Famine

Chapter Twenty-One

Jonah traveled to St. Louis to meet with church elders.  From there he would fly to Berlin, Germany.  Both Catholic and Lutheran churchmen representing themselves as historians hosting his next week’s lecture series met him at the airport.

   “Jonah Mark?”  A uniformed museum caretaker extended his hand.  “Let me take your bag, my colleague has a taxi waiting.”

   Once in the taxi, the caretaker introduced himself.  “I’m Father Finnegan and this is Reverend Haas.”  Sensing that Jonah was uncomfortable, he said, “It’s okay, the taxi driver is our seminary student.”

    “I hear that you have things better organized here than back home,” Jonah remarked.

   “We can bribe local officials through a third party.  No one knows we are involved in our seminary.”

   “How did you pull that off?”

   “It’s not just a seminary but a business school.  We really do teach business courses with secular students included.  It’s just that no one pays attention to how we pack our classes.  The Christians are grouped together in classes.  No one suspects us at all.”

   Father Finnegan leaned over to ward Reverend Haas and said, “Tell him why the local Committee on Social-Environmental Ecology trusts you so much.”

   “I turned a Christian in to them for questioning and humiliation in our local Circus.”

   “What!”  Jonah was horrified.

   Father Finnegan laughed.  “No, Jonah, you are not riding with turncoats today, and we are not riding to the committee to turn you in.”

   “Please explain yourselves.”

   Father Haas folded his hands together.  He leaned back at Jonah.  “One of my colleagues at the seminary came down with terminal cancer.  The committee was not aware of his illness because our doctor diagnosing him is also a Christian.”

   Father Finnegan continued, “He begged us to turn him in.  As he saw it, he was not going to survive with his type of cancer, and his heart was in our seminary staying secret.  What better way to shift suspicion away from Reverend Haas or myself.  After a time, he convinced us.  We had to put on an act at the Circus, but he smiled when no one was looking.  We cried all day over it, but no one bothers us.  Then we also have our bribes to make sure.”

   “We have something else to show you.”  He smiled at Reverend Haas and looked back at Jonah.  “Are you hungry, Jonah?”

   In a few minutes they were in a fancy restaurant.  They sat while Jonah heard several patrons order the fish with chips and bread.  To drink, they had wine.  Father Finnegan leaned over to Jonah and whispered, “Watch what goes on here.”  Jonah remained quiet while Father Finnegan also ordered fish, chips, bread sticks, and wine for the three of them.

   Jonah was fascinated.  Some fifty other diners seemed to move in unnoticed unison.  Or rather in the same sequence.  One by one they picked their bread and almost on cue broke it into two pieces.  Then they ate half of it one piece and placed it to their left.  Each one placed the untouched bread sticks to the right side of their plates.

   Jonah leaned over to Father Finnegan.  “Will each one now take a sip of red wine from their glasses?”   He looked back around.

   Again, everyone of them raised their respective wine glasses no more than chest high and paused.  Some drank while others held off.  Those having taken a sip, did not place their glasses on the table but held them as if contemplating another sip first.  But within a minute all had drunk and put their wine glasses down. All then resumed eating at random, finishing their meals, and leaving the restaurant at random until everyone was gone.