A Treasure of Their Own

  Chapter Twenty Seven

  Even though they didn’t normally open until 10 a.m. Marci had bribed the manager of the local Verizon store on the campus to open up for her at 9 o’clock. It was easy. All she had to say was, “Free volcano burger” and he was putty in her hands. In the melee a couple of nights ago, someone stepped on her purse and unfortunately broke her phone. All day yesterday was spent in the hospital and she had no idea how many phone calls she had missed. She was about to find out, though.

  The manager had just put the sim card in the new phone and closed it when it began to ring. He quickly showed her how to answer it and handed it to her. She held out her Visa card to him and he just waived it off and went to unlock the door for her.

  “That’s two burgers for you and thanks,” she said as she slid her finger across the face of the phone and lifted it to her ear. “Hello,” she said as she unlocked her car to get in.

  “Hello? Marci, is that you,” asked a voice on the other end.

  “Aunt Liv, it’s you. I’m so sorry. I just got out of the phone store with my new phone. I was involved in a little ruckus the night before last and someone stepped on my phone,” she apologized.

  “Oh, gosh, are you alright?”

  “Yes, Ma’am, I had to spend the day in the hospital yesterday just for observation. You know how that goes. But, I’m fine and rushed around as usual. It’s a Saturday and the café opens at 10 o’clock. I’m sure we’ll have a crowd today,” she continued as she walked across the street.

  “Oh……..shoot. I want to know what’s happened so bad……but I just don’t have the time. Let me fill you in quickly. I’ve been trying to get to you since yesterday. Arthur and Diego have been trying to call you, too,” Olivia said.

  In the background she heard a voice say, “Mr. and Mrs. Hollis, the cars are here and we’re ready whenever you are.”

  “Okay, thanks,” Olivia said away from the phone. “All the bags are packed and are on the beds. Would you….”

  The voice said, “Just point to what goes Ma’am and we’ll carry them for you.”

  Marci heard Ryan say, “I’ll take care of this stuff, you just talk to Marci and take it easy, Honey, everything is going to be OK.”

  Marci could tell that she was a bit frazzled. “What’s up? Is everything alright?”

  “Well, yes and no,” Olivia sputtered into the phone. “Yes, everybody is OK, including Arthur. Well, no he’s not OK but he’s probably on his way to see you, right now.”

  A whole new set of mixed feelings came over Marci as she walked into the parking lot across from the cafe. It was Marci’s turn to sputter, “You mean….he’s away from the Philippines…in the... on his way to here? You mean here to your home or here to the college?”

  Olivia’s voice went up a pitch or two as she began to explain, “Arthur got into some kind of fight with this Taliban chief named Jah something or other and he got a pretty bad gash on his back.” In the background Marci could hear Ryan trying to calm his wife down but it was to no avail. “We saw a film of it on Skype last night. Oh, my God, it looks horrible. This doctor that was taking care of him didn’t have the stuff to take care of him with. Oh, it was so gross. Diego had to hurry and get Arthur out of the country so he could get some proper medical attention. Terrorists have infiltrated so much of that area that they have no idea who’s on their side anymore and they didn’t want to take a chance at the hospital.”

  Marci walked through the back door of the café and wrote a note to Sheila that read ‘Get my computer for me RIGHT NOW.’ Sheila took one look at the ashen color in Marci’s face and didn’t dare stop to ask why. The other girls started toward her but she waived them off for the time being, stepped into the office and closed the door.

  Olivia continued, “He’s on his way to you right now and he needs medical attention pretty quickly. He can’t go to a regular hospital because they will want to know what happened to him and that just can’t be explained to the news media at all.”

  After a pause to catch her breath, Olivia pleaded, “I know that you’ve probably made up your mind about Arthur and that’s your business, but could you please get him some attention and not let anybody know about it? If the word gets out, it could endanger a lot of lives over here in the U.S. as well as what they are doing in the Philippines. Don’t worry about what it costs. We’ll be glad to pay for it.”

  “Absolutely, Aunt Liv,” Marci stated emphatically. “Do you know when he’ll be here? I’ll have some of my trusted friends take care of him. And, there will be no cost, Aunt Liv. A couple of the professors are close friends of mine and we will take care of him in a way that no one will know. I promise you.”

  Olivia talked quickly, “Call Diego at his number and get him to Skype with you and they’ll show you his back. But, hold on to yourself, it is gross and the primitive way that they had to do it…..oh, my God…it makes me sick to my stomach just thinking about it. Anyway, were moving in the car going back to Elmhurst so I’m sure we’ll hit a dead spot. Tell him to behave and don’t let him drive his motorcycle if he’s too woozy or something. Oh, yeah, I forgot. Tom had ordered him a new one just before he died. It came while Arthur was away.”

  Marci didn’t know how to take so much news at one time so she just answered, “Well…, OK Aunt Liv.” She paused a second before saying, “and, I’ll take pictures to send to you on my new phone. And…..before he leaves…I’ll ….. uh... make sure that BOTH of us talk to you. OK?”

  “Both……” was all that Marci heard before the connection fell apart.

  She looked at the new phone and smiled. Sheila came bounding in with Marci’s computer under her arm. “Here it is. What’s wrong? You look like you’re scared to death.”

  Marci looked at her friend and said almost blankly, “I... I don’t know if I’m scared or somewhat excited.” She wrote Diego’s Skype info and gave it to her and said, “Give this and the computer to Fred and tell her to pull him up. I’ll be in there in just a minute.”

  Sheila left her alone in the office without asking questions. With shaky hands, Marci punched her phone for Mrs. Piatrowski. “Hello, Marci are you feeling well enough to be at the café?” she asked.

  Marci blurted out, “Well, I was until a few minutes ago. I just got an urgent call from Arthur’s Mom. Arthur is back in the states and is heading here. I can’t go into all the details but he was hurt on a secret mission of some sort over in the Philippines and they had to get him out of there rather quickly. From what his mother said, they only patched him up and he needs to get some proper medical attention and not let anyone know. She said his back was cut up pretty bad. I’m connecting to the Philippines right now and they're going to be sending me some pictures of it so we’ll know what to do? Could you please, please help him? I’ll pay anything it costs.”

  What a load of information all in one minute. Even though she had a thousand questions, Mrs. P figured that the first thing on the agenda was to calm Marci down. The poor girl had been through enough already. “OK,” she started, “just calm down. I’ll make a few confidential calls and have a couple of people over there in a minute. We’ll bring everything necessary and not a word of it will get out. Make sure you get those pictures and save them to your computer so we can have some idea of what we will be up against. I’ll make the calls and be over there in five minutes.”

  When she hung up the phone, Mrs. P said to herself, “Now why did I say that? I haven’t got a clue…….oh, yes I do.” With a smile on her face she punched up her favorite co-hort. With just a hint of mischief she said, “Mr. Dunavant, I have got a top secret project for you, and I am really serious. Something has come up. Please, without asking questions could you bring some emergency medical supplies to the café? Make sure you have what it takes to sew up a bad cut. Don’t ask me now; I’ll explain it all later. And get a hold of Leo Schwartz and have him meet us there.”

  The voice on the other end of the phone asked, “Are you serious???
?

  “Jim, can you just trust me on this? I don’t know the answer to any question you will ask. I have to go to the café and find out for myself.”

  “O-o-o-o-o-o-kay. But Leo?”

  “From the little bit I know of the situation. I think Leo will be great.”

  “Leo it is then, if I can wake him.”

  “OK, bye.”

  Marci walked into the dining room and saw the girls gathered around her computer. Fred said, “OK Mayumi, here comes Marci now.” She got out of the chair and let Marci slide in.

  When Marci saw the look on Mayumi’s face she knew that this session was going to be tough. Her face was swollen where she had been crying. She started by saying, “I wish they had chosen someone else to talk you through what you are about to see. Both of us have the same……..interest……in the subject. Dad’s away at some urgent meeting and Riz and Max are busy running the equipment that it takes to show this to you. So, by default, I have been chosen to be your emcee.” She tried to force a weak smile at her little joke.

  All the girls had been standing around Marci out of curiosity. They had seen the look on Marci’s face when she first came in. There was the closed door phone call. They knew it had something to do with Arthur. They surmised that something was wrong. All of which was true. When they saw the look on Mayumi’s face and heard the tone of her voice, they figured that it might be better for all concerned if they at least disappeared from behind Marci. They didn’t want to hinder Mayumi from saying what she felt she needed to say.

  Mayumi went on, “First of all, this video was shot at a make shift clinic in the mountains close to where my grandpa Pedro was born. It was the only thing close by and it is very, very primitive as you will soon see. The little girl you will see Arthur holding is a young Aete child. She told us she is four years old and I know she doesn’t look much older than two. That’s because the Aete people are small like the Australian pygmies. A real tall Aete man will be only five feet tall.

  “Now, at the beginning of the video, she will be screaming for the first few minutes while they are cleaning a really bad cut on her leg, so you might want to turn your volume down some. I thought about getting my brother Max to edit it some but you would miss Arthur’s reaction,” she smiled as called his name.

  She continued, “But, Marci,” then in a little louder voice, “and the rest of you ladies that are just off the screen,” she lowered her voice again, “Arthur’s reaction is so precious that…” She looked down for a moment or two to gain her composure. Her face was absolutely beaming as she went on, “Words can’t describe it. This video was meant to show you Arthur’s wounds so you’ll know what to expect.”

  She shook her head as she said, “You’re going to see so much more. They’re going to speak in Tagalog and I’ll interpret for you. Oh, before we start, I need to explain to the ladies that are still hiding that we have a nickname for Arthur. His 9-12 year old students call him Turo. It’s a combination of Arthur and the word ‘guro’ which is Tagalog for teacher. No one close to him calls him Arthur. Alright, Max is going to get the camera situated in front of the computer screen and then he will start the video.”

  Marci had to coax the ladies back around the computer as Max got everything ready. The picture on the screen was paused. It was a close-up of a little girl in Arthur’s arms. Indeed, she looked like she couldn’t be the four-year-old she claimed to be. She had very dark skin and long curly hair that looked like it might not have ever been brushed. But, with curls like she had there would not have been a need to brush it. What shocked them the most was the look of sheer terror on her face and the tears in her eyes.

  Both Arthur and the little girl were dirty and blood-stained. Arthur had turned sideways so the doctor could see the girl's leg better. A lady was holding a makeshift spotlight on the injured leg. The doctor looked like he was digging at something inside the wound with the pointed end of a knife.

  Fred was the first to notice. “Look at the back of his shirt. I almost thought it had been torn but it has been cut,” she said as she pointed to the shirt on the screen of the laptop. She then pointed to a spot on his pants just above his knees and continued, “And, look at that. From his knee down his pants are a lighter shade. Could he have bled that much that it ran that far down his leg?”

  Mayumi answered, “Dad said that he was cut almost from one shoulder to another by a razor sharp piece of steel on the end of a pole of some sort. They patched him as best as they could but they had to walk about three hours through an underground cave to get to safety. As they wound some cloth around Arthur as a make shift compress, they secured the girl to his left arm.”

  Max was set and pushed the play button on the computer. The first thing they heard was an ear piercing scream. She screamed something in Tagalog that started with Turo. Mayumi interpreted, “She’s saying ‘Turo, Turo it hurts. Make them stop. It hurts’ and you will hear Turo say in Tagalog, ‘It’s OK, I’m here.’ Then he says ‘Just a little more and they will stop.’

  The little girl seemed to calm down a little but kept looking up at Arthur and then she would glance over at the doctor. After a few glances back and forth she asked, “Walang higit pa?”

  Mayumi interpreted, “No more?”

  Turo looked down at her and said with a smile, “Walang higit pa.”

  She giggled up at him. The doctor got up and another lady stepped into the picture. She held her hands out to the little girl and said something in Tagalog that caused the girl’s smile to vanish.

  Mayumi’s voice again, “She said to her, ‘Come with me and let’s get washed and dressed’. Arthur appeals to her feminine side by saying, ‘Yeah, go get pretty for me.’ And like the typical little girl she falls for it. There are probably no females watching this that would have ever done that, right?” After a moment’s hesitation, she dug in, “He wouldn’t have to tell me that twice.”

  The ladies heard some noise at the front door of the café and then a small knock. Fred went over to see who it was. When she saw Mrs. Piatrowski she opened the door. “Hey Fred, how are you?”

  “I’m doing well Mrs. P how are you?”

  Mrs. P answered as she looked down the street, “I am doing well, also. Fred, Mr. Dunavant is just now driving up and it looks like he has Leo with him. Will you stay here and let them in and then lock the door behind them, please?”

  “Sure thing, Mrs. P.”

  Marci, of course, was seated at the table in front of the laptop. Sheila and Roberta had taken up kneeling positions on either side. Fred had been standing directly behind her. Sheila got up and slid a chair beside Marci for Mrs. P to sit in. Roberta stood up to let Marci scoot over a little so that Mrs. P could get a good view. Marci began to bring her up to speed. “This is a Skype of a video on one of their computers. They haven’t shown a good shot of Arthur’s back yet. They have been taking care of this little native girl that is just as cute as she can be.”

  Mayumi’s voice came over, “She’ll be back in just a little bit and I hope you have plenty of napkins and hankies. This little girl IS as cute as anything I have ever seen. Her conversation with Turo is…….well, I’m going to get Max to make a copy of that part so I can cry on demand any time I want too.” She giggled at the end at her own silliness. She asked, “Is that a doctor you’re talking to?”

  Mrs. P answered just as Fred was letting Mr. Dunavant and Leo in the front door. “No, sweetie, I’m an RN but I am a professor here at the college. But, just coming in is a doctor and one of his best students. Do I understand correctly that Arthur is on his way here?”

  “I hope so,” Mayumi answered. “Because of the primitive conditions at this outpost, he is going to need some quality care immediately. Uh….for security reasons we had to get him out of the country VERY quickly. He left her just over 24 hours ago and we haven’t heard from him at all.”

  A stunned Marci looked at Mrs. P and then to the ladies. She was shaking as she got up out of her chair so Mr. D
unavant could sit close to the computer. Bert saw the anguish that was beginning to creep into her face and embraced her for a moment. “Are you OK?” Bert whispered.

  With her hand over her mouth and tears forming in her eyes, all Marci could do was shake her head. The past two weeks had been hard enough on her. Although she had heard it a couple of times, the news about her best friend was just beginning to sink in. Greedily her face sought the solace of Bert’s shoulder and a deluge of tears poured from her eyes. Bert held on to her for dear life as Sheila and Fred became part of the consoling huddle.

  It was hard for Mrs. P to watch one of her prize pupils face a moment no one should have to face. She looked at Mr. Dunavant with an obvious question. He whispered back, “She’s got to go through it as it unfolds. As hard as it seems, this is the easiest way for her to handle the information.”

  Mrs. P raised her eyebrows in answer to him.

  “Mayumi, I’m going to pause it before they start showing his back. Tell them to let me know when everybody is ready,” they heard a voice from the computer.

  “Did you hear what Max said?” Mayumi asked.

  “Yes we did sweetie,” answered Mrs. P. Leo pulled up another chair for Marci to sit in when she was ready and stepped in behind it. “Just call me Mrs. P, the doctor’s name is Jim and his helper is Leo. I am going to ask Leo not to say anything, so if you hear a man’s voice it is the doctor talking. Is that OK?”

  “Yes, Ma’am,” she answered.

  “We can zoom also,” Max suggested. “Tell me when you’re ready.”

  “Marci?” Jim asked.

  “W-w-wait a m-minute and….and let me call Arthur,” she said as she pulled out her phone with one hand and wiped the tears from her eyes with the other. “Or, maybe I can call Olivia….if I can’t g-get...oh, Jesus….how can I do this.”

  Fred stepped in and gently took the phone from her shaking hands. “Sweetheart, you can’t even see to find his name right now,” she said softly. Then with a weak smile she continued, “Let me do it for you. Bert you stay here with her and Sheila we need to get some prep work done. We open in twenty minutes and I see Ben and Tommy peeking through the curtain already.”

  As she wiped a tear away from her own eyes, she looked steadfastly at Marci and reminded her, “Honey, you’re going to have to get a hold of yourself and face this situation the best way you can. You’ve taught us that God doesn’t put more on us than we can stand. As our teacher, God’s called you to lead us by your example. We’re all right here walking through this thing with you. When I find something out, I’ll let you know.”

  To the surprise of everyone, Fred leaned over and gave her a little kiss on the cheek. “I’ll be back in a minute,” she finished as she walked toward the kitchen.

  Leo held out the chair for her and she nodded thanks to him. Bert suggested, “I’m gonna get you a couple of clean dish towels in case…..you know.”

  As she stepped away, Marci and Mrs. P smiled at each other. Marci whispered, “That’s my Bert, the gal with the big heart.”

  Mrs. P whispered back “Yeah, I guess so.” She looked at the computer and said, “OK, we’re about as ready as we’ll ever be. You may as well push play and let’s have a look at what’s coming our way.”

  Jim leaned back to Leo and whispered, “Quick. Get me and you something to write on and let’s get an idea of what else we might need besides the stuff I brought.”

  Bert heard him and stopped Leo by saying, “Our order pads. Wait a minute.” She stepped over to the cash register and picked up a couple of pads and pens and handed them to him.

  As Leo passed a set to Jim, he looked at Bert and smiled his thanks.