“So, you’ve known or suspected that the boy you saw in Ed Debba was Todd Kuhn, you believe that Eric is either completely and incurably nearsighted... not likely, but for some reason he refused to identify Todd. Furthermore, whether Kashah kidnapped Todd or not, he saved Todd’s life and now you’re going to try to get the kid to his parents?”
“Yes, but we must have blood tests to determine his blood type. And you and I will have our blood type determined here in Khartoum too, for confirmation--”
“Confirmation?” Peter frowned, ran his tongue over his lower lip. “They have the ability to define blood groups here in Khartoum?”
“Yes. I’ve checked. And, we know our blood types, right? You know your blood type and I know my blood type.”
“Yes, that’s true.” In this way we can certify the blood type they determine for Toddy is correct. You got it?”
“But they could certify Toddy’s blood type in Berlin, too, Daniel and with great accuracy.”
“I trust they shall perform further tests and therefore we will have further confirmation that we have the right boy. The young Mr. Kuhn.”
“But you already know he’s the Kuhn’s youngest son, don’t you?”
“Indeed I do. At least I believe he’s Toddy. The kid’s memory lapse is bothersome though.” Daniel paused and rubbed his forehead. “Pete,” he said licking his lips. “Wouldn’t it be unbelievable if this young kid is not Toddy?” He looked directly at Peter.
“But your were certain this is Toddy.”
“Yeah, Pete, but I could be wrong,” Daniel said. He stood and rubbed his fly front.
“Well, Pete, to change the subject, do you know what we are?”
“Horny,” Peter said and they laughed.
“Not after tonight, sir,” Daniel promised.
“I’m ‘A’, I think. Yes, I know it. I’m an ‘A’ blood type.”
“Good. I’m an ‘O’. I can give blood to anyone or so they say.”
“You’re what they refer to as the universal blood type, isn’t that correct?”
“Correct!” He poured water into Peter’s glass. Are we going to sit around, wrapped in towels, all afternoon?”
“No. I’m going to take a nap until five-thirty and you should, too.”
“I shall.”
“But to finish my story, Peter. When we get to his family, we’ll insist they take blood tests, and he will be like one of them, maybe both, I trust.”
“To prove he’s their kid, right?”
“To finally prove it and settle the situation.”
“And you collect the reward.”
“I’m giving the reward to those missionaries--”
“The Gladstons?”
“Right and some of the money is going to an entertainment fund for the young German soldiers under Major Raif’s command.”
“Well, I don’t know him.”
“He helped me a lot in getting Toddy to Khartoum.” He stood, held his towel around his waist, and let it drop as he finished drinking water. “It must be the heat. I’m exhausted. I’m going to lay in the bed next to Toddy for an hour or so. He’s asleep by now. You should rest in your room, too.”
“Yep,” Peter said and walked behind Daniel.
“Look at him. He’s sleeping on the floor.” Daniel bent over and shook Todd’s arm and helped lift him to his feet. He squinted at Daniel. “Hey young fella, get upon the bed. You don’t have to sleep on the floor anymore.”
Todd crawled onto the bed. Daniel threw him a towel. He covered himself and rolled over on his side.
“I’ll be next door, Daniel,” Peter said.
Daniel crawled in to the empty bed and glanced over at Todd who lay on his stomach. He buried his head in the crook of his arm and took a deep breath.
Peter said: “Daniel, tell me I’m wrong. Is there something bothering you about the story of this kid?”
“How did you know?” He spoke without raising his head, his words muffled.
“From your tone, I think. But something bothers me, too.”
“What bothers you?”
“I can’t put my finger on it.” He wrinkled his forehead. “Daniel, are you married?”.
“No. But what I feel doesn’t make sense.” Daniel turned his head and looked up at Peter. “I’ve had this strange feeling, maybe even a compulsion, since I began searching for this kid. Maybe one day I’ll know what bothers me. It’s like I wish he were my kid.”
Peter nodded. “Well, maybe the answer is in the reason you started to search for him.” Daniel turned over and rested on his elbows. Peter’s heart beat rapidly as memories surfaced of Paris and home. Suddenly he wanted to be there, with his wife. “Maybe I’ve hit pay dirt.”
“Maybe you’re on target, Peter. I don’t know. See you in a few hours.”
Peter walked around the bed and laid a towel over Daniel’s midsection. “I could be wrong, Daniel, but I’ve got a feeling in my belly. There is a time when a man doesn’t realize he’s agonizing over a woman. Don’t take offense. I can see and also hear that you need to be married. You need the love of a woman.”
Daniel arched an eyebrow and stared out through the shuttered windows at the yellow, late afternoon sky. He couldn’t keep his tongue from touching the inside of his mouth as he listened and pondered Peter’s advise. “But it affects everything a fellow does. He tries to figure some way to get in the lady’s good graces.” Peter looked down at the slumbering Todd. And I think I know what you’re doing and why you’re doing it, he said to himself and continued talking to Daniel. “He’ll turn the world upside down to get where he wants to go, and sometimes, people get hurt on the way. But he won’t stop. He can’t. He’s got a drive in him he can’t control because he doesn’t know it’s there. He probably wouldn’t control it if he knew how.”
“I think I understand what you’re saying.” Daniel yawned and closed his eyes. He wanted to acknowledge Peter’s words but had trouble staying awake. He felt fingers on his shoulder. “You’ve got to follow your heart, my friend. I did, as far as I could. I’m not even certain I have a marriage anymore.”
Daniel listened as Peter walked to the door and shut it. He raised himself on one elbow and looked at Todd. He noticed the boy’s blond hair and straightened the towel over him. He saw Margarethe in his heart. Who would have believed those few moments in Shendi, some months ago, could have changed my life? Who would have thought that I would find and return her twelve year old son to her and for some reason, be hesitant to return him.
Daniel turned over on his back and put the towel over his belly. His swelling was diffiecult to ignore. He needed relief and decided to remember Margarethe’s tent, her endearing smile and her giggle. He couldn’t believe she was nearly ten years older than he. He wouldn’t think about their age difference. He thought he smelled her body perfume.






CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

Margarethe’s mind wandered back in time, over desert sands, to the small village of Shendi. It’s in the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, someone had said. All I remember about Shendi is we stopped there, an unimpressive village, we met Major Raif, John disappeared for several days and the good looking American with an appealing dimple in his chin showed up. Yes. The talented and very clever American. What did he do? Oh, yes. He is a reporter. She recalled better now. What was the name of the wine they drank?
John still had not told her what happened during those few days he was absent. Why he was so disturbed. “John? Are you still awake?”
“Yes, barely.”
“You’ve never told me what happened to you when you vanished for two days. Remember? In Shendi?”
He flipped over and faced her. “Why now, Margarethe?” His eyes gleamed. “It was not one of my finer moments.”
“Finer moments? Did those nasty Arabs force you to present yourself sexually with a harem Did they force you to perform?
“No,” he said raising up on one arm. His fly was open. “They forced me to dance and play with myself while they poked at me with bayonets an spears.”
“What? Outrageous! The German Army?”
“No, damnit, Margarethe, some of those Arabs! At one time I guessed they were starved for sex, but no more. We were somewhere in Arabia. I’m not certain I ever knew out exact location. We had trucks and rolled silently into this small village at night. I thought I’d gone deaf. Undercover, you know. Didn’t want the British to know about us.” He unbuttoned his fly more. “Are you certain you want to hear about this disgrace?”
“Yes, John.” She touched his chest and encircled his chest hair with her fingers.
“Well, darling, I waited in a small transport and suddenly was faced with these robed figures, their faces covered, poking at me with rifles and bayonets. When I finally saw their faces, I understood why they covered them. You can’t imagine how ugly they were.”
“Wasn’t anyone on guard with you or guarding you?”
“No. I don’t know where they all disappeared to after we had made our initial contact.”
“Then you completed your official business?”
“Oh, well, yes, of course.”
“And they needed you for to exhibit yourself?”
“Margarethe, my darling... “ He watched her undo his drawstring. He became aroused. His face went crimson. He started breathing heavier.
“They took me to a smelly small house. A mud hut. The stairs led down into a large room they had hollowed out. It was terrible. First they tied me up.”
“This is getting more gruesome by the minute.” She looked closer at her husband’s genitals. She touched his bruised shaft first then the head covered with scratches--teethmarks. She gasped.“You’re still bleeding a little.”
“Don’t think it was funny, Margarethe. I believed I was as good as dead.”
“Well, they didn’t kill you.”
“No. They had these smelly women, they actually smelled like grease, rancid butter, take my clothes off. One guy poked my hand with the sharp end of his bayonet, probably weapons we gave them and they danced around me as they stripped off even my boots and stockings. I knew I was a goner.”
“No other Germans around?”
“None.”
“They stripped you down to your magnificence?”
“Don’t be cute, Margarethe. Me, your husband, I... was... dinner! They had a huge black boiling pot and yes, I could have easily fit inside it. Don’t laugh!”
“Oh, John,” she said and giggled. She rolled her eyes. “You’re teasing me. Or are you trying to arouse me with your escapade of lies?”
“Listen, Margarethe. They shredded my shorts and finally took off my belt and allowed me to stand with only my undershorts on: you could see everything I owned. Then just as they were going to cut my body into strips, the elders entered the room accompanied by whoops and hollers. The elders were men and women, I think, I couldn’t see faces too well, and the young women started to dance around my body. They shouted at me and spit on me. I didn’t know what they wanted me to do. They kissed my body, bit my nipples and many grabbed me, viciously, rubbing and slapping, and pinched and tugged at my scrotum--”
“Hard?”
“It was OK--”
Margarethe laughed.
“Don’t laugh. Please don’t. Well, it may seem funny now, now that I’m still alive to tell the story. But not at the time.”
He began perspiring. He threw off his covers. “Whew! It’s getting hot again.” He knelt on the bed and faced her. She pulled herself to a sitting position and folded her arms across her chest. He took turns glancing at her eyes and her breasts.
“Those women danced around me, and that crowd was not friendly.”
“They didn’t like your dancing?”
“I didn’t know. I guessed they wanted me to dance and I was going to oblige until a voice called out to me, ‘Dance, Nazi. Shake your ass, or we cut your jewels off.’ It was then I knew they wanted to see me dance. Make a fool of me. I understood what they wanted. I didn’t know why, though”
“And did you dance?”
“I did but they took swipes at my body with their knives and bayonets. Margarethe you saw the thin cuts on me, all over.”
“Yes. I did John. But they weren’t--”
“Well, they hurt anyway. They cut me and splashed me with salty water, it may have been urine or camel piss. It had an odor of old wood mixed with dead cats.”
“I didn’t know you knew what old wood and dead cats smelled like.”
“Just a guess.” He ran his hand down his belly. Margarethe was amused at John’s predicament but was angry because Arab women had seen her husband naked with his prize erection. “And then, these women, big tits and bigger behinds, started tugging at my shorts, what was left of them, with their teeth mind you.”
“Their teeth?”
“It was terrible. One nipped at the skin on my shaft. I had to stop shaking my arse. You remember the blood?”
“Yes. Poor John.” She frowned.
“Yes, poor John. Well it’s more than poor John. One of those women ripped my shorts off and got on me and wouldn’t let go. Others held me still to keep me from running--”
“What do you mean she got on you?”
“She clamped her mouth over my quivering shaft and created a most satisfying vacuum. Her lower lip worked on my nuts. She moved up and down. The screaming got louder. My ears buzzed. I perspired heavily. She knew how to do it. I began to get aroused, someone stuck a finger up my, well, you know where, at least I think it was a finger, and finally I didn’t want it to stop. I began pumping her so hard I think she smiled. Maybe she screamed. Her eyes widened, but she never let go of my hammer. I was amazed. I could have swung her around the room and she would have held on, I’m sure. We fell to the floor. I could care less about the knives and bayonets. They all watched and preferred me pumping her mouth, of course I was on top, than watch me dance--”
“John, you’re all wet. They raped you, no? You had no choice.” “They raped me yes, but there’s more.”
“Oh, please John. How much more. You poor man.”
His eyes narrowed as she continued caressing his belly and thighs. He was uncertain of her sympathy. “No. I finally pumped all my juice. It was not a small amount. They knew from my body motion what had happened. They cheered, and she finally pulled up on me, kept her lips tight around my pole, as though she didn’t want to spill a drop, got up and all the women followed her out of the room screaming at her.”
“I don’t understand.”
“I didn’t either at first. Margarethe, your husband may be the first involuntary donor for blond children in the Middle East.”
“Yes. I think she spread my joy around everywhere, far and wide.”
“An animal activity, John. Could it work? Could one man impregnate hundreds at the same time in that manner? I wonder.”
“Margarethe, control yourself. I didn’t understand until Major Raif explained.” John knew he must change the story. He couldn’t tell Margarethe the same story Raif told him. I can’t tell her they want blond children to sell into the slave trade. These people want blond kids because they believe they are good luck, a gift from heaven or Allah as they put it and because they love fair kids so much.”
“Really John? Women can get pregnant?”
“How would I know. But the Major said so. Yes, my love.”
“Persuade me, my darling. I don’t know what’s wrong. I can’t seem to get enough of your--you. In the daytime, when you are at the bank, I want you home in bed with me, inside me and very, very hard.”
“I understand, darling. This whole tragedy of Toddy has caused us to appreciate each other more. It’s the fear of losing what we have, I think.”
“I agree, darling,” she said. She didn’t want him to get sidetracked into an analysis at this moment. “Kiss me and force my legs apart. I want you, now.”
He probed her hard mound to force entry. She gasped. “Don’t tease me tonight darling. Do it now. I need you.”
Fireplace flames cast a dancing shadow of lovers onto the bare wall. John saw his buttocks rise and fall as he pleased Margarethe and she moaned. He enjoyed watching the shadows and his naked body.
“I want to go to Celeste’s grave and soon,” Margarethe said. “Maybe next year, darling,” he said taking short breaths. He wiggled his hip and forced himself in and out, then without warning, went deeper, as far as he could go. “I can’t stop now, Margarethe and I can’t pull it out.”
“Oh I feel it, darling. Don’t stop. Don’t stop.”
They screamed, picked up the tempo and finally reached a final rage. He lowered himself onto her and became quiet. They lay silent for a long time. John lay with his head on her breast. She stroked him, down his back, up over the curve of a buttock, around his ears and cheek. “I love to feel your butt. It’s so soft and yet so hard, so masculine. You’re still hard and long inside me. Feeling your body makes me want you again.”
He looked at the silhouette of the curve of his body on the wall and watched her hand stroke him. He wanted her to slap his butt and whispered in her ear.
“Again?” she asked.
“I’ve got some left,” he said. “A little sugar.” He pulled himself up higher on body. “Slap me hard. Harder. Now!”
He made no attempt to enter her again. She slapped him with her hand and he began kissing her deeply moving his tongue faster. He turned on his side and they continued to kiss. She grabbed her large hairbrush from the nightstand and began to slap his buttocks harder. She came down on his buttock and he moaned and he started rotating his hips. Suddenly she felt his warm release on her stomach and thighs. She didn’t know she could please him this way. She didn’t know what to say to him. She knew she blushed.
“Marvelous,” he said as he stopped thrusting his hips. Perspiration poured from him. He acted weak.
“Where did you learn about the hairbrush?” she asked.
“From my buddy at the Polarium--”
“Oh?”
“He showed me some film and pictures he has. I’ve wanted to try this for a long time.” He breathed heavily.
“You enjoyed it, didn’t you, darling?”
“Yes. The feeling is so intense.” She handed him her handkerchief. “Lisa will have to wash the bedclothes tomorrow--”
“But tonight we sleep as we are now, don’t we?”
“Only if you promise to take me Paris next spring,” she said stroking his face.
“I promise,” he said.
“Good.”
They pulled the covers up over them. John pointed to the silhouettes on the wall. Can you see our heads and our feet?”
“Yes.”
“Can you see the tent pole?” He raised his hand up from the middle of his body.
They laughed. Margarethe yawned. “Next spring then?”
“I promise.”


CHAPTER FORTY
“Marvelous food, Major. What did you call it, Irish stew?”
“I’d call is stew. But, there’s undoubtedly many names for it. But, you say, you enjoyed it?”
Daniel nodded and Peter said: “It is very good for German Army food anyway. I couldn’t prepare a better stew.” He turned to Todd. “He tiger, did you like it?”
“Yes. It was good. And I was hungry.”
“Well, gentlemen, may I escort you around the camp?” Peter asked and chuckled. “Come with me.”
He pointed with his riding stick. “We have about one-hundred troops here. Ten officers, four cooks and the rest specialty troops. The tents are four man tents, spread out because of the marauders. He bent down and whispered to Todd, “Arabs who steal from anyone they can.” He winked at Todd, Todd smiled and Peter glanced up at the moon, in full phase. “I don’t think it’s a good idea for us to journey too far from the station building--”
A shot echoed. The men stopped. Todd’s eyes opened wide as Peter gulped and clutched his throat. He twisted, shouted and fell writhing to his knees, then to the ground. Daniel knelt beside him aghast at the heavy flow of blood from Peter’s throat. He placed the palm of his hand against Peter’s throat. The blood continued flowing heavily.
A warning horn sounded and filled the air in all directions with its ominous warning. Todd looked up. Guards with their rifles at the ready surrounded the group. Major Raif pulled Todd down. “Lay flat son,” Alex said. “Behind the dune; the tall one over there,” the Major said, and directed the soldiers. “Get that bastard!” he shouted, his voice rising in great anger.
Daniel lay close to Peter. His eyes stared at nothing. He breathed rapidly and sucked in air. He wasn’t getting enough air. Suddenly Peter stopped twitching and frowned. He became calm. His eyes finally turned in Daniel’s direction.
“Go find your love, Danny.” He breathed as though puffing. His uneven voice sounded somber.
“Sh. Don’t talk, my friend,” Daniel said. “They’ve sent for a medic.”
Peter’s breathing slowed. He spoke in a tone a he would speak to a priest. Todd knew Peter was giving his last confession. The blood flow could not be stopped. His hand and arm was deep crimson. Daniel pinched his lips close together and held back his tears. He stroked Peter’s hand and felt Peter’s body tremble.
“I had my love,” Peter said. His voice was softer, in staccato. “She wanted children.... I didn’t.... We grew farther apart.... When I left...home the last time...she said she didn’t care...when...or if I came back.” His hand moved slowly up Daniel’s arm and he grabbed it. His grasp was weak. “We loved each other so much at one time. It seems very long ago now. I want children now. I have none,” he said as a tear drop rolled down his cheek. He put his hand up to Daniel’s chin. His voice was weaker. “We must go forward and learn...from...mistakes. I made a big one. Tell my wife, if you can.” His chest heaved. “Please. Tell her.” He breathed a few times, heaving his chest heavily then shallow, and cried: “Oh, God! My God!”
Perspiraton covered Peter’s face and the blood flow from his neck ceased. Daniel could not discern Peter’s face through his own tears. He wiped his face and looked for the last time at Peter’s still face. Daniel closed Peter’s eyes gently with his hand. He recalled a poem he heard one time at a soldier’s funeral and said it silently to Peter.
As the words of the poem moved through Daniel’s mind, Todd knelt next to him. Their bodies touched. Todd clumsily put his arm around Daniel’s waist and patted him. Daniel sobbed and caused Todd to cry. They cried over the dead body of a friend.
Daniel was aware of men shouting. Suddenly soldiers were everywhere. They quickly placed Peter’s body on a stretcher and carried him away leaving Daniel and Todd kneeling. “What do you do in the case of a death?” Daniel asked as he rose to his feet.
“We wrap them carefully and place them in a sealed casket and then ship it to Cairo. It’s processed from there and then shipped to the individual’s home.”
Daniel watched the stretcher with the two shuffling soldiers disappear. Major Raif touched his arm. He pointed toward the horizon. “They caught the bastard.”
Daniel’s blood coursed through his veins. His anger mounted. He hated the Arab the soldiers dragged toward him. “The other bastards ran, Major, but this is the one who fired the shot. The others were congratulating him when we came upon them.”
“Are you in charge or am I in charge, Major?”
Raif sensed Daniel’s rage and understood Daniel’s meaning. “Under the circumstances, sir,” he said.
Daniel removed Raif’s knife from his scabbard and began shredding the man’s soiled gray shirt and baggy pants. He held the knife in his teeth and wiped the pig grease off his hands onto the man’s face.The Arab shrieked. Daniel heard the word ‘Allah’ and knew the man begged to be spared. He ripped off the shredded shirt and continued smearing pig fat over the man’s shoulder and down over his chest and stomach. The man screamed louder. He became limp and fell to his knees. The soldiers picked him up and forced him to stand.
He shook his head and begged as Daniel took the knife from between his teeth.
“An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, you bastard,” he shouted as the knife went in with no resistance. “You didn’t kill a soldier. You killed my friend,” he said shaking with rage. He marked the man’s belly and stuck the knife tip against his skin. He thrust it forward.
Daniel knew the knife plunged in above the man’s navel. He felt the Arab’s internal organs through the knife blade. As he pulled the knife out, he let the blood run over his hand. The man shivered. His eyes fluttered. He plunged the knife again and this time felt it slide between the ribs. It stuck in the man and Daniel guessed it rested in his heart. “God forgive me,” he said. He took Todd’s hand and walked away toward his tent. Todd frowned and was silent.
The hurried along the hard clay walkway toward their tent. Todd didnt’ speak. He whimpered. Daniel let go of his hand as he stepped up in the tent. He rushed to the table, picked up a bottle of Kashti, uncorked it and gulped down several swallows. He set it on the table and rubbed his face hard with his hands to hide his tears. He finally sat on the bunk’s edge.
Todd looked at the green liquid in the tall bottle and picked it up. He swallowed a small amount. It burns: my throat, my stomach. It’s like perfume.
Daniel spread his fingers to watch Todd drink. He sniffed and cleared his throu. Todd’s reaction caused Damiel to chuckle. Todd frowned, gulped more wine, then smiled. He held the bottle up again. He set it on the table in the center of the tent, tried to put his hand on his hip and staggered. Daniel laughed louder as Todd staggered toward him. He stood up as Todd stumbled forward, grabbed his shoulders and held him tight against his body. He held the back of Todd’s head and moaned, “Oh, Toddy, will we ever forget this day?” Todd pushed his head lower as if he wanted to hide. He patted Daniel’s shoulder gently and said, “Everything is fine now. Don’t cry.” Daniel held Todd close to him. This is some kid, he thought, I wish he were my son.



End of Chapters 37, 38 and 40,
from Letters From Celeste.
There are 54 Chapters in this Adventure Novel.