Chapter 4
Gray Area
I regain consciousness to find myself in a strange place. The first thing I notice is the ceiling. Somebody brought me here. I can feel bandages on my abdomen and on my face. Looks like someone had the decency to patch me up. I feel something else. Cold steel held up against my throat. I look to my right and see a young boy, high school age, holding a knife to my neck.
"Give me a reason I shouldn't spill your blood right now." I'm too dazed to respond.
Then I hear a voice coming from the next room. Yelling. Some girl yelling from the next room in a language I don't understand. The boy takes his knife back and stands up, yelling back at the girl. I don't know what they're saying, but I understand enough to feel uncomfortable. Their conversation ends with the boy walking away in a huff. I didn't notice until now that the girl is holding a plate. I hope with all my heart that it's for me. It is.
"Y'know, with all good conscience, I should have let him kill you." I get a good look at the girls face. It's the girl from the market.
"So I guess I left an impression on you seeing as how you brought me into your house."
"Well, well. It can still talk." She sets the plate on a coffee table next to the sofa I'm lying on. "So, Osean dog. Tell me why I shouldn't tell my brother to come back in here and slit your throat."
"You owe me for the mangoes." I try to lighten the mood. "If you wanted me dead so bad then why did you go to the trouble of stopping your brother then? I also assume you're the one who fixed me up, right?"
"Well I do owe you. You did tell off those soldiers at the market and got yourself nearly killed for it, so I think I need to repay you." She cracks a little smirk, "And for the mangoes."
"So it can smile."
"Don't think we're friends. I have seen what you and your Yuke friends are doing to our country, our people. Can't you see what harm this war is doing for us."
"Trust me, I know better than most."
"Then how can you stand by and participate?"
"I'm a pilot. I only know two things: flying and duty. My duty is to fly and put the hurt on the target. I can't afford to get emotional or..."
"Or you're dead. Half a second's hesitation and you're dead. I've heard it all before. But this vacuum of emotion you've made for yourself, it may save your life, but costs hundreds of others." She's got me. "What interest do you have in this part of the world anyway?"
"Just you at the moment."
"Oh, very quick. You're sitting there flirting and people out there are dying."
"Honestly, I didn't even know where this place was until I was ordered to come here. I only have three months left in this shithole and I'm on my way home."
"Well how nice for you. Meanwhile I have to live in this shithole. This shithole is what I call home." She looks like she's close to tears.
"Look I didn't mean it like that. I'm sure when the war's over you'll be able to make a nice home here with your brother, your parents, whoever."
"When the war's over and we're Yuktobanian subjects. And what do you know of my parents? They died a few days ago. They were walking around at night and ducked into a shelter that was used as a comm station during the day. My brother Joachim and I stayed up waiting for them to return but they never came back."
"I remember that day. I remember because I dropped that bomb. I destroyed that comm. station." I should've kept my big mouth shut.
"YOU! I knew I should have left you to die! I should have let Joachim kill you! You BASTARD!" She tried swinging at me.
She was spirited, but not very experienced when it came to fighting. Even wounded, I grabbed her arms and stopped her. Her face was red with rage. Then she stopped struggling. Tears ran down her face. I tried to draw her close but she pulls away and sits on the floor sobbing.
"Why? Why did you do it?"
"I didn't know. We were told it was a comm station, nothing more. Bad intelligence."
"Yes, you are very stupid aren't you. You made an orphan of me. An orphan of my brother. He's so young. You've driven him to get involved with the revolutionary movement to kick you animals out. And now we're going to lose our home because our parents aren't around to make payments on the house. Damn you!"
"Who's taking your house away?"
"The Yukes. They're imposing their rule on us. They want to convert this area into a new public building or something, and without our parents to lay claim to it, we're left on the streets. We only have 7 days to vacate." Now she cries uncontrollably. I want to reach out to her, but she'll only reject me.
"What can I do to help?"
"You? What can you possibly do to help us?"
"I can talk to some high ranking people. The Yukes can't fight this war without us and they'll listen if we're forceful in telling them to build their new buildings in a different part of town."
"Why do you care?"
"I'm done making messes of other people's lives. Your life, your brother's life, that's worth fighting for. What time is it?"
"Quarter to 10."
"Hope he's still awake. Get me a phone." She goes into the next room and hands me the phone from their kitchen, then goes back into the next room. I can hear her talking to her brother, Joachim. I dial up someone from the airbase.
"Major?"
"Hey, Russ. How's the vacation going?"
"Not so great. Listen I was wondering, how much clout do we hold over the Yuke ground forces in the city?"
"Well it's their laws in the New Glubina, but they know when orders come from higher, we call the shots when it comes to their big decisions like how big their troop presence is, and we can override decisions like where their gun emplacements should be and where major construction happens."
"You think we could coerce them into changing their plans about the construction of a new building. Like say get them to change where it's going to be built?
"Sure, but we need a good reason. We can't just tell them what to do on a whim. Why are you asking all this stuff?"
"The Yukes are going to demolish a family's home and kick them out. I wanna stop this from happening. There are plenty of abandoned and bombed out buildings for them to demolish and build on, why not one of them?"
"Well this sounds like it's a personal case. You know we can't do anything for you unless you give back, and as of late you haven't been giving us a whole lot to work with." I know what he's driving at, what he wants. I dread this decision, but it's probably the first time in my life I've acted with real conviction.
"I'll renew my term of service."
"What's that Lieutenant?"
"I'll re-up. Pilots are a valuable commodity and you said I was one of the best you ever saw. I'm sure that's worth asking the Yukes to move their little construction project somewhere else."
"This must really matter to you."
"It does Major."
"Well then, I'll go talk with Colonel Howell. Listen I understand what it's like to have an epiphany and finally realize what's really worth fighting for. I'll tell you about that another time. Meanwhile, tell your friends, or whatever they are to you, that they shouldn't start packing up just yet."
"Thanks Major."
"Welcome back from the brink Lieutenant."
I hang up the phone as the girl walks back into the room.
"So what did your friend say?"
"You don't have to move. We're gonna make the Yukes move their project somewhere else."
"How did you manage that?" She's perplexed and excited at the same time. She leans over next to the sofa.
"Well, it looks like I won't be seeing home anytime soon."
"What? You're not going home in three months?" I nod to her. "What have you done? What have you done to yourself?" Her face softens and it looked like she was overtaken with sympathy for me. She reaches out to touch my face: the first real tenderness I feel from her. She leans over to embrace me and I rise up from the couch. The pain is a small price to pay to be this close to her.
"My name is Mahriana. Mahriana Kadeshii."
"I'm Russell Chiang." I look over at the plate on the coffee table. Dried mangoes.
I have one day left in this city. One more day to take care of things before I return to the airbase. One more day to do some good.
"What did you say about your brother being involved with some revolutionary movement?"