Chapter 14

2007 – Home at States

I might have been heartbroken, but I wasn’t totally stupid. I didn’t trust the Company, and I had triple-checked my status before we returned home. I did trust my lawyer and my PI, but I was sure that putting some pressure on them wasn’t above some ‘authorities.’ When I had managed to get more or less the same information from three different sources, I considered that it was safe to return.

As soon as we were in front of the judge and the social services people, it was clear that there wouldn’t be any kind of apology. One look at the social worker told me that she was absolutely sure that I was a child molester who just hadn’t gotten caught, yet. My feelings were still varying between heartbroken and angry and the latter was getting more and more space. Finally, the judge assured me that there wouldn’t be any further attempts to take Pam away from me. Then I turned to my lawyer.

“Now we have this FIRST issue sorted, we can start discussing compensation. After all, I had to leave my home here and take some filthy jobs out of the country. I would most probably have my doctorate already, and the filing of those second and third patents was seriously delayed. The first patent was valued some millions and the other two can easily be the same.”

I kept on looking at one particular woman when I talked to my lawyer. I saw her skin turn ashen pale, and even the judge looked uncertain when he looked at us.

“Mr. Harris, I don’t think that we agreed about any kind of compensation...”

“So you think that it was okay that I had to leave the country because of some false allegations?”

“If you had stayed in the country the truth might have come out sooner.”

“You all know that is bullshit. They would have taken my daughter away from me, and it would have been a wonder if I’d been able to see her again before she turned eighteen. I’ve been paying a serious amount of money in legal fees just because some idiot wanted to believe some rumors that were told about me.”

Now the social worker looked really sick, but it seemed that she had to defend herself.

“I don’t have to listen to this!”

“So you deny that you have been in contact with certain lawyers who may have their own reasons to cause me some harm?”

“We can never reveal our sources.”

“So you won’t mind if my PI plays the recording he made of the two of you discussing this very case in a public park?”

Things got a bit crazy after that. If the truth be told, the recording alone wouldn’t have been enough for any kind of conviction in any court. But when the judge looked at the poor social worker, she really was oozing guilt. When she tried to explain things she only managed to make things worse for her bureau.

It was a few days later when my lawyer and I were called in for a private meeting. The result was that I would not be getting rich, but they would pay ‘reasonable costs.’ I wouldn’t have to pay my lawyer from my own pockets. I guessed that was a victory, even if it was a Pyrrhic one. Luckily for me, they wanted to settle this issue out of court.

Once again I concentrated on finding us a place to live, and then started preparing Pam for high school that would start next autumn. I myself discussed my own doctoral studies with my professors. I had stayed in contact with my professors, even though I had been traveling. I was a bit surprised that they accepted most of the stuff I had written during those times as a part of my studies. I was even more surprised to find out that they wanted me to ‘defend my dissertation’ at the end of the summer. I guess that the fact that I had been able to invent something that could be patented and used in building helped quite a lot.

The following month and a half was a busy time for both of us. Pam familiarized herself with the high school stuff, and I prepared myself for the dissertation. We decided that we’d not buy an apartment or a house before my dissertation. If I at any time showed some signs of depression, she interrupted me with some stupid question regarding high school. Most of the time I was so busy that I had no time to think about Marie and what she had done to me - or us. Without Pam it would have been much, much worse.

2009 – Sudan & Egypt

Even though Wadi Halfa wasn’t a big city, we had no problems fitting in and eating in a restaurant. However, I did notice that all the policemen and some of the local army took a very close look at all the tourists there. Especially couples with children were checked very carefully. We managed to have a decent meal and I bargained with the taxi driver for the trip to the port the following day. Finally, we got a deal that we could both agree on which meant that he robbed me only one fourth of the amount he would have from the western tourists. But since he had noticed that he would be much more likely to be stopped and searched while driving Westerners he accepted my offer.

The increased activity on the streets wasn’t unnoticed by the ladies. When we returned to our hotel room in order to spend the evening there, we were able to relax at least a bit. We stayed inside our room during the times of prayers, since I didn’t really want to risk screwing up with that. I was sure that I could have done that, but I wasn’t at all sure about anyone else. Or maybe I should say that I was sure that Karen would have had problems. However, Karen decided to use the break to ask us - or me - some questions.

“Greg, may I ask you if you have been married before? I mean, before now.”

It seemed that Hana and Pam didn’t tell her much during that one day at my home.

“Yes, you may - and yes, I have been. I’ve also been engaged once more if you need to know.”

She certainly could not miss the edge in my voice but it didn’t stop her. Hana was holding Naiya and she was sitting next to me. I took a look at her, but she didn’t show any interest in taking part in this discussion. She knew about my past - and Pam of course knew it all. On the other hand, I had no intention in giving Karen any information she didn’t need to know. Being my ex-fiancée and a journalist both were items that encouraged me even less. I decided to go into the ‘offense’ mode.

“Karen, please tell us what you are doing here. I seriously cannot believe that the public would be dying to know about a small charity operation that would help the life of some ragheads out there.”

That threw her a bit out of her course. By the way we were all looking at her, there was no way how she could get out of it now.

“Oh, hmm - I did manage to get them to pay me for this trip and I promised them a human interest story about some fellow Americans working out there helping those ... ragheads.”

Good, she got a bit angry from my choice of words. That should help me some.

“So, you ‘accidentally’ picked a place in Sudan in the middle of nowhere and you decided to go there?”

“No.”

“Do you mean that it wasn’t an accident or did the decision come from someone else?”

Now she looked a bit uneasy.

“No, it was my decision and damn, I wanted to find you. I just didn’t know that you were married and had a family. Happy now?”

There is something that they say about even the best laid plans and my plan to push her limits hardly was a plan at all, and now it had backfired on me. It took everything that I had learned during the years that I didn’t reveal my own shock. Karen was so distracted herself that she didn’t notice how Hana and Pam reacted. I did.

I calmed myself down before responding to Karen.

“No, Karen, there is nothing in watching you being miserable that would make me happy. There was a time I really loved you, and I’ll probably always love you some. Back then I believed that we’d be together for the rest of our lives, but as we both know it didn’t turn out that way. But you should also know that I’ve forgiven you long ago, and I don’t wish anything bad happening to you. When it comes to my marital status, I guess it is something that is between my family and me - or just my wife and me - especially since neither of us has any other living relatives.”