گذشته‌ی سیلویا

CHAPTER NINE

Silvia’s History

Tobin and Dot drove quickly across town to the burning bus. The air smelled of smoke and death. They saw bodies under sheets. The windows in King’s car were broken and a doctor was helping him. Mohammad was sitting on the sidewalk, and Dot walked toward him. There was no sign of Doug.

Silvia and a doctor were helping a small child. His mother lay unmoving on the ground. As Silvia looked up, Tobin saw blood on her face and arms. She saw him, then turned back to the child.

An hour later, Tobin took Silvia home. For a long time she was silent, then she spoke.

“When I was a child, the driver on the school bus carried a gun. It scared me. That was sixteen thousand kilometers away. Now–” She shook her head.

Tobin stopped the car outside her apartment and they both got out. Silvia turned to him.

“Thanks for bringing me home,” she said. She opened the door to her building.

“Why were you on the bus” Tobin asked.

“Can we talk later” Silvia said.

“No” Tobin replied angrily. “I lost a man today. He was very young, only a kid. We’re going to talk now.”

Silvia tried to close the door, but he stopped her. He followed up the stairs into her apartment.

“How do you know Kuman” he asked.

“I don’t,” Silvia protested. “I never met him before -“

“You’re lying to me again!”

“I’m not lying. I wanted him to help me.”

“With what?”

Silvia shook her head. “I can’t tell you. Someone will get hurt.”

“Why did you leave Africa” Tobin shouted.

“I told you -“

“Why did you come here?”

“Stop shouting at me” Silvia said.

“Stop lying to me” Tobin said.

“I was on a bus that was destroyed. I can’t think while you’re shouting!” She sat down and put her head in her hands.

Tobin took two pieces of paper from his jacket pocket and look at them in front of Silvia. There was a list of names on the first piece of paper, the names of people in an African rebel group called the AFP. The second piece of paper was a photo that showed Silvia with a young white man. They were walking down the road in Africa with a number of black rebels and they were all carrying rifles. Suddenly, the room was very quiet.

“That isn’t me,” Silvia said slowly.

“Yes, it is.”

“It isn’t me now.” She stopped for a minute, and then continued. “Thousands of people died in Matobo. First, we protested peacefully and then we used rifles. We wanted people to listen - just listen. I killed a boy. He tried to kill me, so I shot him in the head. Then I gave that rifle” she pointed to the photo “– to my brother. ‘I can’t do this,’ I told him. But my brother didn’t listen.

‘Zuwanie’s still here,’ he said. ‘Our parents are dead and he’s alive. You can’t stop.’ He never spoke to me again. I write to him but he doesn’t write to me. I send him notebooks - I hope he gets them. He doesn’t want to know me.”

“I lied to you,” Silvia continued, “because I was afraid. I don’t know if my brother is part of this plan. It’s possible that he’s trying to kill Zuwanie. I don’t know. I lied to everyone to get a job here. The U.N can change Matobo. Words are slower and quieter than guns. But they’re the only way to stop the killing.”

Tobin looked at the photo of young Silvia carrying her rifle, and then he looked at the woman next to him. He went into the bathroom and found a washcloth. When he came back, he sat next to her. He carefully washed the blood from her face. She touched his hand and looked into his eyes. Slowly, she put her head on his shoulder. Tobin didn’t move for a long time, then he put his arms around her. He watched her fall asleep.

In the Matoban government offices on the other side of town, Lud was watching the news on television. A reporter was talking about the bomb on the bus. There were two other men in the room: the Ambassador’s assistant, Matu, and the well-dressed African, Jean Gamba.

“The interpreter was on the bus,” Gamba said. “She was talking to Kuman.”

“Is she -“ Lud asked.

“She got off the bus. Before the bomb.”

“What were they talking about” Lud asked.

“I don’t know,” Gamba replied.

“What did Kuman tell her” Lud asked softly.