Chapter 20
Black Was White and White Was Black
(Ó
2010)
The mid-morning daylight illuminated and enhanced the beauty of the inner veranda of the Hotel Santa Isabel where Logan sat alone at a small table just under the archway. He sat relaxing having his morning coffee after asking the desk manager to prepare his invoice from his stay there, after which he would summon a taxi that would take him to Jose Marti International Airport. A short distance from him there was several potted tropical plants bathed in the sunlight, along with high standing fountains whose sound of their tricking waters added to the serenity. The columns and archways of the nineteenth century Spanish architecture with all the pastel colors painted on the upper hallways made him ponder of how such a place of beauty and peace could be on this small island with its brutal dictatorship.
Logan thoughts went back to Chicago and just what must be happening there right now at that very moment. Surely, by now Jo-jo had found his note. He regretted for causing her any worry. He pondered if by chance the police were involved, after all he did catch them in the act of watching his home.
He then wondered about the girl Jeanine, his fellow tenant in his now former apartment building. She was twenty-five years his junior, and he knew that she had some sort of crush on him. He brushed it off as so, maybe because he never argued with her as the others have done when debating her on her radical socialist beliefs. She was involved with the local Chicago Socialist Party and all of their protests and political events. She would often turn to him for support during one of her many heated debates with the others in their apartment building. She believed that since Logan was a French citizen that he could defend her on her Socialist agendas. Logan would only smile to her and say, “Be careful of what you wish for Jeanine.”, and would just leave it at that.
He then thought of how she would always walk around proudly wearing either her t-shirts with the portrait of Ernesto “Che” Guevara or the buttons with the same picture on her denim jacket. Sometimes she even wore both. He then laughed a little to himself as he thought of what she would think knowing that right now at that very moment, he was on the island that was the “workers paradise” that Che and Fidel Castro created.
Then his mind went back to the other memories, to the times that ultimately brought him to this point in his life. To the times of before he was Logan, up to the times even before those. The times when he was happiest most, the time, which he believed were the only ones in his life which he, was truly happy.
The times before “it” happened - - -
* * *
- - - It was now three evenings later and Lily was working on her final client of the day. Not everyone else employed at Clive’s Coiffeurs could help but notice how exceedingly in high spirits she was. She was smiling a bit more, humming a bit more, lighter on her feet and just “being Lily” a bit more. Clive knew however that one would have to be a complete fool to not know why Lillian was the way she was now. The girl was totally in love. He also knew that on the two previous evenings that Logan had been sleeping with Lily. Clive knew because Lily had told Miriam and Cosette. Miriam and Cosette then told Bricey, and Bricey just had to tell Clive. The usual lines of communication for all the news within the walls of Clive’s Coiffeurs.
However, Lily had also told them of what she had discovered about her Logan, his Legionnaire past and the scars that were left behind on his body. She had them all swear secrecy to her to never let him know that she had told them. Earlier that day she asked each of them again to be sure as to not slip and let him know of their knowledge of him, because he was coming to the salon right before closing to pick her up, have some dinner, and then return to her apartment to spend the night together again.
Lily stood behind her client, a woman in her sixties, and who was the only client in the salon because she was the last one for the day. Lily looked at her progress of the hairstyle in the mirror. She could also see in the reflection some of the view from outside the front window. She could see the scene from across the street down to the corner. She then saw as Logan came from around that corner and was making his way towards the salon. “Excuse me luv,” she said to the woman in the chair and stepped over to the window. As soon as she made eye contact with Logan, she smiled at him and waved. When he returned her wave, she then stepped back behind her client and turned to everyone else in the salon. They were all sitting together around a table near Clive’s station waiting for the hour to close the shop. Lily then said, “Here he comes! Please remember what I said. Don’t make any gaffes.” She then looked right at Bricey, “Do you understand Bricey?”
“Me? Why are you singling out me?” Bricey asked with his hand on a relaxed wrist stroke the front of his shirt. His question was immediately followed by the laughter of everyone else. Bricey himself had to join in on the hilarity.
They all then went silent as they waited with anticipation for Logan to enter the salon. Within fifteen seconds, the door of the salon opened, ringing the bell overhead as it did and the large frame of Logan entered the shop. He stepped around and saw Lily as she stood there behind her client. She turned to him and the stepped to him swiftly. When she met with him, she reached her hands out to his face and he bent down to her. She cupped his face in her hands and then kissed him warm and passionately on his lips. She then looked into his eyes and said “Hello my sweet.”
“How you doing?” was all he could answer.
“I won’t be much longer hun, go sit with the others.” She then returned to the woman sitting in the chair. The woman was smiling at her and then looked to him; she nodded her acceptance to Lily and said something to her that was inaudible to all but Lily. Lily smiled at whatever it was that she had said, then gave a loving look to Logan.
Logan then stepped over to where everyone else was sitting. As he did so he noticed that nobody looked up to him, and they seemed somewhat quiet. He just shrugged it off at first. “Hello all.” He said pleasantly to them.
“Oh hello Logan.” Cosette said to him, but somewhat timidly.
Miriam did the same. “Hello Logan. How are you today?” She looked up to him with an apprehensive smile.
Clive, who had been reading his newspaper looked up from it with a big smile and said, “Oh look, Sir Logan graces us with his presence. How are you my boy?”
“Just fine thank you.”
“Come, sit here next to me.” Clive said as he nodded to an empty chair that was next to him.
“Thanks.” Logan had to step around the table and sat down in the chair. Across from him was Bricey, who was looking down directly to the tabletop, “How you doing today Bricey? Staying out of trouble?”
“Oh fine thank you dear,” Bricey answered looking at him with a quick glance, “I am doing the best I can but you know me, trouble will find me some how.” He then turned himself sideways in his chair and rested his chin on his fingertips looking away.
Nothing else then was being said amongst them all. Logan now sensed that there may be something wrong with everyone. They all seemed to be nervous for some reason. He looked over to Clive, who seemed to be interested in whatever it was that was in the newspaper. “Any football news in there? I didn’t catch the Paris St. Germain match last night.” He asked.
Clive looked at him, “I really have not looked today my boy. Would you like to see?” He offered him his newspaper.
“No, no thanks. Please finish what you were reading.” Logan then looked to Miriam, who now had Cosette resting her head on her shoulder. “Nice day out there today, wasn’t it?”
Miriam answered, “Oh yes, indeed it was.” She then began to stroke Cosette’s’ hair, she looked down to her and said, “Did you think so too sweetheart?”
“Oh yes, quite a lovely day it was.” Cosette said with a big smile looking at Logan, she then closed her eyes and snuggled more on to Miriam’s shoulder.
Logan smiled back at her, and then to Miriam. He now sensed even stronger that something was amiss, that everyone seemed uncomfortable with him for some reason. He kept looking at Miriam, and then down to Cosette. Then … he glanced over to Bricey. Bricey was sitting there, still with his chin on his fingertips, only now Logan had caught him staring at his chest. It took a couple of seconds before Bricey realized that Logan had caught him gawking and then he quickly glanced away. Logan then looked around to everyone again. First to Clive, then to Miriam, to Cosette, and then back to Bricey, who again was caught looking at Logan chest. Then it came to him, he believe he now knew what was the difficulty, he knew what they all were thinking of. “Is something wrong Bricey?” he asked abruptly.
“What?” Bricey answered and was startled, “Why no, nothing is wrong.”
“Are you sure?”
“Why yes, yes, I am quite sure.” Bricey now was uneasy.
Logan then looked down at the t-shirt he was wearing, “Did I spill something on my shirt or something?” Logan then looked aver to Lily, she was looking back at him timidly and was slightly biting her lower lip. She looked as if she had been caught at something. Logan knew what was going on and now decided to have some fun with it. He looked again at Bricey and said, “Did I? Did I spill something on it? Because I can’t see what you’re seeing.”
“No … I do not see anything on your shirt Logan. I … I just think it is a nice shirt that is all.” Bricey answered apprehensively.
“Really? You like it?” He asked and looked down at his shirt; it was a simple plain grey heather long sleeved t-shirt.
“Yes, yes I do.”
“Well, then I must have some nice taste in clothing, because I think you do. If you think this shirt is nice, then it must be. I’ve always admired your taste in clothing and I will value any opinion you give me. Thanks.” He looked over to the girls and said, “What do you ladies think? You think Bricey is right about my shirt?”
“Y-yes.” Miriam answered timidly while Cosette just nodded.
Logan then turned to Clive, “How ‘bout you Clive? What’s your opinion?”
Clive looked up from his newspaper and said, “Why my boy, I think that it is a most magnificent shirt also.” He then gave Logan a tight-lipped smile.
Logan looked down at himself and felt the fabric of his shirt with his thumb and index finger. He then looked up at Lily who herself now showed some anxiousness. She finished with her client and was escorting her to the reception desk and stood with her as she paid. She then gave her goodbyes to her and watched her as she left. Her back was to Logan and to the rest, then she turned slowly and saw Logan staring at her. The expression on her face was that of a child that had been caught in a lie. She was holding her own hands and still gently biting her lower lip. She slowly made her way to the table and the stood fast just a couple of feet away from it, not saying a word.
Logan looked at her for a few seconds and then down at the table. The atmosphere in the room was thick with tension and then Logan had a sarcastic smirk come to his face. He then looked from the table over to Clive who had turned up his face from the newspaper to look back to him.
“What is it my boy?” Clive asked him.
Logan, still with the smirk on his face asked, “She told you all … didn’t she?”
Clive then gave a small smile back to him and answered gently, “Yes, yes she did Logan. Please, do not be angry with her. She was just so distraught and concerned with you.”
Logan then looked up to Lily who looked as if she were frightened with what his reaction was going to be. He then said, “Clive, I don’t think that she, no matter what she would do, could ever, ever make me angry with her.”
Lily then gave a slow blink of her eyes and smiled with relief, “Then you’re not angry hun? You forgive me?”
“There’s nothing to be forgiven for, I’m not angry with you, don’t worry sweetie.” He then slid his chair back and held out his right arm to her. She stepped around the table and sat on his lap, he put his arm around her and she kissed him.
“Thank you luv.” she said.
The tension in the air suddenly vanished and Bricey blurted out, “Those must have hurt just awful.”
“Bricey!” everyone shouted in unison.
“What? I am just saying; and do not put any of the blame for this on me, I did not say a word.”
Logan started laughing at everyone, “You guys are terrible at keeping a secret.”
Once everything was calm, Clive looked at Logan sincerely. “Logan my boy,” he said and placed his hand upon Logan’s shoulder, “may I please ask you something though?”
“Sure.”
“And if you do not want to answer just tell me so and I will not pursue anything any further, but this is something of a personal matter for me.”
Logan sensed Clive’s sincerity, “You can ask me anything Clive.”
“You see, I have learned some things myself about the Legionnaires over the years and I know how much that they value their privacy, but this matter is near and dear to me.”
“Don’t worry Clive; I don’t think that you’ll cross any line.” Logan said.
Clive took a deep breath and then said, “Lillian mentioned something to me of your once being in Zaire; were you?”
“Zaire? Do you mean in ‘78? You mean the Kolwezi thing?” Logan asked him.
“Yes. That is exactly what I mean.” Clive asked quietly, his eyes seemed to be pleading with Logan. “Were you involved in that in any way?”
“Yes … yes … I was. I was there.” Logan answered nodding his head.
“Were you in Kolwezi at all?” Clive asked timidly.
“I was there for the whole thing.” Logan answered, “I was there from the first jump in and all the way into Kolwezi. Yes, I was there for that.”
Tears formed in Clive’s eyes and he then pulled himself to Logan and hugged him. “Then I absolutely have to say something to you.”
“What’s that?”
“Thank you, I must say thank you, from the bottom of my heart thank you.”
“What are you thanking me for?” Logan asked puzzled.
Clive’s lips were quivering slightly and with his voice choking he answered, “I am thanking you because you and the rest of your comrades saved the lives of my dear sister and her family. I always promised myself that if I would ever find one of those brave Legionnaires that were there at that terrible time I would thank them sincerely. Now, through these recent events, and for what I believe is Divine intervention, the Lord has sent one of you to me so that I may finally do so.”
“Your sister was there … in Kolwezi?”
“Yes,” Clive answered, “her husband was an executive with one of the mining companies there. She was a teacher in the local school. She taught both the French children of the mining employees and the children of the local citizens. She told me of how she and my nieces hid in a small area in the basement between the walls. She hid there with them for three days while her husband stayed upstairs and watched out for the Kantangans. He never slept, he would take them food and drink and tried to assure the girls as much he could. My dear sister, she was so frightened, she had heard of what the Kantangans were doing to the European women. Towards the end of her ordeal, she had to cover the ears of my nieces, dear girls, they were just five and seven at that time, because she was hearing the screams from the woman next door to her as the Kantangans raped her.” Clive said and paused, the tears now began to go down his face. “She was so frightened that they would do that to her also, and that they would do it in front of her family.”
“She had good reason to believe that.” Logan said.
Miriam asked, “Why is that?”
“Because,” Logan answered uneasily with a serious expression on his face, “that’s exactly what they would have done to her; and when they finished with her, they would have then done the same thing to her little girls. Because the mission of the Kantangans was simple, go into Kolwezi, kill off all the men who were heads of the households, and kidnap the rest of the Europeans and take them back into Angola for God knows what.”
“My goodness,” Bricey said quietly, “it must have been so terrible.”
“Indeed it was,” Logan acknowledged, “War is a terrible thing to begin with, especially the way the Africans fight it. They’re one reason why war is also a necessary evil. Fighting fire with fire one might say, using this necessary evil to stop and destroy another evil which keeps itself true to the word.”
Lily felt Logan getting tense, she began to stroke his head and said, “You must have experienced something truly awful luv.”
- - - “You all know ‘Murphy’s Law right? The one that says ‘anything that can go wrong will go wrong’? Well, that’s what it was during the first days of ‘Operation Leopard’ as they named it. It was amazing that we even got there at all, and alive at that. First because of the urgency of the situation, we were just called up, had put our equipment together and then they loaded us all on some requisitioned DC-8’s. There were about seven hundred of us in all, and I was a Corporal at that time. We flew from Corsica to Zaire that day, four thousand five hundred miles. Therefore, we had no sleep for two nights.
“When we landed in Kinshasa it was about three in the morning and we all went right from the planes to the briefing. We had five C-130 Hercules planes that were from the Zaire air force, we were going to use them for the jump but they had to have riggers work around the clock to prepare them for us so that they would be able to carry us all.
“There was a great bluff going on here in Paris which helped in the secrecy of the whole mission. The French military were putting on a great show and the Belgian para-commandos were even publicly preparing all their equipment when they got the news that we had already parachuted into Kolwezi and were already involved in a firefight with the Kantangans.
“The jump! Yeah, that was really the scariest part. We had to jump right directly on top of positions that were already held by the Kantangans, we had no choice and because of the pressure of the situation we had no time to plan and didn’t have any other way to go into the combat zone. To add to that when we went to put on our parachutes we found out that the rigs to be used for the jump were American made and were incompatible with the buckles of our chutes and weapon containers. So we had to improvise a way to make them compatible with what we had around us. So, we used wire, parachute cord, paper clips and shoelaces and whatever else came to mind. All that time we were hoping that we were somehow not making the situation worse for ourselves by creating any other malfunctions into the system. This was for a para drop for Christ’s sake; the stress was really mounting on us because we were going to have an exit height of only six hundred feet.
“But, that was not all if you can believe it. There were many ’technical hazards’ as they were putting us. There was a Transall that was going to be used for a command post that was still loaded with ammunition that was meant for the Zaire army. Everyone prayed that a stray bullet or something like that would not find its way to it and detonate the whole thing.
“Then there was the air crew for one of the Zaire C-130’s who had gone home at the first sign that the whole operation might be called off, They had to send some people to go round them all back up.
“Then a Transall meant for some of the troops had a flat tire.
“Then to top it off one poor guy paid the price of the incompatibility with the American equipment. He and his static line were hung up under the jump ship. He was still attached to the plane. An instructor had to cut him away. The instructor made sure though that the Legionnaire was prepared for this by ensuring that he had his hand on the ripcord of his reserve chute first before he cut the line. The Legionnaire landed safely though and went on to the battle with all the rest of us.
“The Kantangans on the ground were well alerted because of the flying fiasco that was going on above them, but most of them went into hiding. Which as I remember was good for us because a lot of us had wound up either hung up in the trees or stranded of the rooftops, and some without their weapons which made them easy targets.
“We got into Kolwezi and found it deserted, or so we thought. We made or first contact with the Europeans there. The expression on all their faces told the whole story that mixed in with the bodies lying in the streets and the homes that were wrecked and smoldering.
“We then started to come under fire from a small nest of Kantangans at a railway station. We took them out with a hand held missile. Afterwards, we soon came to a technical school. There we discovered thirty Europeans who were about to be executed.
“There was a little town right at the edge of Kolwezi called Manika. We started taking on fire from this little place. We decided that we needed to create a buffer zone between Manika and Kolwezi so we responded to the gunfire. We smashed our way in and started going from house to house, it was a very nerve-racking situation because each house held a potentially deadly consequence, and we basically tampered with the unknown with the opening of each door. As we made our way through we began to hear voices shouting for help. We made our way towards the voices and we came upon what was the police station. It was being guarded by a couple of the Kantangans, so we had to take them out. After they were neutralized we entered the building and found thirty-five people being held hostage, about a third of them were African, so we freed them.
“Later on in the day we came upon the Jean XXIII School.” - - -
- - - “That is the school that my sister was teaching at!” Clive exclaimed.
Logan looked up from the tabletop to him, “Really? He asked gently.
“Yes, I still have pictures I received from her, standing in the front of it with her students. I will show them to you. How happy she seemed there, the children’s faces smiling around her.”
“Well, there was nothing to smile about that day.” Logan said, and then looked back down at the tabletop - - -
- - - “We had to step over corpses that were half eaten by dogs and we found a hundred hostages inside. They informed us that the convent there was being used as headquarters for the Kantangans. We immediately went there and set ourselves up. We then took it out with a barrage of grenade launchers combined with automatic gunfire. Afterwards we swept the building, and found no ‘living’ Kantangans, if you know what I mean.
“There was a squad of Legionnaires that were operating near the railway station. They came upon a train that was filled with ammunition. I guess all the screw-ups from that morning had kicked in everyone’s common senses, so they moved the train before something else would go wrong and really rain down some havoc over all of us.
“There was a road bridge across from the railway. A couple of our Corporals had discovered that because of its height, which overlooked the old town, and it’s location that it was an invaluable observation post. They both saw armored vehicles being used by the Kantangans coming from the town, however they wanted to be sure that the vehicles were indeed Kantangan and not with any of the local friendly’s or anyone else. They both took up a position that had the vehicles headed straight for them. They guys had ice water in their veins, they held there fire until the vehicles were only about thirty-five yards away from them. When they positively identified them as the enemy, the opened fire and destroyed them with anti-tank missiles and grenade launchers. Then there was another Kantangan lorry which they both took out with long burst of automatic gunfire.
“The Legion set up its command post at the Jean XXIII School. We were still waiting for the second wave of Legionnaires to arrive and that’s when our Colonel found out that all the screw-ups had not ended. The Colonel was trying to take control of this perplexed situation when he learned that due to all the confusion there was a problem with transferring all the other Legionnaires from one aircraft to another. There were a few heated debates with the Colonel, but the second wave did not arrive until the next morning.
“Anyway, after they got there, we had secured the airfield enough so that the Belgians could arrive, and they arrived there without letting us know. They got there a lot differently than we did. They just nonchalantly landed there passenger planes and departed them as if they were tourists or something like that. They had arrived to take all of the Europeans out of the country. Our Colonel however, because of the experiences of the mission so far, made sure that we had a meeting with them of some sort so as to open up communication lines with them. This was to make sure that both sides did not mistakenly get into firefights with each other.
“For the next couple of days we hunted down the Kantangans. We were doing our hunting in all the little black townships around Kolwezi. I was with a small squadron of men with my Sergeant-chef. We ran into a force of about three hundred Kantangans that were hold up in some metal factory outside of town. We were outnumbered to say the least and came under fire from their counter-attack so we withdrew until we got some reinforcements. When they arrived we then laid down a barrage of mortar fire which made them retreat in a bunch of Lorries. They left behind sixty of their dead comrades.
“The Belgians on the other hand had taken on the ‘treacherous’ job of rounding up all those Europeans, and with the stern orders of ‘whether they wanted to go or not’, to put them on planes out of the country. By the next day they had finished doing so, and then they too had left just as they had come … without letting us know about it.
“So that meant that they had also given us the job of cleaning up the mess, and what a mess there was. There were about nine hundred corpses in the streets. You couldn’t tell whose body was who. Black was white and white was black. There was no water, no food, and no electricity. The black townships were still overcrowded and we had reason to believe that there were others in these townships that were willing to conceal some of the Kantangans. Because this was after all their native home and they had experienced other violence and civil wars there. We had to concentrate our efforts to hunt them down in Manika because there were men hiding there who were responsible for atrocities in Kolwezi.
“In the days that followed a multi national African force was brought in to help restore somewhat of a normal life for those left behind. The Legion spread its influence in and around the Shaba province to reassure both black and white stability.” - - -
- - - “In the end,” Logan said looking up from the table, “there were five Legionnaires dead and twenty wounded me among them.”
“You were hurt there my boy?” Clive asked.
Logan’s memory drifted back for a few seconds. He remembered the beautiful black face of that young boy, “Yeah, nothing big though, I just caught a few pellets. But we came out a lot better than the Kantangans; there were almost two hundred fifty of them killed. Unfortunately, there were about a hundred and twenty dead Europeans as well as five hundred Zairois. If Mother Republic didn’t act as fast as she did, they would have slaughtered everyone, including your sister and her family. But, thinking back on it, it’s amazing how successful it all was considering all the screw-ups.”
Silence came to the room, now everyone looked at Logan who just kept looking at the tabletop lost in his thoughts. Lily stroked his hair, then embraced his head and held it to her chest. “Are you alright luv?” She whispered in his ear.
“Yeah,” he whispered back, “just remembering things.”
Clive then reached over to him and placed a sympathetic hand on Logan’s shoulder. “I hope that I have not upset you my boy. That was not my intention.”
“No, not at all.” Logan responded, “It’s just that … well, I’ve never really have discussed my times in the Legion with anyone outside of it, and I have been just recently.” He then looked up to Lily’s face, “If you want to know the truth, I have been feeling … well … I don’t know … like … really good is the only way I can describe it. I feel like I’m relieved of something, I don’t know, when I have talked about it.”
Lily smiled at him, “I’m so happy to hear that hun.”
Logan then smiled back to her and then looked over to Clive and asked, “So, your sister and her family, I take it that they all got out of there okay?”
“Yes, thank God they did.”
“All unharmed?”
“Well not exactly.” Clive answered, “Those beasts never found her or the little ones, but unfortunately they found my poor brother-in-law. Well, actually I should not say that it was unfortunate for him, it was more for the animals who found him.”
“How’s that?”
“Those beasts must have been those who were left behind as you and the other Legionnaires were making there way to Kolwezi.” Clive said, “They were looking for one more house to loot and probably one more European woman to rape. There were two of them and they kicked in the door of their house. My brother-in-law was hiding in one of the downstairs rooms; all that he had to use as a weapon was a cricket bat. It was no match for their guns I must say. He struck one of them with it once before they over powered him. They then dragged him outside to the front yard and began beating him. They wanted money and valuables, and he was willing to give all that to them. Then they began to ask if there was anyone else in the house and he kept silent, which only made their suspicion grow stronger. They began to beat him more asking again and again if there was anyone else in the home. His silence, along with his willingness to not answer even under all the blows that they rained down on him only confirmed to them that there was indeed someone else in the home, and that a man would only endure such torture to be protecting whoever was in there. So, that meant that whoever was inside the home must be a woman. So they began to make there way towards the house and he tried to stop them. They then dragged him back to the center of the yard. One of them then made him go to his knees and held his arms behind him. The other one then pulled out a machete that he had in his belt.”
“Oh my!” Cosette gasped, “He was not killed, was he?”
“Oh no my dear,” Clive said smiling, “as I said before, it was more unfortunate for those beasts than it was for him. He told me that it all happened just as if it were in a movie. Just as that Kantangan pig raised the machete over his head, well then the shots rang out.”
“Shots?” Logan asked.
“Yes my boy, shots!” Clive said happily, “Gunshots! Four of them to be exact. Four very loud and close gunshots went off and those pigs dropped dead right where they stood. When my brother-in-law looked up and into the direction from which those shots came and just guess who he saw standing there.”
“Who?” Cosette asked wide-eyed.
“Why, a Legionnaire of course!” Clive said with much joy, “He had heard all the commotion from down the road and came just in time. If he were to have come just one second later, my poor brother-in-laws head would have been rolling around on the ground. The Legionnaire came there with his weapon already pointing, he saw the two pigs about to murder my nieces father and shot them both dead on the spot.”
“Oh my goodness!” Cosette then gasped.
“There were some other Legionnaires who came right behind him. They helped my brother-in-law up and took him into his house where they rescued my sister and nieces.” Clive said and then looked at Logan, “So, you see my boy that is why I had to ask you what I did. I have had a high regard, and a place in my heart for the Legion ever since. I hope I have not caused you any discomfort because of my asking.”
“Not at all Clive,” Logan said to him, “after hearing your story, mine seems a bit trivial. You could have lost your loved ones.”
“Yes my boy,” he answered solemnly, “but you lost some of your comrades, and were wounded in the process.”
“Aw man, that wound? That was nothing.” Logan laughed, “Nothing compared to my Sergeant-Chef when he saw it. Man was he angry.”
“Angry?” Lily asked, “Angry with what?”
“I was the goalkeeper on the football team; we were to have a match when we were to return to Calvi. He told me that I had better to be up and ready to play no matter what. He didn’t care if I had to have transfusions while on the pitch, I had better be ready to play.”
“My goodness hun,” Lily sighed, “what did you do?”
“Well, we returned to Calvi after a few days and we had to play the match a few days later, so I made sure that no matter what my butt was in the net.” He said and then saw the expression on her face, “You didn’t know Sergeant-Chef Quentin Travis. We were more afraid of him than we were of the Kantangans.”
Everyone then began to laugh.
“I’m not kidding.” Logan said, “He was one of those guys who joined the Legion because he wanted too. I mean that alone tells you he’s crazy.”
Again, everyone began to laugh. Then Clive announces as he patted Logan on the back, “I have a splendid idea, I am in such a happy mood. I want to take out all of you for dinner, right as we close shop. I will not accept no for an answer from anyone one of you.”
“What? Food? Hey man, you’ll get no argument from me.” Logan said.
“That settles it then, let us close up, we shall all go to one of my favorite places, excellent food, great atmosphere.” Clive said in a jovial way. “I feel like having a bit of a celebration, come on then all of you.”
With that everyone went to there stations and got them in order, then did some last second cleaning. The shop was in a state of tidiness in no time and the lights were shut off. Clive locked the door behind them and then summoned two taxis which took them all to the restaurant that Clive told them of. It was a small out of the way establishment that Clive had patronized for years. Clive ordered a fine bottle of the best champagne in the house and poured everyone a glass.
* * *
- - - “Senor Morrow?”
Logan came out of his thoughts and looked up to the man standing in front of him. It was Albert the manager. He was standing there in front of Logan’s table in the downstairs veranda; he was wearing pressed black pants, crisp white shirt with a black vest and tie. In his hand he had a small silver tray which had Logan’s hotel bill neatly placed on it for proper presentation.
Logan reached for the tray, “Oh, gracias mucho Albert.” (Oh, thank you very much Albert). He then reached into his the breast pocket of his sport coat and removed his wallet. He then placed his newly activated European charge card, along with three American one hundred dollar bills. “Esto está para usted.” (This is for you).
Albert’s eyes widened slightly, “Porqué gracias, gracias mucho sir.” (Why thank you, thank you very much sir).
“Usted es absolutamente agradable.” (You are quite welcome). Logan said, “¿Podría usted por favor conseguirme un taxi para el aeropuerto?” (Could you please get me a taxi for the airport?)
“Sí sir, enseguida.” (Yes sir, right away). Albert said and then turned and left Logan alone. In a few moments he returned with Logan’s receipts. “Usted es taxi está fuera de sir delantero, yo espera que usted gozó de su estancia.” (Your taxi is out front sir; I hoped you enjoyed your stay).
“Cada estancia que tengo aquí Albert es siempre mejor que la antes.” (Every stay I have here Albert is always better than the one before).
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