Scattered Seeds

Chapter Twelve

"Wakey, wakey," Tom's voice tingled in Luke's ears.

The publicist groaned; his eyes still sealed shut with sleepiness.

Tom's butt odor had taken quite a long time to clear out, and Luke found it impossible to fall asleep until the air was once again breathable.

"Oh, Lu-uke!" Tom chimed, making two syllables out of his name.

When Luke thrashed his head to the side in protest Tom thought his plan almost foiled, but Luke's eyes remained closed.

"Rise and shine!" Tom sounded with a loud clap of his hands.

"Alright, I'm...,"

Luke's eyes sprung open as he turned his head forward again. To his utter repulsion was greeted by the creased and callused sole of Tom's large, bony foot. Before Luke could even respond to the disgusting site, Tom bonked him on the tip of his nose with his big turtle-headed toe.

"You cheeky bastard!" Luke spat, swatting Tom's foot away.

Tom roared with hysterical laughter, shuffling his foot over Luke's upper body in more torment.

Luke squirmed away, shoving at the foot and calf Tom suspended over him and cussing about how this was no way to start the day.

After breakfast, As Sy took them Kulmis Primary and Secondary school.

He gave a brief history, explaining that the school's physical structure had been destroyed during the civil war and rebuilt with support from UNICEF complete with child-friendly sanitation facilities.

As Sy informed the group that the NGO organization Farjano Foundation managed the school in the absence of an effective government education authority, and that UNICEF worked hand-in-hand with them.

Tom regarded the closed, vacant school. The wooden building, once a symbol of hope for the future of Jowhar's children, was now in shambles. The majority of the roof was caved it; what remained was charred beyond repair. Parts of the exterior were missing, windows were shattered, and the four hundred fifty-one foot perimeter wall built by UNICEF aids and local citizens in February of 2006 was all but destroyed.

"Al-Shabaab was particularly hard on Kulmis this time," As Sy told Tom when he noticed how the Englishman stared at the school.

Tom's expression reflected his great displeasure as he imagined how base a man must be to attack a school.

"Were there...," Jess started, but then paused to consider if she truly wanted to know the answer to her question. "Was school in session at the time?"

Tom's eyes snapped to hers, and then to As Sy's.

"I am very sorry to say that it was," the Director lamented. As Sy lowered his head, and then wiped at the corners of his eyes. "We lost sixty souls here that day," he told them. "One of them was my eight-year-old son."

A sharp stab of grief struck each of the Westerners' hearts.

"I'm so very sorry, As Sy," Louise soothed as she stroked his shoulder. "I didn't even know you were married."

The man shook his head; a far off look passing over his features. He raised his eyebrows and offered her a sad smile. "I lost Saida last year."

Bitter memories of the day al-Shabaab arrested his wife on the erroneous charge that she was spying for the Transitional Federal Government were never far from his heart. A vision of Saida in front of a firing squad flashed in his mind.

As Sy remembered his Love's peaceful gaze before the rifles sounded. How Saida managed to give him one last smile still tore him apart inside.

"Abdikarin was all that I had left."