little. Make him see a little sense. But then he wasn’t here to make a guy he didn’t know see things the way they should be. So instead he inhaled. Deeply. Whispered ‘Schmuck,’ under his breath, and said, ‘What are those? It looks like you’re going lobster fishing.’
Cooper gestured to piles of long, half-cylinder cages made out of chicken wire. The same kind he’d seen in the derelict building in Kinshasa.
Charles laughed. Irritating Cooper more.
‘They do look like lobster cages don’t they, now you come to mention it? Actually Mr. Cooper, they’re rat traps. Very basic ones, but it’s another project we do to help the community. We had a similar project in Kinshasa, where we were also based, but now it’s only here. There are so many areas overrun with rats we decided we needed to come up with something. When Lemon first came into the DRC, especially this area, we saw kids turning rat-catching into a game. Heading out with bags and pointed sticks, challenging each other to see who could catch the most.’
‘Sounds neat,’ said Rosedale.
Templin-Wright said, ‘I think so too. When I was a kid I did the same. It’s a boy thing. But the difference is, when I was young, it didn’t matter a jot if I actually caught one or not. Here, it’s vital they do. Rats are very destructive, not to mention a source of disease. To find spaces to nest and breed in the over-crowded cities, they burrow underneath the buildings and destroy the foundations. They nibble through anything near the ground, and even bite sleeping children’s fingers. Out here in the countryside the number of rats is overwhelming, and they grow to the size of cats.’
‘You mean like that?’
Maddie pointed towards a man walking towards one of the far buildings. He was carrying a sealed clear plastic box. In it was a large rat.
For a moment Cooper thought Charles looked slightly ill at ease, but he turned back to Maddie and said, ‘Exactly.’
‘Why’s it in a box like that?’
‘No reason.’
‘Can I see it?’
Again, Cooper noticed Charles’s apprehension. But again, Charles pulled it back and smiled, calling out to the person.
‘Obasi…! Obasi! Can you come here? I’d like to show our visitors your rat.’
The man duly walked towards them. Nodded and held up the box.
Maddie peered closely. Looking at the large black rat, her face changed from fascination to revulsion and back to fascination again. Reminded Cooper of Cora when he’d taken her to Washington Park Zoo.
‘What are they?’
Charles answered indifferently, but neither Rosedale nor Cooper nor Maddie missed the quick glance Charles gave to his colleague.
‘Just fleas I think. I guess all rats have them, but I couldn’t be sure, they’re not exactly my specialist area… Shall we?’
Charles continued along the path whilst Cooper talked.
‘So what was the project you set up?’
‘Sorry, yes. Well, we really took our lead from a charity which operates in South Africa, in the township of Alexandra. They’re called Lifeline. And like here, Alexandra was overrun with rats. What they did was put a phone bounty on the vermin’s head.’
‘Say what?’
‘Well they handed out the cages, similar to these, and said Bring us sixty rats and we’ll give you a cell phone.’
Maddie laughed ‘I love it.’
Flattered by Maddie’s response, Charles carried on chatting with her as if the other two weren’t there. ‘Apparently some people frowned on it but it certainly helped to bring down the population of the rats.’
‘And is that what you’re doing?’
‘Yes. Well, similar. We’re giving people money instead. It isn’t a great amount, and it’s mainly kids who are rat-catching and although, like I say, the money isn’t a lot, it could be a difference between eating and not eating that day or that week. And again, there’s been a noticeable difference in the amount of rats… Anyway, come on, let me show you the rest of the p
lace.’
Charles, walking side by side with the three of them, began to offer up more information.
‘Unfortunately, a lot of people don’t understand the health risks of dirty water. They just drink it without thinking. We put a lot of time and money into trying to keep the water clean from bacteria. There’s a lot of disease here, and also a lot of toxic waste from some of the big companies. We here at Lemon care. We monitor the turbidity, pH and chlorine levels, twice a day in and outside the plant, and twice a week at the faucets around town. It’s amazing the variation in levels we get, depending on recent rainfall, and sometimes the high levels of minerals getting into the water from mining just upstream. Pollution in sub-Saharan Africa is a real problem. Many rivers are now, and I don’t want to be melodramatic here, but they’re rivers of death. A lot of rivers are contaminated from spring to mouth. Did you know, every eight seconds, a child dies because of a disease transmitted through infected water? In developing countries, eighty per cent of the diseases are spread through the water.’
Scratching at another insect bite, Cooper stopped. ‘They’re some statistics, Charles.’
‘They certainly are, Mr. Cooper. They certainly are.’
Charles continued on but Maddie stopped alongside Cooper to whisper in his ear. ‘Have you seen his fingernails? Talk about yellow.’
Cooper scowled, on edge and annoyed and irritated as hell with her, but knowing it didn’t take his shrink to tell him the issue wasn’t really her. It was him. ‘Leave the guy alone, Maddie. Jesus, he’s hardly going to get a manicure around here, doing the job he’s doing, is he?’
She looked hurt. But Cooper had to give it to her; she carried on talking without hesitation. She was a bigger man than him. ‘I’m not saying he needs a manicure, I just think to have stained fingers like that, he must be smoking at least one hundred a day. Just a passing comment. An observation that’s all.’