فصل 01

Chapter one

Island in the Sun

James Conway put away his business papers and sat back in his seat. He looked out of the aeroplane window down at the warm blue sea below. Far away, in the bright sun, there were the long white beaches of the island of Haiti.

Behind them, he could just see the small wooden houses and the deep green leaves of the coconut trees, which were moving lazily in the soft afternoon wind.

‘It looks beautiful, doesn’t it?’ Conway looked at the woman sitting next to him. ‘Very nice,’ he answered.

‘Is this your first visit to Haiti?’ the woman asked.

‘Yes, but I’m not here as a visitor,’ said Conway. ‘I have a building company - it’s called Conway Construction. My company has offices all over the world - America, Europe, Africa. We’re very big in Australia too - everyone in Australia has heard the name Conway. I’m coming to get an office here, buy some land, build a few hotels, you know.

The land is very cheap here - you can buy a piece of land to build a small town on, for a few thousand dollars. Sorry, I don’t know your name. I’m Mr Conway, James Conway. Just call me Conway.’

‘I’m Karen Jackson.’

‘Nice to meet you, Karen. What do you do? Have you got a job, or are you married?’

‘I’m at Harvard University.’

‘From the University? Are you a secretary there?’

‘No, I’m a doctor. I’m teaching medicine.’

‘A doctor! That’s interesting. What are you doing here in Haiti? Are you on holiday? I know you teachers get long holidays.’

Karen Jackson was beginning to dislike the man. ‘No,’ she said. ‘I’m going to work in the hospital at Port au Prince. And while I’m here, I’m going to do some work for my book.’

‘Are you writing a book? What is it about?’

‘Voodoo.’

‘Voodoo!’ laughed Conway. ‘Are you telling me that someone is paying you to come here and write about voodoo? I know Haiti is not America, but voodoo! I thought people stopped believing in that years ago.’

‘Oh, no,’ said Karen. ‘People still believe in it. You see, it works, and it can be very dangerous.’

‘Surely you don’t believe in voodoo, do you?’

‘Yes, I do. We don’t really understand voodoo in

America. Most people think it’s magic. They think it can kill people.’

‘That’s right. I remember hearing about it. People who use voodoo get a picture of a person or make a doll, don’t they? Then they put pins or knives into it, and the person feels terrible pain.’

‘Yes, that’s right,’ Karen answered. ‘I have a photograph here in one of my books about voodoo. Look, there’s one of the dolls. It’s not a child’s doll - it’s made from coconuts. You see, the face is a coconut, and someone has drawn eyes, a nose, and a mouth on it.

And look, there’s a pin in the doll’s stomach. A few days later the man came to hospital because his stomach hurt. He knew that someone was using voodoo against him. The pain was terrible, but the doctors couldn’t find anything wrong with him. In the end, he died.’

Conway was surprised. ‘So you think that was magic because there was no reason for it,’ he said. ‘But you’re a doctor, aren’t you? You don’t believe in magic, do you?’

‘Voodoo is more than magic. I don’t believe in magic, but I know that voodoo can be very dangerous. I want to understand how it works. Here in Haiti there are still a few people who know how to use voodoo.

They are called “houngans”. There are still a few “houngans” in the villages in the country. And that’s why I’m here. I want to meet some of them and talk to them. Of course they aren’t all bad people. They can use voodoo to help people, like doctors. But they can use it to hurt people too.’

‘But we’re living in the modern world!’

‘Yes, but the people here are very sure that voodoo is real. Teachers, business people, doctors, everyone believes in it. or they are afraid of it. And perhaps that’s why it works.

After all, if you believe you are ill, you can be ill. And if you really think you’re getting better, you can get better. If you think that someone is trying to kill you, then you can die. because you are so afraid.’

‘Well, that’s a good story,’ laughed Conway. ‘If I need some voodoo, I’ll come and see you.’

‘OK,’ said Karen. ‘Excuse me for a minute.’ She got up and walked to the back of the plane. She was bored and angry with Conway, because he thought he understood everything and he never listened to other people.