Sunday, October 14, 2012

Part III - Naweza


III

 

“What are you doing on this land?” asks the leader of what appeared to be a group of tribal watchmen.

As the chief that he is, Mwaza steps forward to respond.

“We are the Babofa. We were led to this land by the prophecy of our ancestors. Who are you?”

Staring skeptically at Mwaza and his clan, the leader says:

“We are the Banyamubira. We have been living here for generations. Luhwinja is our land. I’m afraid your ancestors misled you.”

“Let us be the judge of that. My family and I will settle here. Our ancestors are never wrong” replies vigorously Mwaza.

            Tension grows in both parties, each unsure of what will be the other one’s next move.

Little was known about the Babofa. Shepherds, yes they were. But other attributes were about to be revealed.

The Banyamubira watchmen were not prepared to face what followed.
 
 
                           
                                      COMING SOON - PART IV
 
 

Saturday, October 13, 2012

Part II - Naweza


II

           

            More time has passed since Chibwire and Mwaza separated.

Hills after hills, savannas after savannas, Mwaza leads his clan, searching for the right homeland. The shepherds and their families faithfully wait to see the sign from the ancestors.

They come across various animals. Gorillas, elephants, giraffes and buffalos abound in the area. None of them interferes with the convoy.

They see many birds but they silently keep walking, sometimes feeling discouraged and doubtful but never admitting it. Did the ancestors send the wrong message? Did Mwaza misunderstand the sign? Chibwire might have been right to stay back and settle when he still had the strength to do so after all.

Then early one morning, a very uncommon bird appeared. It posed itself on Mwaza’s hand. Mwaza observed the bird for a while.

“Is that him?” asks his very close servant, looking just as surprised as Mwaza.

After carefully examining the bird’s features, Mwaza gives a hint of a smile.

“Yes, it is him. He resembles exactly the bird in the oracle. The beak, the colors of his feathers all coincide.”

“We are home!” yells Mwaza.

Wives, children, members of the clan and servants gathered around Mwaza in disbelief.

Joy and relief replaced the sorrow, the exhaustion, the almost lost hope of their prolonged pilgrimage.

But their newly felt happiness was not going to last a long time.

Before they even start to unload their cows and settle in their new paradise, Mwaza and his family feel an uncomfortable presence slowly surrounding them.

They were not the only people there.
 
 
 
 
STAY CONNECTED FOR UPCOMING PART III
 
With more adventures! 
 
 

Saturday, September 29, 2012

After the story of Julikana Tano (see March (11) in Blog Menu), here comes Naweza - Stay tuned for our next episode! This is Part I.










 
Naweza
How many unknown heroines have walked this earth? 
 
 
Based on true stories?
 
 
Written by Thynna Ngangura                  
 
 
 
 
 
 
I

It is said that her ancestors had crossed a vast land in the Great Lakes region of Alkebu-Lan (known today as Africa) in search of fertile farmland for agriculture and cattle breeding.

Two brothers, Mwaza and Chibwire left the Bukunzi, eastern land of their forefathers, and embarked with their families on a journey towards the West.

Moons after moons, they walked.

Until one day, their journey changed course.

“We’ve been walking endless days and nights, Mwaza. Our wives and children are exhausted. We can’t impose more strain on our cattle” said Chibwire, ready to settle at this very point.

            “We are not there yet” answers Mwaza.

            “How do you know?”

            “Let’s send him hunting. We can rest for a while and we will continue our walk when he returns” says Mwaza as he prepares to send off his hunter dog.

            Days passed. The dog never returned.          

One morning, as the sun was rising on our nomads’ camp…

“I received a message from the ancestors. The sign will appear to us and we will know where to settle; we have to continue our journey” says Mwaza to Chibwire.

            “The dog didn’t come back, Mwaza. I know you are devastated by this loss. What other message do you want our ancestors to show us? I am staying here” replies decisively Chibwire.

            “Fine. Stay. I will resume the voyage until I see the sign. They said a special bird will lead us to a place we will call home. That place is not here. Not for me.”

Chibwire and his family stayed in Mbobero, in the region of Kabare.

Mwaza, his family, cattle and shepherds left. The two brothers never saw each other again.







 L’Afreurousaine © 2012






 

Thursday, March 29, 2012

Chapter 8 - Julikana Tano - The End

-8-

Later that year…
            It is Four o’clock in the afternoon. The day is bright. A woman is walking on the side of the street entering a Florida apartment building. She opens a mailbox and pulls out a stack of envelopes. A particularly colorful envelope catches her attention. Without any delay, she tears off the edge of the envelope and removes a card. She reads:

Dear Miss Tano,
Humanity cannot fail at this. All our flaws on the outside bury underneath them our true nature, copied from living macrocosms and microorganisms, to somehow always restore balance, comfort and well-being for all.
So it might take a few more years and a few more tears, but the people of the D.R. Congo will courageously regain ownership not only of their land but mostly of their inner peace, one person at a time, one wave of pure thought and pure energy connected to the source at a time.
I will silently contribute to your work.
I want you to be the first one to know I am flying to Eastern Congo tomorrow.
My retirement funds will probably serve me better over there. I hear they can grill some very tasty fresh fish by the Lake Kivu.
Also, I am a very good handyman, you know Miss Tano. I will build over there whatever can be built with my bare hands to strengthen the lives of your brothers and sisters, my new family.
And I vow to stay alive to see the change.
Your friend,
 Luke Tyler”.

She tenderly holds the card to her heart. Julikana says out loud:
“So do I, officer. So do I. I vow to stay alive to see the change.”


 

Chapter 7 - Julikana Tano

-7-

Real freedom found a new home. She lives in my mind with a housemate called peace.
           
            Officer Tyler sees Julikana out, escorting her to the door as she goes free. Before she leaves, he asks her:
“Miss Tano, why did you choose Four o’clock in the afternoon for this special work of yours? They said you were punctual and precise like Greenwich Meridian Time. These students have an extensive schedule and meet at different moments during the day, didn’t you know?”
“I was waiting for that question Officer Tyler; I thought you would never ask. At first, it was unplanned. I had left work early one day and was drawn to the vibrant social energy of the university campus. It was only when I saw the beautiful gardens there that I decided to sit and observe different groups of students, searching for the kind of relationship my brother and I had. That’s how I found them.
A couple of days later, while sitting near them and traveling through my imagination, picturing people at peace with lives full of prosperity, another vision came to my mind. I saw a land of snows. I could hear mesmerizing chanting voices and sounds over mountains covered with unending white layers. Then I saw faces of men sitting in deep meditation. I did not know who they were. Until the fourth day, a strange revelation came to me”, answers Julikana.
“A strange revelation came to you? Don’t you think Miss Tano everything has been strange at this point? I wonder what could have possibly been slightly stranger than the rest your story so far”, remarks Officer Tyler, with a light teasing tone.
Julikana smiles, and imperturbably replies:
“It is Four o’clock in the morning in Lhasa, Tibet. Around 4:30 am, many of the monasteries start their morning prayers in the great Himalayan Mountains. Their sounds resonate with the source. They sit in the land of snows.”
Placing gently his hands on Julikana’s shoulders, Officer Tyler returns the smile and says:
“Oh Miss Tano, go home and rest. You are a wonderful brilliant young lady. Don’t you want to have a different life? Find a great husband; have a family just like most women your age? You can’t carry on those tiny shoulders of yours the weights of our generation, the responsibility of years of violence and indifference toward your country. You deserve better than that.”

Facing Officer Tyler’s incredulity, sadness and grief well up in Julikana’s heart when she answers:
“Do you think the woman who is mutilated and raped every minute you and I are standing here would want me to stop? She begs me and cries for help. I can’t turn my back on her. And there is so many of them. I can’t turn my back on my people, on those abandoned and abused children.
I may not have all the answers, Officer Tyler. I may not have any money to buy back all those weapons from every armed group infesting the Congo today. I don’t even have significant political influence to talk some sense into leaders of this world. But when I was born, I came to this planet with my share of creative thinking power. So the change will start where it all starts. With me.
Goodbye Officer Tyler.”
“Good bye Miss Tano”.
           
                                                                        -

A Kiswahili proverb says “Akili ni mali”: Intelligence is an asset. In other words, knowledge can be used to better one’s life. As I learn to unlearn or relearn, I feel I have always known; as if knowledge or wisdom reveals itself to me without me asking for much, lifting my soul up to familiar elevated heights, only this time I am not afraid.”


Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Interview of an Author named "L'Afreurousaine" in the year 2022 - by Estonian journalist Urel Kaj.


This event has not yet happened in present time and space continuum. But who says we can't write about it?

Tartu, Estonia
02FEB2022

Urel Kaj:

Good Afternoon Miss “L’Afreurousaine”, we are very happy to have you here in Tartu, Estonia during the Festivities of our 2022 National Holiday “Tartu rahu” celebrating 102 years of peace on our land.
We have been loyal readers of your stories here in Estonia for the past ten years and we are so honored to finally meet you.
Tell us something, how do you pronounce your real name Miss “L’Afreurousaine”?

L’Af:

My name is Thynna Ngangura as in [Ti-Ná] [N-ga-N-gou-Ra].

Urel Kaj:

Thank you for that precision Miss “L’Afreurousaine”. We have been pronouncing it all sorts of ways here in Estonia. Please accept our sincere apologies.  

L'Af:

Oh Urel, no need to apologize. It’s an honest mistake that most people make. Besides, what can I expect with a challenging name like mine?

Urel Kaj:

I will call you Thynna then. “L’Afreurousaine” is far more challenging for us than your real name! Can you tell us the origin of that pseudonym of yours?

L’Af:

Oh sure. My pen name “L’Afreurousaine” is a pure invention generated from the combination of 3 words.  AFR – for my African colors, EURO – for my European  flavors and USA for, obviously, my American savors.
So it gives us “The Afreurousan” and in French, it resulted in “L’Afreurousaine”.
I have, so far, lived and learned on those 3 continents.
I honor them in that way. 

Urel Kaj:

Well, very authentic Thynna. We have always sensed you have this great attunement with gratitude and honor but, quite frankly, not in an overwhelming way I must say.
It makes us read your stories rather easily since you never exclude anyone. You include all.
What would you say is your style as a writer?

L’Af:

I can not pretend to have a well defined style. However, the basis of my accounts is pure imagination, pure fiction. Nothing I write is factual, even though I might get inspired by an original fact. Very quickly after the first spark of inspiration, my highly imaginative mind (self) takes over and there’s never any guarantee where she might lead me. Space and time become infinite.

Urel Kaj:

It’s interesting that you say nothing you write is factual because a decade ago you wrote this fascinating short story “Julikana Tano” that left a lot of people speechless after some of the events you portrayed in that fiction actually did happen. I remember hearing a conversation among fellow journalists where someone said they could compare you to Nostradamus.

L’Af:

Tough comparison. Nostradamus predicted what was perceived by many as catastrophes. I did no such thing.

Urel Kaj:

True. The world has changed. We went from too much chaos to a little less entropy observed on a large scale.
New authors like you challenged people to imagine the impossible and even find mathematical algorithms or statistical formulas to justify it. That was quite a twist in your story and we’re grateful for that.

L'Af:

Well, I have used all that I have learned throughout my life to manifest and materialize my imagination. From languages like English, Spanish to Geography, History, Algebra, Biology and Chemistry, everything finds a place in what I write.

Urel Kaj:

What seals it all together to make the stories you write?

L’Af:

Some Spirituality and a touch of “so what if I sound crazy!”

Urel Kaj:

And we love you for that!

L’Af:

Thank you Urel. You know, I am also very pleased to finally be here in Estonia.
My original plan was to visit Tallinn last September and come celebrate “Grandparents Day”; I hear the food is delicious here and the Festivals are quite folkloric! I will definitely return next year!

Urel Kaj:

We’ll be here waiting for you Thynna. Thank you for your time. We know you are a busy traveler and you are now on your way to Papua New Guinea. Have a safe trip!

---


End of Future Interview – Date of occurrence: 02FEB2022 ; Pre-written on 27MAR2012.


---

The above characters are not real. Well, one of them isn't.









Chapter 6 - Julikana Tano

-6-

“Could I have a glass of water, please?” asks Julikana.
Officer Luis volunteers to bring back a bottle of water from the nearby vending machine.
He returns to the room and quietly hands it to her. After a quick sip, she continues.
“I recently had a dream in which I was asked to find the source. I couldn’t immediately figure out what the source was until I had a flashback memory of my childhood, in Eastern Congo. We use to play out in the woods and one day, my brother and I started digging a hole to hide a gift we had crafted for my sister. It was going to be her birthday a few days later. As we were digging, we came across a strange dark metal rock we decided to take home with us.
Surprisingly enough, every time our family was at peace and all were in harmony in our community, the metal rock had a different appearance, like a different shine, for lack of a better descriptive word.
My brother and I decided that we would often close our eyes and imagine happiness around us to see the metal rock change in radiance. It was a fun game. And it worked. My brother was a very courageous boy and I want to think my heart was pure at that age.
It didn’t work when we asked my mother or my father to close their eyes and imagine happiness. My parents had become increasingly worried about my sister’s health. She was born with a deformed leg and that handicap was seen by my parents as an obstacle to a bright future for her. Their minds were agitated. Much to her credit, the handicap never stopped my sister from radiating happiness, pure contentment. The rock had that same unusual shine when we placed it next to her. That is how we decided to call it the source. We were convinced it brought us the comfort we needed.”
Officer Luis interrupts Julikana and asks sarcastically:
“And how do you imagine a dark metal rock from Eastern Congo would have landed in the hands of four college students here in Florida?”
Across the wall, behind the one-way mirror, the thinking minds of four students are intensively at work. Suddenly Jason says out loud, as if he just discovered a scientific truth:
“It’s the famous tantalite! Also known as the infamous coltan: the mineral from which niobium and tantalum are extracted to produce the great nano-dimensional electric capacitor we know. Of course we are carrying “the source” with us all the time!”
And Wong adds with the same tone:
“It’s our phones, our I-pods, our I-pads, our videogames and everything modernly electronic we possess. We’re like giant ambulant multi-sources to her! I’ve rarely seen it make the headlines but truth be told, the people in Eastern Congo have been suffering for more than a decade because of unjust exploitation of their source.”
Lady Officer Charlie intervenes and shouts:
“Quiet! Everyone stays quiet!”
She picks up the phone to call the interrogation room and talks to Officer Dave. She says to him:
“The kids seem to know what she’s talking about. Let her finish her story so we can wrap this up and issue the order of protection; this way everyone can get out of here sooner than later.”
As Officer Dave hangs up the phone, Julikana looks at him and immediately says:
“They know the source. They just told you. They know what I am talking about.
Officer, I am not here to harm anybody. I have simply tried to do what a child, many years ago, use to do to create a little happiness.
I am here today without my brother, far away from my sister. I know years have passed.
But if you read and watch the news, you know our hometowns have been damaged, our people displaced, murdered and raped in the name of a cause neither you nor I can clearly articulate.”
“Has your work worked, Miss Tano? You are so far away from home” asks Officer Dave, now with a soft, patient tone.
Julikana smiles and replies:
“It has worked. I will explain. Our thoughts are very much like radio emitting frequencies. They can travel distances we may not be able to precisely measure. They can reach specific and even unspecific targets.
As they meet other thoughts of the same frequency or intention, they become powerful in producing matter or what we perceive as visible situations.
I do not have the exact algorithm to mathematically demonstrate this to you but something rather magical has happened.
The synchronized factors here are primarily the source and its specific electromagnetic properties, my heart pulse harmoniously coupled with my thoughts, the clarity of the emitting energy field created by courageous and pure souls around.
A few days ago convoys of antagonistic armed groups have inexplicably left the town of Kahanda, then the town of Mboko, followed by the towns of Swima, Baraka and Sange, all in the Fizi region in Eastern Congo. These groups of gunmen had been perpetrating massacres, numerous rapes, abductions and extreme extortions in this region where they were based for over a decade.
They just left. Villagers cannot believe it. They have regained their lands.
Look, I am not saying that one person alone can make a difference but I do know I must not be alone. There probably are many of us willingly shifting our thought patterns to create the outcome of peace we want with the help of the source and all the pure courageous hearts.
It’s what some call the multiplying effect of numbers if you wish. And it’s working.”
Officer Luis, who does not hide his skepticism, remarks:
“Hum! I didn’t know they had scientists in the Congo! I’ve always known they had great music and good musicians but I didn’t know they had scientists, let alone women scientists!”
“There are a lot of things you are not aware of when it comes to the Congo, Officer Luis. But time will tell”, responds Julikana.
“Miss Tano, everybody has thoughts. From the suffering people of your villages to the perpetrators of those massacres, everyone of them thinks constantly. Why do you really believe the source would respond positively to you rather than keeping responding negatively, sadly to the detriment of some but also to the advantage of the others?” asks Officer Tyler, whose mind seems deeply immersed in this unusual interrogation.
Julikana takes another sip of water and asks:
“Can I have a piece of paper and a pen? I will try to illustrate.”
Promptly rising, Officer Dave walks to a nearby printer to get paper while Officer Luis opens a drawer to pull out a couple of pencils.
« Ay Virgen santissima protegenos, esta mujer esta loca ! » (« Oh Holy Virgin protect us, this woman is a lunatic!”), mumbles Officer Luis, displaying a rather fake smile as he hands Julikana the pencils. 
Gracias, Senior Luis. No estoy loca, simplemente amo a mi pais y tengo mucha compasion para la gente” (“Thank you, Mr. Luis. I am not crazy, I simply love my country and have great compassion for people”), replies Julikana, quite amused by Officer Luis’ disbelief.
“And she speaks Spanish! Now where is Congo again? I’ve never seen this in all my years of service! Please Miss Tano, teach us what you know. Forgive my rudeness”, adds a surprised Officer Luis, smiling genuinely this time.
Everybody laughs. The atmosphere in both rooms is now less tense. As each person connects with Julikana, a sense of receptivity fills the space.
One more time, Officer Dave brings the interrogation back to its purpose and adds:
“Look Miss Tano, we will let you explain to us this last theory of yours but keep in mind that nothing you rationalize here can be proven to be what has caused merciless groups of heavily armed men to liberate villages they have been taking advantage of for so long”.

“I understand, Officer Dave. Believe me, I hear what you say and I remain conscious of it” softly replies Julikana. She starts to draw two perpendicular lines on a piece of paper. She resumes by explaining:
“Agitation in the mind is caused by sadness from being in constant terror or caused by aggressiveness and anger. Both sadness and anger result respectively directly and indirectly from fear.
Thoughts in an agitated mind have no direction and no purpose.”
Pointing to the upper-right quadrant defined by the two perpendicular lines she just drew, Julikana explains:
“Powerful creative thoughts follow a two-dimensional linear equation y= ax in which your y variable is stillness of the mind, generating direction for your thoughts and your x variable is focus of the mind, generating purpose, also known as intention. These two coordinates travel together. As one variable increases, so does the other.
When both coordinates are (0,0) you have no creative thoughts, it’s the state of constant agitation, zero stillness, zero focus. That is why neither the perpetrators’ thoughts nor the victims’ thoughts are able to connect significantly to the source. They can’t create any positively sustainable outcome for anyone, only increased destruction with large scale damaging effects that will be felt by you and I sooner or later.
The source is never under agitation. Only humans are, but it is changing.
The source, as its mother the earth, is in a constant creative plot, with high direction and high purpose, a perfect line progressing upward as x and y both increase.
Julikana’s graph
a=2 as an example; the selected range of numbers for x and y can be greater or smaller as long as it’s perfectly linear.
So when one meditates and visualizes peace for a specific place on earth, those thoughts adopt a vibrational energy pattern in which the waves can be overlaid with great precision to the waves originating from the source.
Agitated minds generate frequencies in which the waves are inconsistent and of very high uncontrollable amplitudes. This creates a substantial differential with the source’s waves preventing one’s thoughts to align with any sort of creative power.
The earth never antagonizes us when we are in creation mode; she actually lends us a hand instead, feeling safe with us.
Try it sometimes, Officers. Try it in the laboratory of your own lives. It works”, concludes Julikana.

---

Unexpectedly, the door loudly opens.
“We’re dropping the charges!” shouts Tony Jr., barging into the interrogation room, followed by his three friends.
“And we are starting a DE-OCCUPY D.R. CONGO movement. If others like us have started the ‘Occupy Wall-Street’ movement, we can do this! We’ll bombard the world with our minds visualizing harmony and peace in the Congo” says Kelly, shortly before turning to Julikana to say:
“We apologize for the pain we have caused you today. We were ignorant.”
All four students spontaneously hug Julikana. She tightly holds them in her arms.
Lady Officer Charlie joins her colleagues in the room to close out the session and free Julikana Tano.

Chapter 5 - Julikana Tano

-5-

Interrogation – part II
           
            “Working with them? Is this a joke?” asks a now aggravated officer Dave.
Officer Tyler calmly takes over as the atmosphere in both rooms feels heavy with astonishment.
“Let the young lady elaborate, we are here to listen. Carry on Miss Tano”.
Gently staring back at Officer Tyler, Julikana starts parabolically her story.
“Two courageous hearts, the girl and the Asian guy always hang out with two pure hearts, the redhead and the African-American boy.
Their hearts are so open around that time of the day, after History class I imagine, judging from the books they carry. No fear, no boundaries, total openness to learning and to sharing.
The source recognizes those dominant attributes. They carry the source with them so I just sit near them to be close to the source. And then our work starts. At the end of the hour, I leave.”
“What source? What work? These kids do not seem to be aware that they are working with you Miss Tano! Please explain clearly the reasons of your presence at the campus!” adds Officer Luis, slowly getting impatient and frustrated from not understanding Julikana’s predicament.
Julikana continues her narration. She looks at the wall, suspecting the students are in the room behind it, watching and listening to her.
“While I am at the campus sitting close to them, I meditate. Not in the supramystical way you are probably imagining. I simply visualize the harmony our people had and the more happiness still to come. The students hold the source in their hands at all times; the source is at its highest energy vibration state when they download music and watch videos; my heart pulse oscillates at almost identical amplitude as the source’s highest energy waves. So do my thoughts, when I feel at peace”, adds Julikana.
Behind the one-way glass, Kelly, Wong, Jason and Tony Jr. look at each other speechless.
“This is better than Professor Carter’s Modern Physics lectures!” says Tony Jr. in a spontaneous exclamation.
At this very moment, Officer Tyler intervenes and says:
 “Miss Tano, I sincerely hope that not only will you explain to us clearly what “the source” is that these kids have in their possession that you seem to be attracted to but also that you will tell us explicitly what is the purpose of what seems to be an “invisible work” you do around them”.

Julikana nods her head in agreement and carries on.
“It all started out after long painful years of watching and hearing about atrocities occurring in Eastern Congo, where I was born. Nobody knows a cure to end the horror. Everyone feels and acts powerless which, voluntarily or not, allows the self-regenerating cycle of imbalance to last years and years.
But the earth knows. So she sends out signals of distress because she cannot process these many humanly imposed dead bodies and this much terror induced sadness in people, all in a short period of time in one particular geographical region.
Yes, eighteen years can be considered a long time in our human lifespan, but for the earth eighteen years feel like eighteen seconds. The death aftermath you and I know from the several inaccurate and unknown counting sources probably feels like eighteen million dead victims to the earth. Unimaginable would you say.
I could not loudly articulate a way to a remedy to bring back lost comfort until such way was revealed to me.
And even now, I know that the assortment of words and expressions we humans have invented to define objects and non-objects are still far from being complete.
That is why I cannot explain to you all that have happened and all that is happening. But I will try.”

Monday, March 26, 2012

Julikana Tano - Nobody knew where she came from until the day...

I dedicate this shot story to Lyn Lusi.
She cared.


The source and cause of peace and happiness is the mind.”
                                                                             Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama.


It might be utopia but just try. Just try and see for yourself. 

Note from the author:
Characters and Events are not intended to be real nor accurate. Reader is welcome to let his (her) own imagination travel with the story.

Chapter 4 - Julikana Tano

-4-

Interrogation – part I

            A third officer has joined officers Luis and Dave in the interrogation room. Officer Tyler, a soon-to-be retiree, comes in bringing a soothing, a bit more mature age presence in the room. The woman relaxes her face muscles as he walks in. She smiles. His nonchalant walk reminds her of her father.
A silent minute precedes the beginning of the session after everyone takes their places.
“Hi, my name is Ricardo Luis, I will be in charge of this interrogation session and my colleague here, Ryan Dave will step in at any moment during this time. Officer Luke Tyler is an observer and will also jump in when needed. Please tell us your name, date and place of birth”, starts Officer Luis.
With a pacific voice, the young woman introduces herself.
“My name is Julikana Tano. I was born in a territory called Fizi, in Eastern Congo, in the South-Kivu region on August 4th 1978.”
“Address?” continues Officer Luis as he is jotting down Julikana’s answers.
Julikana carries on stoically.
“7404 MacArthur Street, unit D, Miami Shore, Florida”
“Occupation?” asks Officer Luis, still busy writing.
“I am a scientist. I formulate botanical ointments”, replies Julikana.
Officer Dave is listening attentively.
At his side, Officer Tyler seems rather lost in a spontaneous admiration of Julikana. He harbors a smile as he hears she is a scientist. It reminds him of the time he dreamt of becoming a Chemical engineer, back in Madison, Wisconsin. During the economic challenges that the United States of America faced in the 1960’s, his parents did not have enough money to pay for his college education. So he worked all his life, whatever job came his way. One day, he found his true calling through service to others and enrolled in the police force.
The interrogation runs on.
“Who is your employer?” asks Officer Luis as his tone gets more and more monotonous.
“I work for a small start up research laboratory called Phytopron, in Midtown Miami”, continues Julikana, not so sure how all of this information will unfold the truth about the stalking charges.
Casually drifting away, officer Luis adds “What brings you to America?”
“I am American”, replies Julikana.
Another silent minute heavily invades the interrogation room as the word “American” echoes in each person’s head.
On the other side of the mirrored wall, our four students now seem positively drawn to Julikana as she defends herself in all sincerity. They let their guards down, somewhat able to relate to her, recognizing her as a fellow science enthusiast.
Officer Dave decides to step in and give the interrogation a purposeful turn, after the previous inappropriate intervention from his colleague Luis.
Showing her individual pictures of Kelly, Wong, Jason and Tony Jr., without detour, he asks Julikana:
“Why are you stalking these four students?”
With a majestic voice, she answers:
“I do not stalk them, I am working with them”.
Silence travels the rooms, one more time. Perplex faces in the audience translate the surprise effect of a highly unexpected course of events.