Abigail – The Avenging Agent: The agent appears again (23 page)

       
The
days came and went and lost significance for her.  Everything seemed
uninteresting and even superfluous.  Thoughts of resentment and anger flooded
her. She blamed the ‘Mossad’ for her situation and began to wonder, how she had
permitted the people from that organization to make her abandon her daughter
and her family. How had she agreed to change her identity?  And even now, how
had they permitted themselves to move the man she loved away to another
location?

            At
night, she thought that all she felt was the desire to just disappear.

            When
she received the itinerary of the next day’s tour, to the lower Tatra
Mountains, a memory was aroused and an idea came to mind.  The planned route
led to the village located behind the waterfall on the slopes of the Tatra
Mountains.  It was the village Aisha had told her about and Abigail believed
that there, among its people, she would find release and be able to disappear.

            Abigail
knew that the enchanted lake was on the itinerary but, this time, decided to
skip this treasure for now and go back there later, alone.

            She
gathered all her personal belongings and folded them into her knapsack on the
evening before the tour and reminded herself that she had no identity papers
with her.  Now, she smiled to herself as she thought that, soon, she would also
have no address.

            She
made a special effort this time because she thought it would be her last tour.

When it ended and she accompanied her
tourists to the bus and got on to take leave of them, they applauded her,
whistled, waved to her and called out:

            “Bravo!”
and “You’re the best!”  The women ran up to hug her and she was in tears and
emotionally overwrought as she got off the bus.  She gazed after the
disappearing bus and thought how much she enjoyed their enthusiastic response. 
All at once, a feeling of regret entered her heart.  Perhaps she should continue
her work and not give it all up and disappear.

            The
ache that nagged at her heart once more reminded her of Karma, but she shook it
off and decided to continue with her plan.

            Abigail
slung her knapsack on her shoulder and returned to the cableway station she had
arrived at, a few minutes earlier with her group.  This time, she traveled in
the car to the last stop, at the peak of the lower Tatra Mountains and waited
till it left.

            The
night began to fall and the forest was almost dark. Abigail stood listening to
the sounds.  She heard nocturnal animals awakening, the cries of foxes, monkeys
screeching and the roar of animals looking for prey and she trembled.  She was
still standing on the trail that was familiar to her from hiking with her
groups of tourists.  She continued down the path, disregarding the warnings
about the suspicious nature of the villagers and untroubled that she hadn’t
notified anyone of her arrival today.

            First,
she walked down a sharp decline, then a slighter one began and Abigail was
panting when she reached the outlook post over the trapped lake.  The sun’s
last rays pierced the water and broke up into a spectacular rainbow of colors.
Its beauty took her breath away and she stood transfixed by it until she
continued on her way.

            From
here, the trail took a sharp bend to the north, alongside the lake and veered
to the right. 

She went ahead like this for almost a
quarter of an hour, struggling with the creepers and their tendrils that had
woven themselves into a big fabric screen she had to force her way through. 
The waterfall was still hidden from sight, but she could already smell the
water and hear the rushing sounds of it falling.  Half way round the bend, it
was revealed.

            The
waterfall fell from above with great force and was deafeningly loud.  It
dropped into the trapped lake as if it was being poured from a giant bucket. 
On its way down, the water hit a rock that jutted out lower down, which
deflected it diagonally away, creating an empty space.  She hurried to walk
through it, fearing it might close.

She stopped in between the falling water
and the entrance and stood and sensed the chill of feeling detached from
everything.  To her left, the high wall of water that separated her from the
outside world dropped down and she noticed with delight that not even a drop of
water sprayed out of it.

            Suddenly,
the stone in her ring scorched her finger and Abigail recoiled in pain. She
noticed how its color darkened to a shade of green that was almost black, and
she attributed it to the excitement she was feeling and ignored it.  She took
another step when someone picked her up and threw her down hard on the ground. 
Following her first instinct, she rolled on the sand rose to her feet between
two hefty guys.  She waited for them to attack her again and turned round
sharply, kicked the one that stood to the right of her but missed the one on
her left so she stuck two fingers in his eyes.  She bent down immediately to
lower herself out of their range to evade their response.

            One
of them got up from the dust and the other held his face, groaning in pain.  She
took a step back and stood tense and prepared for their attack.

            This
was the welcome that awaited her at this village that hated strangers and
suspected everyone unfamiliar.  A pair of men always stood guard here, but this
was the first time they had met with opposition.

            Each
evening two other men stood behind the walls the inhabitants had built around
their village and looked out through a pipe they held over the edge of the
wall.  They had copied and adapted it from the periscope used on submarines sailing
deep down below the surface of the sea.  When pushed up just above the surface,
the crew could use it to covertly watch the movement of ships above them.

 This first couple had apparently been
the ones who first saw her when she was climbing the path to their village and
notified the pair of guards closer to her.  They prepared to oppose her as they
tried to guess whether she had lost her way or was intending to enter their
village.

            Right
now, they no longer appeared threatening to her and Abigail walked towards the
two guards and extended her hand to them, as she looked at them apologetically
and tried to mollify them.  Tommy shook her hand while Ibrahim was still
rubbing his tearing eyes and then looked at her.  He looked angry as he wiped
his runny nose and his eyes with his sleeve and seemed to be debating with
himself.  He looked at her outstretched hand but shook his head because he
found it difficult to deal with his failure and forgive her for now.

            “My
name is Naima, take me to Nadia,” she requested but refrained from mentioning
Aisha’s name because she knew that her activities were covert and did not want
to expose her.

            She
heard the clanking of wheels in the distance and saw wheelchairs, operated by
electric motors or large pedals, moving forward in silence.  She wondered
whether there were motorized vehicles in the village because she did not hear
the familiar noise of automobiles or smell the usual odor of petroleum that
comes with them. 

             
The two guards accompanied her to Nadia’s wooden house, keeping a fixed
distance from her.  Abigail smiled as she thought that the entrance to the
village was now abandoned and unguarded because of her.

            They
reached the house and when the door opened and Nadia looked at her, Abigail
announced:

            “Right
now, I am Hansel’s sister, Gretel and I’ve been lost in the woods for hours.”

            “But,
a terrifying witch was waiting for them!”  Nadia snorted and waved her arms
threateningly.

            When
she entered the house, Abigail complained:

            “Did
you know what kind of reception awaited me?”

            “More
or less, what did they do to you?”

            “What? 
Did you know they would attack me at the entrance to the village?”

            “Sorry,
I thought you remembered my warning.  I asked you to let me know when you were
coming.  We are very cautious and hate surprises.”

            Abigail
glanced behind her at the two men, who were still standing on the path.  She
wondered whether she hadn’t acquired two enemies, who hated her.  She didn’t
know that they had actually become her first two fans in this village after
they had seen how alert and capable she was.

            That
evening people gathered, uninvited, at Nadia’s house.  Some limped, supported
by walking sticks, others rolled up on wheelchairs and Abigail stared at them
wide-eyed.

            It
was difficult to remain unmoved at the sight of men and women missing an arm or
a leg.  She flinched when Nadine arrived.  Her complexion and arms were scarred
and still in the process of healing from burns.  She was followed by a lame
woman, who was familiar to her and she extended her arms to Abigail.

            “Hi,
Naima, come here!” she called out and Abigail recognized her as the driver. 
She stood beside Abigail and noticed her reaction to the people, who were
arriving.  She spoke to her quietly:

            “Relax,
we are all injured; almost all of us are survivors who have chosen to live
together and, most of us have been persecuted by the authorities.”

            “Ah!”
Abigail remarked in a depressed voice, “it’s complicated, it’s really awful.”

            “Hey,
Madam, nothing is that bad and there’s no need to feel upset or sorry for
anyone.” It was Samir, who said this and added right away:

            “Believe
me, my dear lady, who looks like a picture of health.  We are a lot better off
than the people outside, even those, who aren’t disabled.”

            Abigail
stared at him.  His body twitched from time to time and his skin reminded her
of a plucked turkey.  She shifted her gaze, finding it difficult to look at
him.  These disabled and broken people seemed to draw their strength and
resilience from one another.

            By
now, many had come to the house.  Apparently, the news of Abigail’s arrival had
spread by word of mouth. 

The meeting commenced with a reading
from a scroll and it was recited with the devoutness of a prayer or a quote
from the Holy Scriptures of a sect.  The words were recorded on a parchment
scroll that was attached to the wall with strips of brown adhesive tape.  They
all repeated the prayer, which had been recited hundreds of times:

“We vowed to purge our society,

To single out its despicable rulers.

We belong to the city of the
physically damaged,

And are the faithful
soldiers of
Allah,

Hey ho, to the flag, we were called,

Hey ho, hey ho, hey ho!

All who have been persecuted and hurt,
like us,

Are welcome to join our ranks.”

            Abigail
smiled as she heard the last two lines.  She remembered the reception she had
received on arrival at the entrance to the village that day.  Then, she felt
some of the people staring at her.  Kahida signaled to Nadia, and she bent down
and whispered to Abigail.

            “Perhaps
you should go out to the yard now and allow us to explain to them why you are
here so that they will accept your presence.”

            Abigail
left the house and stood outside the door, where she heard the sound of
streaming water.  She walked a few steps and reached a beautiful patio garden
with two little stone fountains, illuminated by lights submerged under the
water.  The water that circulated in the fountain provided a soothing
background to the voices coming out of the window of the house.

            “Who
is participating in the attack today?”  She heard, but then the voices grew
softer and Abigail moved away from the patio.  She turned to go to a dark
corner of the yard and sat down there. She picked a hollow stalk, chewed on it
absentmindedly and spit on the sand.  She sat like that and almost fell asleep.

            She
was roused when she heard the door of the house opening and saw the figure of a
woman against the light, beckoning to her.  Abigail arose and walked towards her. 
The moment Abigail entered, Kahida stood beside her, threw her arm around
Abigail’s shoulders and nodded to indicate everything was fine.  She gestured
with her other hand that she was relaxed, and if she were to go by the way
people were looking at her, Abigail understood that they had been told
something that caused the change.  Some of them gazed at her gently, but there
was an embarrassing silence. Abigail sat on a chair that was some distance from
them and after a few minutes conversations started up and the tension seemed to
have passed.

            “Do
people go out on operations every day?”  Abigail whispered in Kahida’s ear.