The Gift of Misfortune

By Joseph P. Policape

Summary

T
HE GIFT OF MISFORTUNE CHRONICLES THE STORY OF A YOUNG HAITIAN IMMIGRANT TORN BETWEEN HIS NATIVE LAND, WHICH HE LOVES UNCONDITIONALLY, AND AN ADOPTED COUNTRY THAT HE FALLS IN LOVE WITH AT FIRST SIGHT. However, once he reluctantly arrives in his new country, in spite of himself, he loves it, but three major obstacles surface that alter his attitudes and eventually his life: his natural kinship with the Christian notion of poverty and wealth; his encounter with his adopted father/friend, Thomas, who is very critical of America; and the most important, the obstacle that makes him change his attitude about American culture and democracyhis malevolent and greedy wife, Monica. Politics, religion, fear, deception, greed, courage, and revelation all come to play in the journey of Armand, who brings a willing sister to the United States while his heart and soul is still in Haiti.
During Haitis most turbulent recent times, Armand and sister, Deborah, become concerned about the chaos that is claiming the streets of Port-au-Prince. The fear, violence, murder, and hopelessness were affecting not only the poor and desperate but the wealthy and desperate as well. Deborah wants to go, and so one morning, she wakes up in her comfortable house. After hearing another story of one of her friends put to death because they will not join the military of Baby Doc (Jean-Claude Duvalier), she wants to go out of Haiti as both patriot and citizen. Deborah cannot go anywhere without her brother, Armand, and though he too is frightened, he feels that he cant leave Haiti. They are not involved in politics, but are religious: Armand, fundamentalist Protestant; and Deborah, traditional Catholic. They are still thrust into the politics of the country. They attend the finest school in Haiti, and they attend this school with the countrys elite who are pro-Duvalier. With warring factions, violence spurting all around them, certain friends disappearing overnight, never to return, and some friends demanding them to choose between their neutral political life, and the need for them to get involved in the Duvalier government, and concerns for Deborahs freedom since an important Duvalier official might want Deborah for his son, they hatch a plan to escape to the United States of America.
In the beginning, it is Deborah, and not Armand, who wanted to abandon Haiti, but Armand has to go to protect his sister and make sure she got there safely. After making a careful trip to Bainet to get money from their very wealthy parents, they leave for the United States of America. Armand leaves with a heavy heart because, unlike Deborah, he wanted to stay in Haiti to do religious work, which would end up looking like political work since Armand has a close connection and passion for the poor. But because of family and tradition, Deborah becomes the major priority.
Armand starts a whole new journey when he gets on that plane to the United States and lands in New York City, where his relatives and friends are awaiting him and Deborah.
In New York City, he is immediately thrown into a quandary. Though he misses Haiti, he excitingly falls in love with the United States and New York City. On his beginning U.S. journey, he is introduced to the two most important people in his life and the two most important characters in the novel. Also, he is introduced to two of the most important persons he met in his life in the United States: Thomas, a radical Christian socialist who constantly places the United States into the glaring light of expectation and reality and compels Armand to go beyond his strict religious beliefs to uncover deeper truth about a society that worships the material greed; and the other person is Monica, a young woman of questionable reputation, but has sterling charm, a charm that, in spite of all of the warning of Armands family and church friends, got Armand to marry her.
The novel unfolds with these two polar, opposite ch

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Jul 7, 2009
• ISBN: 9781462810017

Joseph P. Policape

If life or someone has discouraged you, this book will revitalize you. Poet, writer, thinker, and citizen, Dr. Joseph P. Policape was born in Haiti. He moved to the United States in the early eighties. His higher education took place in Massachusetts whereby he focused on Mental Health and Christian Psychology. Writing short story collections, a short story book has always been in the mind of the author Joseph P. Policape.

Book preview

CHAPTER ONE

LEAVING THE PEARL

OF THE ANTILLES

ARMAND AND DEBORAH ETIENNE, AN OLDER BROTHER AND A YOUNGER SISTER, WERE DETERMINED TO LEAVE THEIR HOME, THEIR HISTORICAL ISLAND OF HAITI, PREVIOUSLY CALLED HISPANIOLA, TO MOVE TO THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. They were living in the capital, Port-au-Prince. The young Etiennes were not excessively wealthy, but they lived a comfortable lifestyle in comparison to most people who resided in the capital. They were always meticulously dressed with a wonderful social set. They attended dinners and parties, ate lavishly, and danced endlessly but rarely talked about politics; in a word, they lived the normal lives of, educated young people. However, they lived in fear of the unexpected forecast of Port-au-Prince and the rest of Haiti. So they were full of anxiety, these two beautiful young adults, in the capital.

Armand is a Protestant, and Deborah a pure Catholic. They went to the same school. Every morning Armand drove Deborah to the Cathedral or to St. Yves to pray before she entered her class. They loved being with one another. With lots of affection and sometimes with a light rancor, they would argue about which religion was first or last or better than the other. They went to the best school in the country with some of the elites, but they made only a few friends inside those circles. Though they were part of a select group, they did not want to be connected to any wealthy, political elite. Being wealthy kids from the countryside, they had come to understand the dangers in both one’s talk and one’s friends.

Each morning brought anxiety because they would hear about a close friend who had disappeared in the night. Living under a tyrannical government is like living in hell. They had many of Duvalier’s friends’ sons and daughters at school. They were pressuring them to support and join Duvalier’s regime, but they had refused firmly but politely. Yet how long could they deny the wishes of powerful people. They felt like they could be the next targets on any day at any time. Their parents were affluent people in the country, especially in the city of Bainet where their parents lived. However, their parents were not working for the government, neither were they involved in politics.

One day, Deborah awoke with a lingering anxiety over this and a premonition. She went to Armand’s room and woke him.

Armand, we lost most of our friends. It is a misfortune to be the citizen of such a country. Port-au-Prince has become a graveyard. Who knows, we might be next, she strongly whispered to Armand, clasping her hands into a folded prayer. We are rejecting the government by not accepting to enter into the paramilitary? Last week a group of men dressed in yellow came and picked up four young men in our neighborhood. I think we need to leave the area or be Duvalier’s next target. Deborah was walking back and forth holding the doll she named Sordid in her arms. This is a disgusting country with a filthy government, she claimed. Suddenly, Armand was wide-awake and more anxious than he would admit because of his sister’s outburst. You need to put this doll away, Deborah. You are no longer a young girl. You are a young adult. I think you are going crazy.

Armand continued talking to Deborah, Did you have some bad dreams last night? What makes you think anybody will persecute us? We are not in politics.

Deborah responded, Duvalier does not persecute young men and women who decide to be members of his paramilitary. Young people like us who are in the best school in the country and are not members of the military are considered the enemy. Armand was sitting erectly by now up in the bed and was able to soothe the situation.

We must hold our senses together and not panic, said Armand.

But Deborah was agitated and couldn’t stop. Don’t you remember when one of Jean-Claude’s attachés came here last week, said Deborah, and informed us that I would be Jean-Claude’s next girlfriend?

Armand needed to look in his sister’s eyes.

If they come for me and I say no, she whispered to Armand, they will kill both of us, and the maids. A quick panic went through Armand and then sadness. Deborah was in a quiet hysteria because, like Armand, she had friends that disappeared, but Deborah was very close to several of them, while Armand was not.

Dear brother, don’t you see what is happening? Look what they did to Morales. The military came and picked him up and within four hours we heard that he died.

He could not deny this, and yet he could not fully accept it. He was the brother; he had to be the strong one, and nervously, he thought, I must be the wiser one. But it was Deborah that was stripping away illusions about their country and forcing him to open up his entire body and soul to this tragic reality.

Morales was not involved in politics, Armand, she nearly screamed this to him, and neither were his parents involved in politics. It does not matter. Please listen to me.

She had now made Armand mad and apprehensive, and he hated both feelings. He was not listening to Deborah though he was looking in her direction. He thought about his parents and how they depended on him to take care of her sister, but she was becoming increasingly independent and bold in her renunciations against this dangerous government.

This corrupt government, he suddenly heard her say, kills anyone to prove that they are powerful. We all will die the same way if we do not do something.

Calm yourself, sister, was the only thing Armand could think to say. We must have a little more faith in our God and maybe a little more faith in the good people in our government. She looked at him with sad, almost-contemptuous eyes.

Brother, there are no good people in the government, she flings back at him. They are dead like the good people in the society. Oh brother, I know that you’re still in love with your Haiti, but I already buried the Haitian’s flag under the ground. If you want to continue to raise it high, do so, but I am no longer a patriot. I am sorry.

At once, they heard gunshots next door.

Listen, Deborah, don’t you hear something like a gunshot? Armand asked her.

Yes, I heard it, Deborah answered.

They both got up and went slowly toward the living room, and Armand looked through one of the windows. He saw a police truck parked right beside his house. Then he saw three policemen, dressed in blue olives military uniform, dragging someone into their car. Five minutes later, Armand and Deborah overheard the neighbors lamenting, saying that three policemen came and accused Gerald Valmond of trying to overthrow the government. They killed him in front of his family.

Armand responded, I guess you are right. You probably talked to Marly about the joke that the attaché made about you being Jean-Claude Duvalier’s next girlfriend? If you did, Marly might have already reported you to the military. You know her father is Jean-Claude Duvalier’s right-hand man. Deborah begins to shake her head from side to side. Please don’t accuse Marly. I do not think she will do this to us.

Who is the naïve one now? he said with a small laugh. You trust people too much, Armand told her. Yet he understood why his sister would not want to think that a friend would turn on them. But nothing could calm the fears that were growing large in both of them.

Let’s get ourselves together and dress up to go to school. We have an exam today, we cannot miss it. They both took quick showers. There was a feeling of ennui in the air, but both tried to feel good and even upbeat about the situation. When they came to the breakfast table, looking at the fried eggs and plantains the maid had prepared, they could not eat it. So they just left. However, one of the maids ran after them.

Please, Ms. Deborah, I know Mr. Armand doesn’t like to eat, but please eat something. But food was not on Deborah’s mind at this moment; she was too anxious to eat.

I can’t eat, she told her. Not now. I’m sorry.

Armand started the 1976 Volvo, and soon they were on their way to school, Princeton College. But Deborah needed to stop off temporarily at St. Yves for a short prayer to the saints. She and Armand saw that the door of the church was wide open. A man dressed in blue jeans with a gun on both sides of his belt was kneeling under the statue of St. Mary. They overheard him pray in a loud voice.

"Dear St. Mary, St. Yves, St. Jacques Major, and St. Antoine, St. Joseph, Jesus’s father, you know, I have not killed one student yet,, but they called me a criminal. You know, I must say thank you to Jean-Claude Duvalier for everything I own. Jean-Claude Duvalier’s regime gave many of us life in this country, but in spite of this, students are trying to overthrow his government. I pray, O Papa Legba, give me power to kill most of them before they overthrow Duvalier. O St. Yves, I pray for you to give me strength so that I can kill more students who think they can kick Jean-Claude Duvalier out of the country."

The man got up and left the church. Once he left, Deborah kneeled for prayer in her own private universe sending up a Catholic prayer while Armand was privileging a Protestant one. Seemingly they were there for a long time, but it was only for four minutes. The church was sublime, and the high-ceiling nave and beautiful stained-glass windows gave a strange feeling of both safety and otherworldliness. The ambience helped them both for a moment to be somewhere else other than the difficult conditions of Port-au-Prince and the rest of the country. Deborah was sedate, and Armand held her hand while looking at her with the warmest of feelings. This was his only reason for living at the moment, and if anything happened to Deborah, could he forgive even his own God? He grimaced for a second, and feeling shameful for some of his thoughts, he tried to banish these thoughts and as much despair from his soul as he could. He was glad that he was in the midst of God’s presence even though he was in a Catholic, and not a Protestant, church. He wanted these few remaining moments to be good thoughts and strong beliefs. Brother, we must go now, she whispered to him.

Still holding each other’s hand, they came out of the aisle and stood for a moment; she genuflected while he stood with both set of eyes looking up at the ceiling heavens. They went out of the church. Armand started the Volvo, and they left the church to go to school.

For the entire day, they could not learn anything in class. Then a young man by the name of Jonathan came to Armand and said,

My father loves your sister, Deborah, for myself.

As much as he could, Armand showed no fear or surprise and simply answered, I think you and Deborah will be a good couple.

Quickly, Armand wrote a note and carefully got it into her hands. She opened the note and read, Deborah, we need to leave as soon as we can. Jonathan told me that his father said that Jonathan has chosen you and wants you for himself. I think they are about to attack us.

Something was about to happen and they didn’t know what. They were entering into a dangerous and unknown world. Everything was being stripped from them, so they were left bare and unprotected. It did not matter that they were from a good and wealthy family; it did not matter that they were in the best school in the country now; it did not matter that they made sure that they did not talk politics or bad-mouth the government; it did not matter that they loved their country, well, at least one of them. They were afraid and under lots of pressure. Once they returned from school, they ate and went to the balcony to study. Then Marly Lamarre, a classmate, arrived. Did you hear that Jean-Claude Duvalier and his wife Michelle are going to take refuge in France? I also heard that before they leave the country, they are planning to cause a lot of destruction. Young people like us should try to take refuge in the United States or wherever we can go.

How do you know? Armand asked Marly.

Well, I heard that from my father, and since you are my best friends, I am trying to inform you, but please do not share this with anyone.

No, Deborah answered. We never heard anything about Jean-Claude Duvalier leaving Haiti. Thank you for telling us. We promise that we will not share this information with anyone. They trust Marly, but at the same time, they, like everybody else, are afraid that a friend would rat them out, though they wanted to believe otherwise because nobody in Haiti could talk plainly about this government.

Jean-Claude Duvalier has no other choice but to leave Haiti because the tension from the people made it impossible for him to be able to lead this country any longer, said Marly.

If Jean-Claude leaves, there will be chaos in Port-au-Prince, said Armand

You bet, responded Marly.

After Marly left on that day, Deborah told Armand, I am not sure about you, but I am going to Bainet tomorrow. I am going to ask my father for some cash. My bank account has little money, and I will go to the American Embassy to request a visitor’s visa, and when I arrive in the United States, I will ask for political asylum. I feel no longer safe here in Port-au-Prince, and I hate Bainet. We must forestall our deaths. While Deborah was talking to Armand, a bird entered the house and flew over to the next window and sat on the windowsill and then flew out.

Oh! Deborah, look! A bird just flew inside the house and went past the other window.

I think God sent us some news to leave this house. We’ll tell the maids that we are going downtown, but we will really go to Bainet, in case the attachés come, the maids will unknowingly deceive them. We are not going to drive so they won’t know if we are out of town, Deborah strongly whispered to her brother.

Both Deborah and Armand had not been to Bainet for three years. Bainet is the city where Armand and Deborah were born. Their parents, Laurent and Josetta Etienne, were still living at Bainet and were taking care of the other two children that were still residing in Haiti. Both Mrs. Josetta and Mr. Laurent Etienne were huge landowners. They owned large stores around the country, but Haiti had become a hopeless place for every young teenager in the country. Armand did not want to leave his homeland; he believed that the same god that is watching over the United States of America is also watching over Haiti and the rest of the Americas.

I will never leave Haiti, answered Armand to Deborah. When you arrive in the United States, work hard, send me some cash, and I will start a business here, Armand said to her, surprising himself. I will stop counting on my parents’ money, he told his sister.

Yet in his soul, he was curious about America. How could he not be? Many people, including his family, had left Haiti for America, but as he thought about this beloved sister leaving him, a creeping sadness was etched over his face, and he had to be careful lest it become an ocean ready to flood his soul. And only through sheer willpower was he able to keep his sadness at bay. I am a servant of God, he started up again. I have a prayer meeting under my leadership, and I am in my second year of civil engineering. I cannot just leave this and move to the United States to look for riches or to try to run for my life, but I will pray about it. But he would be doing more than praying about it; time was the maker or breaker here. He understood that the will of God in him could be in conflict, but only if he let it, he thought to himself. He had no blueprint for this kind of thing. Should he flee for his life or should he stay to save his life? Would God assure him life if he stayed? Would he have to sacrifice his life? Or was God asking him to not abandon his sister and follow her to America? Would his life be in vain if, through some arbitrary fluke, his life in Haiti was just snuffed away? There were so many questions, but in the end, nothing was certain except fear and the need to do God’s will.

Well, you do not ever have to work, God will take care of you, Deborah said assuredly to Armand as she looked at him with the utmost affection. You and I are different. You are an intrepid person. You never think anything can happen to you because God is watching over you, but I wonder if God was not watching over the prophets and Jesus’s disciples. My brother, they got killed. It was strange hearing her tell him what he already knew. Even Jesus, she continued, "son of God, but he too got killed. I am a timorous person. I cannot fight with Duvalier, I must take flight. I fear dictators. I hate dictators. If they arrest me, I will tell them that, and they will kill me. They will kill you too if you do not enter Tontons Macoutes."

You should never doubt that God could take care of me. He has done many things for me before, and you know that, said Armand again. He has been good to me, he said to her but also to himself. If you stay here, she said quietly to him, do you think your church people will take care of you when things go bad? Didn’t you hear the prayer of the Macoutes at St. Yves? Deborah asked. The strength and wisdom that belonged to Armand seemed to have been drained out of him, and he sensed that it was all going into the soul and mind of his sister. He wanted to and needed to reject her vision of the world right now, and yet she made better sense of this frightening and brutal Haiti. Armand was in conflict because he wanted to be influenced by her, and yet he wanted to be heroic and stay, but she was almost making a mockery of his potential heroics. Haiti is done for, and your death would truly be in vain, Deborah seemed to be saying to her brother, Armand.

If you think your church can take care of you, then stay, but I am going to get money from Papa tomorrow, said Deborah.

You know that Papa won’t give you money if I don’t go with you. He will think that you are looking for money to take care of some boyfriend, voiced Armand to Deborah.

No, Papa will never think of me as someone who can take money from him to take care of my boyfriend or boyfriends. He knows how he raised us, but why don’t you come with me even if you don’t want to travel to the United States, Deborah tried to convince Armand. Without a beat, he jumped at the opportunity because it was clearly some kind of relief for him. He was still on the edge of things, but he definitely wanted life over fear and death. I will come with you to Bainet tomorrow, but I hate those trucks that I have to ride on, said Armand.

Don’t be afraid, God will take care of you, said Deborah to Armand.

Deborah is a 5'7 tall young lady. She has perhaps two vices, shoes and makeup, but her spirit and heart belong to God. She looks beautiful in her high heels sabot and carrying her doll in her hand like a baby. Armand is a 5'9 tall young man. He is always smiling and full of charisma. He never thinks anything can happen to him. He wears his black suits, sunglasses, and he wears a black long-sleeve shirt and black pants. I am going to hold your hand, so the guys won’t call me out there. They will think that you are my boyfriend, said Deborah to Armand. They held each other’s hands and then began to walk outside to take a taxi to drop them at the bus station to the truck site that leaves for Bainet. They heard a shooting. Then they saw armed men dragging dead bodies. Armand pulled Deborah and walked backward and stood behind a gray house that was on the corner where the merchants sold fish and meats. Oh, the building smelled very bad, but they stayed there until the armed truck left. They walked to the street and stood exactly under the sign that said Television National D’Haiti. Why do you stand here? Deborah asked. Don’t you know most of the journalists who work for the television are Duvalier’s supporters? Armand answered, Well, if we stand here, it’s easier for somebody to see us if we cry out. At least they will pass the news that someone was taken by the National Television. Also, they would think that we have friends in television, so they would not kidnap or kill us. As soon as they stood outside, two young, tall, handsome men stopped their car. Patrick and Johnny, two of their classmates, stopped to offer them a ride and asked, Where are you going, guys?

We are just waiting for a friend who works for the National Television. He will be out soon, answered Armand. Armand and Deborah knew Johnny very well. He was the grandson of Jacques Gracia, the right-hand man of Duvalier. Jacques Gracia worked for Papa Doc most of his life, and now he’s working for the son. Johnny has lots of power. If he invited a girl to go out with him and she refused, it would not take long before she disappeared. And Armand would prefer to die than allow Deborah to go out with Johnny. Patrick is the son of the vice president. They were afraid that they were under surveillance. As soon as the guys left, Armand and Deborah took a taxi to the bus station where they were waiting for one of their father’s traffic truck; buses do not go to Bainet, for the route is too remote. Here comes one of the St. Etienne’s said Deborah. Mr. Etienne, their father, had many trucks marked St. Etienne that do traffic around the country. What are you guys doing here? asked TiBoulé as they called the driver, but that was not his true name. Armand helped Deborah get on the truck, and then he got on himself. They both sat on the passenger seat. It was around eight o’clock in the morning.

When Armand and Deborah arrived in the city of Bainet, they were very upset when they saw the city. They both began to weep for the city. The city of Bainet was irreparably damaged beyond recall. The houses were not being repaired. The rich had left the city with their children, and the sea occupied one-third of the city. The water carried the only cemetery to the bottom of the sea. Upon their arrival in the city, so many people were delighted to see them. There was a dancer Chez Carmen. Carmen was well-known voodoo priestess in Bainet. She called Deborah and Armand to come in. As a Protestant, Armand had no belief in voodoo. It was never a part of his culture. Deborah refused to be distracted by Armand’s belief being the Catholic she is, and Carmen knew that difference, so she first appealed to Deborah. Then eyeing and pushing Armand, he pushed back and said firmly, I am Protestant. Carmen gladly pulled Deborah into the crowd as voodoo dancers were dancing to the intense drumming, allowing them to fall into possession. Deborah too began to dance, and so too all the other voodoo priestesses. They got up and down, up and down with bare feet as they cried Ayibobo, to mean alleluia. Then Carmen said to Deborah, "You are lucky. You and your brother were going to get killed. You should thank Papa Legba [a Voodoo god] for helping you escape. The regime is out to kill you both, but I see you living in another country, so you won’t die, but do your best to escape the country."

You see what I told you, if we don’t leave this country, we will die here, said Deborah. Stop it, Deborah, Armand replied. We are not going to die here. Our God will not let that happen. Deborah was silent for a moment to listen to Armand, but this was her moment and she had to present her case to her brother. It was not just Papa Legba that had saved them; their god, through Jesus Christ, had brought them this far, and it was Deborah, who believed and saw in her heart, not some voodoo Carmen, that saw Armand and her in a different country living out their lives. Since you are a patriot, you can stay, but I am no longer a patriot. I cannot accept the anarchism that I have seen not only in Bainet but in Port-au-Prince. I must go to the United States, and when I arrive there, I will divorce this country by tearing up my birth certificate, said Deborah to Armand. The words were harsh but sincere, and Deborah had to impress Armand if she was going to convince him to leave his beloved Haiti. Now it was Armand’s time to speak. I cannot say that I am going to tear up my birth certificate, he mildly rebuked her, because heaven has been my only hope. Ever since I was young, I’ve boasted about Haiti, but I have boasted about the cross more because I am looking above, not below, replied Armand. You’re looking above, brother, does not bother me, she said, but I would like to remind you that you are also a citizen of this earth. God expects for us to take care of it too, said Deborah.

We shall discuss that later, he told her. We need to find our riders.

Suppose nobody is there, Deborah asked nobody in particular. You know, Mrs. Leblanc told them she saw us and that we were coming to Bainet, said Armand.

As he finished those words, Deborah spotted two riders that they knew calling them. They got on the two horses and rode four kilometers to arrive at their parents’ home.

Where are you guys going? Mr. Laurent asked when he saw Armand and Deborah. Mr. Laurent continued, We just sent Marie Madeleine this morning to bring you money, and I had plan to travel on Sunday, and Mrs. Leblanc, who just came from Port-au-Prince, told us that she saw you guys at the station in Port-au-Prince. Then we sent Louisiana and Arielle with two horses to pick you up, said Mrs. Josetta, their mother. You told me that you did not have anything to do with Bainet. Are you okay? Mr. Laurent exclaimed. Well, Father, said Deborah, we need money. We are going to the United States. Young people now try to leave the country before the government kills them. We can get killed at any time.

What do you say about this, Armand? Mr. Laurent asked while their mother, Mrs. Josetta, was listening. Armand smiled as he looked at Mr. Laurent’s charming face. Yes, Dad, Armand answered. We can’t survive in Port-au-Prince, but for me, God has done his best for me. He has trained me to live a holy life. I am not into politics. It is unlikely that Duvalier would kill me, but I am afraid for Deborah. She was told that a very high official in the Haitian government wants to marry her off to his son. We left as soon as we realize that they were serious. When Jonathan came up to me and told me that his father thought that he and Deborah should be together, I felt we had to get out of Port-au-Prince immediately. She might be reported at any time, and if her friends report her to Duvalier, I might get in trouble as well, and after we finish school, I will not get jobs, and beside that, we might get killed. Duvalier is bad. The best thing we can do now is to leave the country before Duvalier tortures and kills us, said Armand to his father and mother.

I thought you guys would have left the country already. Everybody is leaving, responded Mrs. Josetta Etienne. While she was talking, she patted both Armand’s and Deborah’s shoulders. Mrs. Josetta continued, Well, you guys are more educated than your father and me. This is the reason your father and I put you through school, so that you could learn how to make the right decisions. If you feel that you don’t want to stay here, we have money that you guys can use to leave the country.

Yes! Thank God. We are not poor. We can give you money, and if we have to sell our lands, we have enough to sell, Mr. Laurent replied while Armand and Deborah were looking at the sixty-five-year-old, six-foot-tall, dark-skinned man, but he looked more like Indian than Haitian and looked younger than most forty-year-old men in the area. Mr. Laurent continued, How much money do you each need? Two grand for each one of us, Deborah answered.

But guess what? Mr. Laurent said, I will give each one of you fifty thousand dollars, that was equivalent to the U.S. dollar then, and I will give you ninety thousand dollars for your three sisters, but never come back to me asking for more money. Tell Marie, Darlene, and Josette that we no longer have money here. Would you be able to pass through the airport with it?

We will! cried Deborah.

Thank you, Dad, thank you, Mom, said Deborah and Armand together.

Armand had no other choice but to go now; he felt trapped and yet free at the same time. This incredible, generous gift that his parents were giving him, Deborah, and his sisters in the States made it seem now that God’s will should be done and that his will had him going to America with his sister. He was in a kind of reverie but heard his father talking.

Armand, I trust you because you are a man of God. You have hope and you have faith, said Mr. Laurent. Hope and faith are powerful things that every man should have. A man without faith and hope is a dead man, and you have them both. If I don’t see you ever again, I know you will be a winner in life. Please protect Deborah for me. Then Mrs. Josetta and Mr. Laurent hugged both Armand and Deborah.

Mrs. Etienne laid her hands on both youngsters, and then she prayed, Our Holy Father in heaven, I come to you in the name of Jesus, your only begotten son who died for us on the cross. I pray for Armand and Deborah, who have decided that they must go to New York. I heard that life in New York is very difficult, but I know you will take care of my two children the same way you have been taking care of the others for me. Your strong name, O God, is my help. I know you made the heaven and the earth. Nothing is impossible for you. I asked if you will, please, Lord, guide these kids for me. I ask all these things in Jesus’s precious name. Amen!

Fear not, my children, God is with you, said Mr. Laurent. Then the two youngsters embraced their mother and father, then left.

Two weeks after the trip from Bainet, both Armand and Deborah found themselves in Port-au-Prince. They went straight to the American Embassy on that Monday morning. The ambassador asked the two youngsters a few questions, then asked them to come back later for two visitors’ visas for twenty-three-year-old Armand Etienne and his youngest sister, Deborah Etienne. On the same day, they traveled back to Bainet to inform their parents that they had obtained visas and that they were leaving for the United States. Both Mr. Laurent and Mrs. Josetta Etienne were delighted for their children. We are not afraid for you. Your sisters are already in New York, they will take care of you, said Mrs. Josetta to Armand and Deborah. The parents wished both youngsters good luck, and Armand and Deborah went back to Port-au-Prince the following day.

After the youngsters left their parents, traveling out of the city of Bainet, each one of them was on a mule galloping along the Grand River. At once they saw an eagle trying to follow them. The eagle came very low. Armand said, Why are you bothering us, what do we owe you? thinking that the eagle was some type of evil spirit trying to hurt them. Just at that moment, a woman startled them with her presence, and she held on to Deborah’s mule. It was Carmen Louisiana and Arielle, who came down with them to take the mules back, were startled too with the sudden presence of Carmen seemingly out of nowhere.

Looking at Deborah, she said to her, How come you came and did not stop to tell me? I’m sorry, Carmen. Please forgive me, Deborah sincerely told Carmen. We came in a hurry, but before we leave for Port-au-Prince, I was going to stop by to the say good-bye.

Ha… ha… you’re scared! I would never hurt you guys. I love you guys a lot. Your father has done a lot for me. If I could have such a big business in Bainet, it was because of Mr. Etienne. But I wanted to show Armand, who does not believe in voodoo, that we still have power here in Bainet. Armand could not stay silent to her boast. I never said you have no power, Carmen. As a Christian, we are taught and we believe that Satan has lots of power. But I always say that the power of voodoo can never be as powerful as that of God, who created the heaven and the earth.

I respect your opinion, Mr. Armand, but it is not your reasons that don’t make you turn into a cow; it is because of your father. He would kill me; he is the only man I am scared of in Bainet, but you, Deborah, I watch over you every day for the past two weeks since you left Bainet. I flew over the house every day in Port-au-Prince.

Thank you, said Deborah.

Now it was time for Carmen to respond to Armand’s admonishment that Carmen’s power was from the devil. Mr. Armand, you just said that Satan gives us the power that we have, but we always pray to God before we invoke our ancestors to come help us. Armand stayed silent, for he did not want to prolong the conversation.

Okay, guys, good luck. I will follow you guys to Port-au-Prince. You will see me from time to time; I will come low on the truck to let you know I am there.

While they were traveling on the St. Etienne, from time-to-time, they saw the eagle flying over them. Once they arrived, the eagle cried to let them know she was with them all the way to Port-au-Prince.

They went home, slept, and the next day, they went to purchase two round-trip tickets to leave their country to visit their three sisters, but with the intention that they would spend two weeks in the United States and request asylum upon arrival in Canada. They would apply for political asylum because they felt that their lives were in danger if they would go back to Haiti.

On the following Sunday, brother and sister got up early, eager to get to the Maïs Gaté Airport in Port-au-Prince. The flight wasn’t scheduled to depart until one in the afternoon, but they both wanted to finish packing quickly so they could get to the airport in the morning. It was, at last, September 20.

Armand and Deborah finished breakfast quickly and started taking things to the taxis that were parked beside the house. Their neighbors and good friends, Alphonse and Espérance Pierre, came by. Happy but still cautious of their surroundings, they were careful not to arouse too much suspicion.

Mr. Alphonse! Mrs. Espérance! Armand and Deborah called out together, addressing their elders in the manner appropriate to their culture. We are so happy to see you before we leave for the airport!

"And we are happy that we did not miss you too! This is such an exciting day for you both! We wanted