The American Mission by Matthew Palmer

Author:Matthew Palmer [Palmer, Matthew]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction
ISBN: 0399165703
Google: IbxiAgAAQBAJ
Amazon: B00G3L14Y6
Publisher: G. P. Putnam’s Sons
Published: 2014-06-26T07:00:00+00:00

20

JULY 13, 2009

KINSHASA

Antoine’s enthusiasm was infectious. It always had been. Now he was pitching Alex on Albert Ilunga as a possible savior for the Congo. He argued with both passion and logic, and Alex thought that the priest had missed his calling. He should have been a Jesuit. Despite the cane, or perhaps because of it, Antoine enjoyed walking, even in Kinshasa’s tropical heat. Ilunga’s house, a comfortable villa that was all he had left of a once-considerable family fortune, was in the Kintambo district, not too far from the church. Antoine had insisted they walk.

The streets were crowded with cars, motorcycles, and just about every other conceivable form of wheeled transportation. Even the sidewalks had their own frenetic energy. Stalls on the side of the road hawked everything from Coca-Cola to dried bonobo penises, which were marketed rather literally for their alleged “medicinal” properties. Women in bright print dresses with matching head scarves badgered them to buy fruit from wicker or plastic containers piled high with guava, bananas, pineapple, and grapes. Victims of the Congo’s wars, many missing arms or legs, begged for spare change. Antoine gave a handful of francs to one young boy whose left leg had been amputated below the knee. The boy had a crutch made from a forked tree branch. A strip of car tire was tied to the fork for the boy’s armpit to rest on, and a stick bound to the branch with thick twine served as a handgrip.

“Land mine?” he asked the boy.

“Yes, Father.”

Antoine tapped his leg and showed the boy his cane.

“Me too,” the priest said softly.

The boy nodded his empathy for their shared plight and pocketed the priest’s money.

“I’m still not sold on this idea,” Alex said, picking up the conversation where they had left off. “I accept that Ilunga is an admirable man. He tried to lead his country in a different direction. And he paid a price for it. But Ilunga has been out of politics for more than six years. How can he lead the Congo out of this mess?”

“There are many who still look on him as the legitimate ruler of a truly democratic Democratic Republic of the Congo. There are many who believe we wouldn’t be in this predicament if Ilunga had been allowed to take the office that he won in a fair election.”

“But that’s exactly the point. The army didn’t let him do that. Instead, they arrested Ilunga, sent him off to Makala Prison, and that moment was lost. He spent three years in solitary confinement. As long as Silwamba retains the loyalty of the security services, I don’t see why that wouldn’t simply happen again. Silwamba may not be popular, but he has the guns. That still counts for too much in this country.”

“The people are with Ilunga. All that is needed is a spark and they will rally to his cause.”

“What kind of spark are we talking about?”

“The Lord will provide,” Antoine responded with assurance.

“I wish I could be certain of that.

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