I Bless the Rains

Akeela laughed. "Of course you can, baby girl. We were just talking about how we feel about you and each other."

"How do you feel?" Mora asked.

"We love you very much," Cabot said. "We were talking about what's going to happen when we get to safety."

"What is going to happen?" she asked.

"We're hoping that you will still want us to be part of your lives," he said.

He looked at Kira and saw tears on her cheeks. He pulled her close. "What's wrong?" he asked.

He could feel her trembling as she spoke. "You are all our lives, Cabot. You and Akeela are all we have. We would be dead, or worse," she shivered, "if not for you. Can we not stay with you? We have nothing, and no one. Only you. Please tell us that you will not leave us."

Akeela gathered them in her arms. "No, we won't leave you. You can be with us. I don't know what's going to happen, but I promise you all that if I can do anything at all, you will always have a place with me. I could never abandon you or let anything happen to you."

She turned to Cabot. "Say something," she ordered.

He started. "Yes, of course. Don't worry, girls. I feel just like Akeela. I love you so much, and I'll never let anything bad happen to you."

Mora looked gravely at him. "Do you love Akeela? Will you stay with her and love her? We need both of you, Cabot."

He struggled for words. "I do love Akeela," he said. "I love her just like you. Well, not just like you, but in the same way, and more. Do you understand?"

They nodded. "You want to be more to her," Kira said.

"That's right, but things like that are different than me loving you," he said. "I'll always love her, and you, like that. The other is different. It's more difficult, and we'll have to see what happens. We might become more. If not, I'll still love her as I do you. Do you understand.

There were silent nods, again. "Do you think we could catch some fish and eat them?" Jema asked.

The whole group broke into laughter and they got fishing tackle out. They did catch fish, and eat them, and the moment was gone.

Akeela kept up her relentless teasing, and Cabot found himself thinking of her constantly. When they were together, he was enchanted and when they were apart, he wished they were together.

Akeela had strong emotional moments. She knew she was falling deeply in love with this man, and it troubled her a little. He was totally outside her experience and expectations. She had never really been in love, and it was very upsetting to her. She was no virgin, but her experience had been with revolutionaries and university students from her background and upbringing.

Someone like Cabot was completely outside what she was comfortable with, but she felt deeply stirred by him and found herself drawing ever closer.

Cabot guided the "Princess" gently into the dock at Mpulungu, then jumped down and helped Akeela and the dock crew secure her.

"Akeela, don't let the girls wander too far from the boat."

"Where are you going, Cabot?" Akeela asked.

"I'm going to try to find a buyer for the "Princess." We don't need her any more, and we can use whatever cash we can get for her," Cabot said, and headed towards the village.

Cabot wasn't gone very long when Akeela saw him coming back with the biggest, blackest man that Akeela had ever seen. He was at least 6'4" and well over 200 pounds. He was barefoot with pants torn off at the knees and an unbuttoned colorful shirt. He had a big belly, but he wasn't fat, and he didn't look like someone to be messed with. A short, unlit cigar and a battered straw hat completed his look as Cabot brought him aboard the "Princess."

"Akeela, this is Mr. Azibo. He's a dealer in all sorts of things, doesn't ask too many questions and might be interested in purchasing the "Princess."

"Mr. Preston failed to adequately describe how lovely you are, Miss Akeela," he said with a slight bow as he gently took her hand.

Akeela was surprised at how cultured Mr. Azibo sounded.

"Thank you, Mr. Azibo," Akeela said, "Cabot can be quite forgetful at times ."

Cabot cleared his throat.

"Why don't I show you around the "Princess," Mr. Azibo," Cabot said.

"Yes, yes, of course," said Mr. Azibo, "Please, lead the way."

After seeing the boat Mr. Azibo made Cabot an offer. Cabot knew it was far less than the "Princess" was worth, and he bargained for a little more, but Mr. Azibo had him over a barrel. He knew that Cabot wasn't the legal owner of the "Princess," and really had nowhere else to go.

Most important, he was willing to pay cash, and allow them to stay on board until Cabot found a way to get them to Lake Malawi.

Acting on a tip from Mr. Azibo, Cabot made his way to an out of the way bar.

He was looking for Liam Mitchell, an American ex-pat. He was a bit unscrupulous, but honest, a bit of an oxymoron if there ever was one.

It wasn't hard to spot Mitchell; he was the only other white face in the bar. He grabbed a beer, took a sip and twisted his lips. Ugh, he wasn't expecting ice-cold, but he had hoped for a few degrees below room temperature. He made his way over to Mitchell's table.

"Mind if I sit?"

Mitchell gave a curt nod.

"I've been expecting you," Mitchell said.

Cabot raised his eyebrows.

"Not too many secrets in a village like this," Mitchell said, "Someone should have warned you about the beer, though." He chuckled.

"Now that we have the formalities out of the way," Mitchell said, "What brings you to my humble establishment?"

"You own this place?"

"No, no, just my feeble attempt at humor, "Mitchell said, "but they do allow me to use this table as my 'office.'

"So, what can I do for you, Mr..."

"Preston, Cabot Preston. I need to arrange transportation to Mozambique for me and my party, with as few complications as possible."

"Ah, yes," said Mitchell, "'complications.' I don't see very many people without 'complications.' Complications generally come with a high degree of risk. I've carved out a rather comfortable niche for myself here. Why should I risk it for you and your 'complications?'"

Cabot was silent for a few moments, trying to maintain an air of confidence under Mitchell's steely gaze, wondering just how much he could trust Mr. Mitchell. In the end, he really had no choice, and decided to confide in Mitchell.

"I'm a journalist, Mr. Mitchell, and I have evidence of government activities in Burundi to 'recruit' and train child soldiers, as well as child sex slaves, and need to get that evidence out to the world."

"I've heard stories about such things," Mitchell said, "and though I've lost my innocence a long, long time ago, found it difficult to believe that people could get so low."

"I have video evidence," Cabot said, patting his leather bag.

"No, no, I believe you, it's just that when you think people can't sink any lower, they insist on proving you wrong. You mentioned a party..."

"Yes, I have a young Kenyon woman, who had been working with the government..."

Mitchell started to interrupt.

"She knows better now," Cabot said, "We also have three teen-age girls that she rescued from a rebel village where they were doing the same thing."

Mitchell just shook his head in disgust.

"What you're asking is doable, but I have other interests and concerns. Before I commit to putting them aside I'd like to meet your group."

"No problem," Cabot said, "When would you like to do it?"

"No time like the present," Mitchell said, pushed himself away from the table and stood up. As he stood up, Cabot saw the pistol strapped to his hip and thought that this wasn't a man to be messed with.

As they made their way back to the "Princess," chatting about everything and nothing, Cabot found himself warming up to Mitchell. While Mitchell strove to project a cool hard exterior, Cabot felt that there was another Mitchell deep inside, one that he put a lot of effort into keeping buried.

Before he had any more time to work it out in his head, they had reached the "Princess" and Cabot was nearly knocked over by three little bombshells.

"Cabot, Cabot," they said as one, "We missed you so much!"

"Jeez, girls, I was only gone about an hour.

As he extricated himself from the girls, Akeela made her way down the gang plank.

If Mitchell was already charmed by the girls, he was blown away by Akeela. While not at her best, she was incredibly sex and cute, even after all that she had been through. Not knowing anything about her relationship with Cabot he decided to play it cool for the moment .

Cabot was the first to speak.

"Ladies, this is Liam Michell, I'm hoping that he can help us get to Lake Malawi. Liam, this is Akeela, Kira, her sister Mora and their cousin Jema."

The girls shyly shook his hand before hiding behind Akeela.

"I really hope that you can help us, Mr. Mitchell," Akeela said shaking his hand. "It's been a difficult journey and we could use any help that we can get."

"It's Liam, please, Miss Akeela," Mitchell said, "and I hope that I'll be able to help you in some small way." He slowly releasing her hand.

"So, Akeela," Mitchell said, "Cabot has pretty much filled me in, but why don't you tell me things from your perspective."

Akeela was silent for a few minutes as she gathered her thoughts.

"I don't know how much Cabot has told you, but after I got my Political Science degree from Moi University, I was attending a rally where the speaker, Jonathon Oyoloko, was giving a powerful speech about the horrors perpetrated by the rebels in Burundi. I was so moved that after his speech I sought him out to get more information.

"After speaking with him I decided that I wanted, I NEEDED to help, and he gave me the name of contact in Burundi, Franklin Omodo. I made my way into Burundi and found Franklin with surprisingly little difficulty, though the conditions were deplorable.

"Franklin was disappointed that I knew nothing about guns or fighting, but he was desperate, so he gave me a quick course, and I joined his small squad as we headed to a village where we heard the rebels were 'training' child soldiers, and worse.

"We slipped into the village with no problem, and Franklin and I ducked into a hut as the others made their way deeper into the village. Inside the hut we found Jema, Kira and Mora, terrified and huddled together in a corner. I coaxed them out, but just as we came out of the hut there was gunfire. The rebels knew we were there. Franklin and I made a quick decision to get out with the girls rather than risk getting captured.

"We hadn't gone very far when we heard some rebel soldiers coming. I sent the girls on ahead, while Franklin and I lay in ambush. There were only two of them, and Franklin and I made quick work of them and rushed to catch up with the girls. Fortunately, there was no further pursuit.

"We continued on, just following Franklin, I had no idea where we were going, when we heard something on the trail ahead. As I sent the girls into the tall grass, Franklin charged ahead, attacking someone who turned out to be Cabot. Cabot took him out and captured me.

"We had our differences, but we gradually came to trust each other a little more, then after Voorbeck..."

"Voorbeck?" Mitchell interrupted, "Hans Voorbeck? How in the world did you get hooked up with that low-life?"

"We had no choice," Cabot said, "We needed to get here from Kigoma, and you might say that our papers weren't exactly in order.

"In any case," Akeela continued, "we're here now, and we have to keep moving until it's safe for Cabot to show his evidence to the world. I need to get back to my life and the girls need to find a home."

Mitchell was turning things over in his mind then he said, "I'm probably going to regret this, but I guess I'm just a sucker for a pretty face and cute kids."

Cabot wasn't quite sure how he felt about that "pretty face" comment, but kept his thoughts to himself.

"Just how do you plan on getting us to Mozambique?" Cabot asked.

"Oh, that's the easy part," Mitchell said.

"Easy?" said Cabot, "There hasn't been anything easy since I started this investigation. How is it going to be 'easy'?"

"I'll fly you there in my seaplane. We'll take off from the lake here, then set you down on the Mozambique shore of Lake Malawi."

"If you have a seaplane, why not just fly us to the Mozambique coast?" asked Akeela.

"A few reasons," Mitchell said, "I only have enough fuel for the round-trip to Lake Malawi. If I go to the coast I'll need to refuel there, and let's just say that Mozambique isn't a very safe place for me. I'll also need to get back here to take care of business."

"Just what kind of bus..." A sharp look from Mitchell choked off Cabot's question.

"We don't have much cash," Cabot said, "how much will this cost us?"

"Not too much," Mitchell replied, "just my fuel cost."

Seeing the shocked look on Cabot's face, Mitchell continued.

"Let's just say that I haven't always been a cynical bastard, and leave it at that."

"Where and when shall we meet you?" Cabot asked.

"I'll be here at 8:00 A.M.," Mitchell said, "be ready to go. Pack light, a seaplane isn't exactly a jumbo jet."

"We'll be ready," Cabot said as Mitchell drifted away.

"What a strange man," Akeela said, "Are you sure that we can trust him?"

Cabot thought for a moment.

"Yes, Honey, yes, I believe that we can."

The next morning, Cabot, Akeela and the girls gathered up their belongings and left the "Princess" for the last time. While there were some bad moments, overall they were going to miss her.

Mitchell led them down the shore, away from the village. After they passed a spit of land, they saw the plane. It didn't look very impressive, but Mitchell assured them that it would get them where they were going.

The girls were particularly afraid. They had never even seen a plane, let alone ridden in one, but with Cabot and Akeela's encouragement they climbed aboard, followed by Akeela, Cabot and Mitchell.

Mitchell stowed their gear, making sure it was secure and double-checked that the girls were buckled into their seats, before taking the pilot's seat and firing up the engines, startling the girls.

The girls calmed down as he motored out away from shore and turned into the wind.

"Everybody ready back there?" he asked, turning around to check on his passengers. He got five nods back, although three were rather tentative. Turning back to his task, he revved up the engines and the plane began to move.

As the plane began to pick up speed, skipping over the water, the girls became more frightened. Kira and Mora clutched each other's hands while Jema hung on Akeela's arm.

When the plane reached takeoff speed and leaped into the air, the girls nearly jumped out of their seats, restrained only by their seatbelts. As the plane climbed and banked they were shocked into silence, but when the plane leveled off as it reached cruising altitude, they calmed down, and looked out the windows in awe. They never could have imagined the things they were seeing, and kept jabbering about how small everything looked.

"Things only seem small because we are so high up in the sky, just like things far away on the ground look small," Akeela explained patiently. The girls slowly nodded in understanding, then went back to staring out the windows.

Once she was sure that the girls were okay, Akeela unfastened her belt and went forward to take the co-pilot's seat.

"I can't tell you how grateful we are for your help, Liam," Akeela said as she turned in her seat.

Mitchell was silent, with a grim look on his face as he pressed his lips together.

Akeela was about to speak again when Mitchell let out a long sigh.

"I've seen a lot of things over the years, been in some tough situations. There have been times that I've thought that I could have done more, that I SHOULD have done more, but decided that it wasn't any of my business."

He was quiet once again.

"I guess I just decided that I was done with just being a not-so-innocent bystander, that it was time to stand up for something."

Akeela wanted to say something, to ask about Liam's experiences, but could sense that he didn't want to talk about it, and just gave his shoulder a soft squeeze before going back to sit with Cabot.

A short while later, Liam announced that they were about to land. The girls were once again nervous as the plane began its descent, and were nearly in a panic as the plane struck the water, bounced once, then motored over to the beach.

Mitchell helped them get the girls and the gear out of the plane and onto the shore. When Cabot tried to give him the money, he refused it.

"You need it more than I do. Take care of your girls and get that footage out there."

As they shook hands Cabot thought about Mitchell's words, "your girls," and realized that while he hadn't given it conscious thought, that he was right; they WERE his girls, and he would do anything in his power to protect them.

Before Mitchell got on the plane, Akeela hugged him fiercely, whispered "Thank you!" in his ear before kissing him on the cheek. She then turned and ran to Cabot before Liam saw the tears on her cheeks.

As he climbed into the plane, he gently rubbed his cheek where Akeela had kissed him, and gave a wry smile. He was going to remember this day for a long, long time.

Akeela, Cabot and the girls stood on the beach and watched as Liam took off, and didn't stop watching until the plane was out of sight. They turned east to continue their journey.

Compared to their journey through Burundi, crossing Mozambique was a pleasure trip.

There was the RENAMO insurgency, but it was quiet at the moment, and there was no one pursuing them. The villages were generally friendly, and they were able to trade for supplies without getting ripped off too badly.

They were able to keep a pace that was comfortable for the girls, and still reached Nocala in about a week. Akeela knew some French from her grandmother, Cabot knew some from his travels, as well, and they used to journey to tutor the girls in some basic French, as they would need it on Réunion, which was French speaking.

Cabot's planned destination was the island of Réunion. Réunion was a department of France in the Indian Ocean, east of Madagascar, and Cabot expected to get a good reception for his expose. He had some plans for Akeela, but he decided to wait till they were on their way to the island before discussing it with Akeela. He had a feeling that it wouldn't be a very pleasant discussion.

First, he had two major hurdles. One was documentation; while both he and Akeela had passports, they had both entered Mozambique illegally. The girls meanwhile, had no documentation whatsoever. The other was transportation to Réunion.

Addressing the first was his primary concern, and it wasn't going to be easy; there certainly wasn't any legal way to address it, so he once again had to dig around some of the less savory areas to find someone that could help. His search eventually led to a very disreputable looking photography studio, where some discrete questioning convinced him he could get the documents that he needed, though the cost would take just about all of their cash. There were just no good options.

Returning with Akeela and the girls, Cabot had to swallow his anger at the leering looks from the proprietor. He wished he could just gouge out his eyes, but he needed this man, so he bit his tongue.

It was a matter of just a few minutes to update his and Akeela's passports to look like everything was on the up-and-up, but the girls were more complicated. Besides actually creating false passports, including photos, there was information needed that momentarily stumped Cabot and Akeela. First, the girls had no surnames. After some thought, Cabot had them use his, Preston. The girls didn't understand the significance of this, but Akeela did, and gave Cabot a shy smile. They also didn't know their birthdays. They knew approximately how old they were, and Akeela simply made up the rest of the birth date.