Chapter 37 Summary
Marion leaves Ethiopia on Wednesday, January 10, 1979. It is two years after Ghosh died, though Marion’s leaving the country has nothing to do with Thomas Stone or with the fact that the Emperor has been deposed and the new regime is ruled by a dictator (Mengitsu) who will rival Stalin in his cruelty and destruction. He left because on that day four Eritrean guerrillas posing as passengers commandeered an Ethiopian Airlines plane and forced it to land in Khartoum, Sudan. He left because one of those rebels was Genet, who had been a medical student that morning but is now a liberation fighter.
Finally Marion is a doctor, an intern finishing his final rotation. Word is out about the hijacking, and when Hema calls Marion he tells her there is nothing to be done for Genet. Hema tells him her old friend Adid just called, and the police are looking for a co-conspirator named Marion Praise Stone.
Genet’s tiny little roommate, who no doubt had no knowledge of the hijacking scheme, blurted Marion’s name within an hour of the incident. Immediately Marion’s thoughts go to Ghosh in prison; he knows Kerchele is worse by a hundredfold than when Ghosh was there. Marion parks his car and takes a taxi home, thinking about the many previous unsuccessful attempts at hijacking the national airline. This time someone in security may have turned traitor, since the incident occurred quickly and without violence. A woman with the distinctive cornrows of the Eritreans stops the taxi, but the driver tells her to take a plane instead. As the taxi arrives at Missing’s gate, Marion sees Tsige getting out of her expensive car. The woman has been amazingly successful, and she never fails to encourage Marion in his studies and prays for him faithfully. He is tempted to stop and tell her good-bye but cannot. He hopes she will never have to flee her land, as he will have to do.
Hema has packed all of Marion’s important documents as well as bread, cheese, water, money, and a few items of clothing into an Air India shoulder bag. Marion layers his clothes against the cold and adds a cassette containing “Tizita” to his bag, though he leaves the player behind. He would like to take several of his beloved textbooks, but they are too heavy. They leave on foot, and Marion insists on walking past the gravesites of Ghosh and Sister Mary Joseph Praise. Shiva escorts Matron as Hema walks with Marion. Almaz and Gebrew have gone ahead.
When they reach the wall, Marion has to say good-bye. Hema cries as she cried at Ghosh’s death. Matron, ever steady in a crisis, kisses him on the forehead and tells him to go with God. Almaz and Gebrew pray over him. All that is left is Shiva. Their bodies are a perfect match as they hug, “two halves of a single being.” Their arms are “like magnets, refusing to part.” When Marion pulls back to study Shiva’s face, he sees an expression on his brother’s face that he has only seen twice: once on the day Ghosh was hauled to prison and again on the day Ghosh died. Shiva’s expression says this is a kind of death, and Marion knows it should feel that way for him, too—but it does not.
The deal Marion made with Genet is no longer in effect for him, and now, in this moment of parting, his mind expresses itself. He silently asks Shiva if he knows the trouble he caused—the simple biological act that killed Rosina and took Genet from...
(This entire section contains 1874 words.)
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them. Does he know Marion now hates the woman he once loved and wanted to marry and that Hema still thinks Marion is to blame for what happened to Genet? Does Shiva see how he betrayed his brother? This parting is like cutting off part of his body because it is inevitable that he loves Shiva as he loves himself. But he cannot forgive Shiva. Because Ghosh wanted it, perhaps one day he will forgive, but now he cannot.
Shiva hands Marion a bag. It is dark, but Marion thinks he recognizes Shiva’s well-used copy of Gray’s Anatomy on top of some other heavy book. Marion is about to scold his brother for giving him a second, heavy bag, but he keeps silent. Shiva is giving him the most valuable thing he could send with his brother, so Marion thanks him and leaves.
Adid has arranged for his escape with the help of the Eritrean People’s Liberation Front, and it is an arduous, dirty, miserable journey. Marion finds two surprises in his meager luggage. At the bottom of the Air India bag, Hema placed the picture of St. Teresa from his mother’s office, now in a frame. A note on the back says Ghosh framed the print before he died and wanted Hema to give it to Marion if he ever had to leave the country. She prays that Ghosh, Sister Mary, and St. Teresa will all watch over him. The second surprise is what Shiva packed beneath his precious Gray’s text. It is Thomas Stone’s textbook, The Expedient Operator: A Short Practice of Tropical Surgery, a book Marion did not know existed. As he turns the pages, Marion wonders how Shiva came to own this book and suddenly sees what he has often wanted to see—a picture of his father.
Marion closes the book quickly so he can compose himself and examine the picture on his own terms. He notices the man has nine fingers instead of ten, and he cannot deny the similarity between his eyes and Shiva’s—and therefore his own. The rest of his face is not familiar, and Marion wonders why Shiva gave this book to him. The book looks as if it has never been opened, and a bookmark pressed into the copyright page says “Compliments of the Publisher.” On the back of the bookmark is a note dated September 19, 1954, from Sister Mary Joseph Praise to Thomas Stone. It says the publisher addressed the package to her but she is sure the book was meant for him. She congratulates him and tells him she is enclosing a letter that he should read immediately. His mother wrote this note on the day before his birth and her death.
During the next two weeks, Marion hides out in a small cottage with no furniture. He paces the house, hauling the bag of books to stay in shape. He also reads Thomas Stone’s textbook and feels impressed against his will at the timelessness of his father’s surgical advice and knowledge. And he wonders what had been in the letter his mother wanted Stone to read.
On a night without a moon, Marion leaves his temporary hiding place carrying his heavy bag. He and his guide, Luke, meet up with a small troop of fighters, one of whom Marion recognizes as the surly rebel who had stormed out of Genet’s room. His name is Tsahai, and now he greets Marion with a grin and a handshake. They do not discuss Genet; instead, Tsahai talks about their militant exploits and their capture of weapons. Luke leads his group on after fifteen minutes, and they finally reach a bunker at daybreak.
Marion collapses and then sleeps until Luke wakes him. His legs are causing him excruciating pain; Luke gives him a homemade painkiller along with some bread and tea, and Marion sleeps again. When he wakes this time, Marion is in less pain but his legs are so stiff he can barely walk. He takes two more of the painkillers. Tonight’s walk is only half as far and Marion once again collapses in a stall hidden in a cave. After he wakes he sees a female fighter about his own age, and she reminds him of Genet. Marion is thankful that his dreams of being with her are gone forever. His vision of a life spent next to her both at home and in a hospital was a foolish ideal that would never happen. He never wants to see her again, and it is likely he never will.
That night Marion wakes to the sound of a battle being waged nearby, and Luke tells him the liberation fighters raided a weapons and fuel depot. Nine of the rebels are dead, but the Ethiopian losses are greater and the fuel depot has been partially destroyed. The casualties arrive in the morning, and Luke takes Marion to the surgical ward. He is greeted by Solomon, a medical student one year older than Marion, who went underground after finishing his internship. The wounds are “ghastly,” but together they do what they can for the wounded. Some are beyond help and die; some they can save through surgery. They amputate five limbs.
Two days later Marion leaves, and Solomon wishes him luck and says he would go if their roles were reversed. “Tell the world about us,” he said. Marion thinks about that statement as he treks to the border with his two escorts. Solomon probably does not think of him as an occupier, as an Ethiopian and therefore the enemy. Marion thinks he is likely seen as an expatriate, someone with nothing at stake in this war. Despite being born in the same country, speaking Amharic like a native, and going to medical school with him, Solomon still sees Marion as a foreigner. Perhaps Solomon is right—if he loves his country he should be willing to stay, or fight, or die for it.
In Khartoum, Marion is able to call a number Adid has arranged to let Hema know he is safe. After two days in the sweltering heat, Marion flies into Kenya. In Nairobi, Mr. Eli Harris, a pillar of beneficence to Missing for decades, and Matron have a room arranged for him at a mission clinic. Marion works at the clinic and spends all his free time studying for the exams he has to pass in order to begin his postgraduate work in America.
At first Marion spends his evenings in the bars, drowning his sorrows as he listens to music that does not move him. The drinking only makes things worse. Nairobi is beautiful like Addis Ababa, but this is the place to which Thomas Stone fled when his demons chased him out of Ethiopia. Every Tuesday night Marion calls Hema at a different friend’s house, as they had arranged. Things are no better there, and if Marion went back he would still be in danger. As soon as he passes the exams, Marion applies for his visa at the American Embassy; Eli Harris expedites the process.
Marion leaves Africa on a note of righteous indignation: if his country is willing to believe the worst of him and torture him merely on suspicion, if it does not want his services as a physician, then he will disown it. In truth, Marion knows he would not return to Ethiopia now even if he could. He wants out of Africa and is beginning to think Genet has done him an unexpected favor.
