The eye of the lion

Rosalyn, the cook, prepared a delicious roast lamb for that night’s dinner and then she left, as she did every evening. It was a shame because to tell the truth no-one ate a whole lot that night. Minutes before we sat down to eat, Cole had turned on the television to see the news, the only thing he watched all day, and what he saw was not good news. The Russians had advanced on the German border with a division of tanks. The Americans had reacted by sending a squadron of war-planes which annihilated the Russian tanks. An emergency meeting was finishing up that same night in Geneva, between the leaders of the two countries. The whole world was waiting with baited breath.

“Its worse than the damned Cuban missile crisis...” Cole had said. “It seems that the stupidity just grows with each generation.”

Sitting at the table that night in my wheel-chair, I found myself looking at everyone while we ate. I looked at Mark, who had finally emerged from his room and hadn’t said more than three words that night. His health was better, but something had happened to his spirit. He seemed somehow changed, different from the usual Mark. Of course the situation was difficult for us all, and the news was worrying, so I put it down partly to what was happening. Jessica was quiet too. She had made preparations to leave after dinner and she didn’t have much appetite. Discreetly but insistently, she didn’t take her eyes off the person sitting opposite her at the table. Marina.

I tried not to focus my attention on the girl openly, but it was very difficult. The implications of what was happening to her were too big, too important and... too dangerous.

The girl had remained silent until this moment, and she would smile politely if she noticed someone looking at her, and lowered her gaze. She and Aeesha had become inseparable since the night of the fire, the night of their escape, and they could not be parted for an instant. Afterwards, I found out about the exceptional moment when the black girl had risked her own life for the girl, when a guard in the midst of the chaos in the factory had tried to arrest Marina, pointing his gun at her. Aeesha had put herself between the weapon and the Italian, looking

determinedly at the guard, who whether out of respect that the woman instilled in him or for fear that the approaching explosions would reach him, lowered his gun and left. Later, it had been the black girl who’d stood in the middle of the road that night, to stop a vehicle who would help them, faced with the fear that someone from the factory would recognize Marina.

Looking at the Italian girl’s sweet expression, I couldn’t help feeling a shiver run down my spine. As it did, she fixed her eyes on me.

“I want to thank you for helping us, sir...” she said in her bad English, with an enchanting accent. I smiled.

“And you too, Doctor, for taking care of us,” she said turning to Cole.

“Don’t mention it, my girl. These are difficult times. We have to help each other,” affirmed the elderly doctor.

Marina smiled at him tenderly. I think Cole reminded her a little of her father. Mark’s voice brought her out of her memories.

“Did you work at the factory?” he asked.

Marina looked at him, doubting. She was about to answer when Aeesha intercepted her.

“Yes, we both worked there... in the factory. We’re nurses...”

Mark nodded.

“I see. It’s terrible, what happened...Terrible.”

Aeesha and Marina discreetly exchanged an uncomfortable glance.

“What do you think you’ll do now?” asked Jessica.

The two were silent for a moment.

“I have to go home...my father...” began Marina, but a kick from the black girl shut her up.

“What about your father?” inquired Mark.

Marina looked at him, unsure. Then she continued.

“He has a few problems...”

Jessica looked at me. It was time to speak up.

“Miss Marina, listen to me carefully...” I began, looking her in the eye. “First of all, I want you to know that we are your friends. We only want to help you.”

The girl looked me in the eye.

“I’ve heard that before,” she declared. “And it was a lie.”

I nodded.

“I know. Those same men who lied to you are responsible for the death of three of my friends...and for me being like this.”

The two girls looked at me.

“I know who you are, Marina...” I lied. “And I know they’ll come looking for you. Tonight. And if we stay here, they’ll kill us all for taking you,” I affirmed.

I could see the fear in the girl’s eyes.

“What...? What are you saying?” she murmured, alarmed.

Mark looked at me, disconcerted, as he didn’t know about my decision to leave. Doctor Cole looked at Jessica and me, confused.

“If we stay?” he asked. “What do you mean? What’s going on?”

“I’m sorry Doctor, I’ll explain later. We all have to go. If you stay they’ll kill you,” I explained.

Cole looked at his niece. She nodded.

“It’s true, uncle. You have to trust us. We have to leave.”

Mark was squirming in his chair. He was looking at me in silence, tense.

Aeesha stood up, looking at us.

“How do we know you’re not tricking us?” she asked.

Jessica looked back at her, rising to her feet.

“I suppose you’ll have to trust us...” said Jessica. “...Or, we can simply stay here, arguing, and see what happens in a few hours when they arrive. But I don’t think it would be

particularly good for that baby.”

Marina started, and her hands instinctively covered her belly.

Twenty minutes later we all got into the Doctor’s RV and the vehicle took us away from the beautiful house, to be swallowed up in the darkness of the cold night.

In distant Geneva, the destiny of humanity was starting to be written.