BOOK 2: COMMUNITY / CH. 23: DEBORAH
THURSDAY 10TH AUGUST
The days before the engagement party went quickly. Through the gift, Hagar located the people who had disappeared. Rumours spoke as though it was hundreds, but they found that there were eleven people still alive who had actually been taken. Eventually, after it was all over, they found the pattern. They were distant relatives of people who worked for Ibrahim and had displeased him, held as hostages against further offences. The threat had been that they would be killed and replaced with a closer relative if the worker spoke up, or if they displeased him again. They were held in several prisons, kept away from the other prisoners, under false names, with fabricated charges listed against them. It was Ibrahim's personal reign of terror.
While Hagar and Karen located the families, George was checking on where people who would report to Ibrahim or Hamed were. It seemed that Ibrahim had a hundred or so people working for him — from household servants to thugs, smugglers, racketeers and drug-dealers, but also people he had bribed or blackmailed into working for him.
For the difficult task of talking to the hostages’ scared and frightened relatives, Hagar and Karen developed a pattern, with the reluctant agreement of Karen's father. Karen and Hagar would go together in an embassy vehicle, until they were near their destination. Hagar would be wearing the formal veil and sash of a truth-sayer, and Karen would be normally veiled. Two truth-sayers together in full regalia would attract far too much attention, even one would be unusual as the distinctive clothes were only normally worn when they were acting formally, in a village setting. The vehicle, along with the guards who'd accompany them would stay out of sight as much as possible so as not to scare anyone. Together they'd approach a woman of the house. Hagar would say that she knew of the family's trouble and give the all-important news that the loved one lived. She'd tell of the honourable ambassador at the embassy, who had secured the release of her husband. Karen would say that she was his daughter and what needed to happen for a UN warrant to be made for the arrest of their captors and the release of the captive. A declaration would have to be made at the embassy.
First, before Karen and Hagar left, George made sure that none of the active workers were among those that they were planning to visit. One family was on both lists. It was a hard decision, but they decided that the risks to them were high, and like the relatives of those who did not make a formal statement at this stage, the hostage would almost certainly be released anyway, assuming they could get enough evidence to obtain the warrant.
Karen had raided her old box of toys and had found her collection of plastic coins. Though valueless in themselves, they would serve as a recognition token at the embassy gates. She gave one to each woman they talked to, encouraging them to go, but leaving the decision to them and their families. There was a risk, obviously, if they were being watched and someone spotted a pattern.
George would have liked to be there with Karen of course, but he couldn't. So he kept a distant eye on them and Ibrahim's spies, making sure that they were not about to talk to someone who was under observation. Twice he had to tell them to change who they would visit next.
Planning this and introducing Hagar to the embassy staff — she and Yosuf had agreed to her taking the job — had filled what was left of Wednesday.
Visiting the families took all Thursday. Although it wasn't exactly part of Hagar's duties, Karen's father insisted that it counted as work. His argument had been that since she was going with Karen and they were using embassy vehicles and having guards watching over them, not to mention inviting people to come to the embassy, then it had to count as embassy work. Therefore he needed to pay her, and therefore since it was paid work outside her normal work environment, and there were several additional elements of risk to what they were doing, she had to be paid a bonus. Hagar wasn't convinced but couldn't persuade him otherwise. Yosuf hadn't expected her to be paid at all, so when she silently handed him her wages for the day he was surprised.
“You asked for an advance? I know money is tight, but I do not think you needed to.” Then he saw the denomination of the notes in the envelope. “How many months' advance does he pay you for? This is too much! How can we repay this if you become sick?”
“We do not need to repay it, because it is not an advance, my husband. We did not discuss my pay before, but he tells me that for my work he must pay one of these notes each hour. It is shocking, I know, but he says it is only right. I am not working as a servant but as an expert, and such is the pay for an expert. I told him that today was not work, but he dismissed my arguments. I was with his daughter, travelling with guards as we decided yesterday, and we were telling people about how they should visit the embassy to seek justice. This is part of the embassy's role, so I was working.”
“But you were not gone for so many hours, my beloved!”
“No, but the ambassador was certain and showed me in the contract. Extra pay if I do not work in my normal place of work. Extra pay if there is danger. I am sorry. It does not feel right that I earn so much more than my husband, but we have signed, it cannot be changed. Normally I will not earn so much, I am sure.”
“You have a generous employer, my wife, who I think hides his great generosity in contracts and sub-clauses.”
“I asked Karen about this. She was surprised also. She says my normal pay is less than a cleaner would get in their home country, and that I could ask for more! Our money is not worth much, it seems. This is why imported things are so expensive.”
“But the exchange rates are changing. Things are becoming cheaper.”
“Yes, my husband. The wise policies of our president help in this, Karen says.”
“You remind me, my father says you had a visitor. A woman he has seen at church, she works for the president.”
“Might it be Deborah? I think she cleans there. Is she in trouble?”
“No, but she said she had been given a new job and thought she should talk to you about it.”
“Oh? Shall I go and visit her?”
“I think my wife I would prefer that you call her here. I am a greedy man who has seen too little of his wife in the last month.”
“She has a wrist unit? You wish me to use yours?”
“No, my beloved wife, but you have your gift and she has a new job as truth-sayer to the president.”
“Truth-sayer to the president! How does she go from cleaner to truth-sayer?”
“That is the other reason to invite her here. You can ask her and you do not need to tell me afterwards.”
“I shall see if I need to call her, my husband. It would be hard for her to understand what is happening. I am certain she does not have the gift.”
“Perhaps that is as well. It is less temptation for the president.”
“Yes. I must talk to her.”
Hagar checked Deborah's feet, ah, there she was, coming towards their home. She did not need to call to her. “Husband, I have not called her. She comes this way anyway. I will go and greet her.”
“Very well, be safe, my beloved wife.”
“Stay safe, my beloved husband. Rest your back, I shall not be long and want you able to move tonight.”
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“Hagar! I am so glad to see you, you are going somewhere? I hoped to find you at home!”
“Deborah! It is good to meet you. No, I hoped you were coming, but wanted to meet you. Come, come! You have a new job? Have you heard I have one also, at an embassy?”
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“Yes. I met your employer, the ambassador. In some ways it is because of him I have this new job. And also, the president says I shall have a dowry!”
“He does? That is wonderful! You have told your chosen?”
“Yes, I have told him. But now he must talk to the president to ask for me, and I think he is very very nervous.”
“I am not surprised. You will introduce him, I presume?”
“Of course, but how and when? One does not just knock on the president's door!”
“Perhaps my husband will have an idea. If not, you could get your chosen to write a letter.”
“That is a good idea. It is not likely he will be scared of a pen!”
They arrived at Hagar's home and Hagar called out, “Yosuf, if you want to listen to the gossip, come to the kitchen!”
“It's not gossip, Hagar, it would only be gossip if we were talking about someone who isn't here! Welcome, Deborah! My father said you have a new job. Congratulations!”
“And she was just telling me that the honourable president is standing as friend of her father, and will provide a dowry.”
“That is very good news. I do not understand why the parents of your chosen make this foolish demand.”
“It is very easy, Yosuf. They are proud and wish to boast to their neighbours how important their daughter-in-law is. The happiness of the marriage is of little importance to them.”
“Now they can boast, I am sure!” Hagar said. “But how did you become truth-sayer for the president?”
“You know that my father was a friend of the president, when he was young?”
“Yes, you told me. I do not know the story of that, but I am sure you can tell me.”
“Oh, that is not difficult, my father was a neighbour to the president. They played together even though there was the age difference, and the friendship remained, even through the troubles. When my father died I was only fifteen, and my mother already dead, you know. The president found me a job at the palace, so I would not be hungry. He had asked me then what I could do, and I told him that I could cook and clean, but that I thought I had the ability to be a truth-sayer. He made fun of me then, saying they were only a myth or tricksters.”
“Ah, I see, and then the ambassador came, spoke of truth-sayers as having real ability, not just tricks, and the honourable president remembered what you had said?”
“Yes. I presume so. And to test my power, the president thought of giving me a dowry.”
“Precious proof with a precious gift.”
“Yes. But Hagar, in the stories it speaks of incantation and ritual. I do not want to call any spirits, and I know no ritual either. The president is kind and says they are not important, but I have a job and I do not know how to do it! I feel I am a fraud!”
“Deborah, first, wear the veil. You know what it looks like. They have no need to see your face, in fact it is better if they don't. Earlier this week I witnessed a Christian truth-sayer at work. She invoked no spirits but the words she spoke held power, truth and conviction. I want you to tell me who you are.”
“I am Deborah,” she answered confused.
“No! Tell me what authority you serve.”
“I serve the president, Hagar, you know this.”
“Deborah, think bigger. If the president told you to leave your home and go to a far country, would you go?”
“Urm, maybe.”
“And if he told you that a man you loved was not for you, would you submit?”
“Probably not, unless there was a good reason, like he was only pretending to be a Christian.”
“And if the president told you to worship him?”
“No! I worship God!” she answered shocked.
“So, who do you serve, Deborah?” Hagar saw the penny drop, and continued. “What is He like? What power does He have? Who are you? Why should they fear your power, who gave it to you?”
“I serve the living God! He sets the stars in their places and determines the reign of rulers, He judges the living and the dead and will raise the righteous to life but cast the guilty into hell. He has given me the power to hear the thoughts you whisper in your mind and He has given me a voice that can shout them from the rooftops if you lie to me.”
“I think you have the core of a ritual. If you wish an incantation, then pray that the Spirit of Truth will guide you into all truth and convict the guilty of their sins.”
“Thank you, Hagar! Thank you. Is that roughly what you say as well?”
“If someone happened to challenge me, I would probably say something similar. But Deborah, you are untrained, I think. Do you know how to hide your mind and why you might need to?”
“No, Hagar. Why?”
“You know Hamed, the bodyguard of Ibrahim?”
“Yes, the ambassador and president spoke of him. He is a truth-sayer also.”
“No, Deborah. He has the same power, but uses it for evil. Call him a thought-stealer if you want to, but I would not call him a truth-sayer. Be on your guard against him.” As she'd been talking, she'd pretended to busy herself about the kitchen, but had positioned herself within reach of Deborah. She mentally put together a picture of Deborah riding on a horse on a sunny day, and sent it to her as she touched her. [Imagine what images that evil man, who is used to torture, might make for you. Pray he does not have this skill.]
Deborah was surprised to see the image, and her joy at the gift turned to horror as she realised she couldn't have avoided seeing it. “How can I defend against it?”
“There is only one way for you now. You must turn off your power, hide your thoughts. But you must realise this: if you turn if off for long, you may not be able to turn it on again. Some have had to choose between sanity and the power. But you have an advantage over them.”
“What is that?”
“You are a servant of the living God. He can give you his peace if he chooses. It is a part of a spiritual gift. I have that gift, and it is a great temptation to misuse it. If God gives it to you then you should not tell the president what you can do by it. He is an honourable man, but he is not a servant of Christ. But if you are caught by Hamed, then I pray God will give you the gift, that you will know the protective power of God's peace.”
“What is this gift Hagar? How is it a temptation?”
“God has chosen to let me know, Deborah. I can know every thought in your mind. Not just the surface thoughts, but also the deep unformed ones and the memories related to them. I do not need touch for this. I do not even need to see you. If you are within a few hundred steps, that is close enough. If I want to just know your surface thoughts, you can be anywhere, at least anywhere on the planet. None of us has had reason to try across space. This is a spiritual gift, not a play-thing. I can know where you are, who is with you, what you are doing. Not just you, any person. That is not all, but it is enough for you to understand. Some of these things, they are dangerous to me. If I followed your train of thought at every level for half a minute I would truly know if you told truth or lied, but I would die soon after. My brain would have cooked itself. We are not gods that we can cope with such knowledge.”
“But when you met me in the street. It was no accident?” Deborah asked.
“No. I knew we needed to talk. If there had been need, I could talk to you wherever you are. But once I knew where you were, it was an easy thing to meet you in person. The gift is not a plaything, and not even my husband can command its use.” She gave a pointed glance at Yosuf.
“I tried, Deborah, for selfish reasons. I asked her to call to you, but my beloved wife met you in person. That was the right choice. Deborah, do you know the trick of iron?”
“You mean a smith's art?”
“No. You do not need to touch the person you listen to. You know this?”
“I have heard decisions.”
“Ah, then you do not know.”
They explained, and then demonstrated. Hagar also showed her how to hide her thoughts, and how to think of the ball to release herself from the mud.
“Pastor Yosuf, Scripture tells us to desire the greater gifts, should I not desire the gift Hagar has?”
“Do you desire it for the power, the temptation, or for some perceived glory? Or do you desire it because you see how it can be used to help others? I tell you it is not a gift to be shouted of in public.” Yosuf warned in answer.
“Deborah, sometimes I have prayed that the gift would be taken from me, so great has the temptation been to misuse it. If you knew that tomorrow you would talk to a non-Christian about the faith and you could look through their diary or place a bug in their room so you could know their thoughts, their sins, their hopes for the future, would you?”
“It would be wrong! No, I would not do such a thing. It might help to convince them, but no, not even for this motive.”
“And if someone were sad but did not want to speak, would you touch the metal table they rested on to know their thoughts?”
“Only if they allowed. It would not be right otherwise.”
“But you see the temptation? You could help them.”
“Yes, Hagar I begin to see the temptation. I do. May I ask? How do you not read the thoughts of your husband?”
“My husband knows of my power and my gift. He has told me to use the gift on him if I worry, because worry is never useful. And knowing his thoughts?” She smiled at her husband. “This helps me be a good wife to him and helps him to appreciate me.”
“Your chosen knows of your power?” Yosuf asked, changing the subject to slightly safer territory.
“Yes, he does. It is something difficult for him to understand, for he is a scientist, but he knows.”
“Ah, he finds it hard to believe in something which seems a human ability but with no explanation?” Yosuf asked.
“Yes.”
“There is an explanation,” Hagar supplied. “But they are still working on the paper.”
“Who? What paper?” Yosuf asked.
“I know some people, through my gift. They work on a paper for a scientific journal.”
“There is an explanation for our gift?” Deborah asked.
“For what we call the power, yes. Not for the gift of God. But both are real. They begin measurements. It is not that you make someone tell you things, Deborah, but that everyone talks all the time, and you can hear them. I expect that in a few decades there will be a clever box to do our jobs, but we can hope that it costs so much to make that it is still cheaper to hire us.”
“I do not know if I like that thought, Hagar,” Deborah stated.
“Nor do I. But there it is. If it can be explained then it can be studied. Maybe it will always be too complicated for a machine.”
“They said that about many things.”
“Yes. But about some of them they were right.”
“Praise God.”
“Amen.”