A Vision of Fire

That last was a little push. Ben knew Caitlin all too well. She sat on her bed, took a very deep breath, and tapped in the phone number.

“Allo, Anglade Charter Fishing,” said a young woman’s voice.

“Hello, is Gaelle Anglade there?”

“I am Gaelle,” she answered.

That was unexpected. The young woman’s voice was unhurried; Caitlin made sure hers was the same. “Hi, Gaelle. My name is Dr. Caitlin O’Hara and I am calling from New York City. Do you have a minute?”

There was a brief hesitation. “Do you need a boat?”

“Sounds like a great idea but perhaps some other day.” Caitlin chuckled. “Gaelle, I have a patient who I think is experiencing the same thing that happened to you in the market yesterday.”

Gaelle was silent for so long Caitlin said, “Hello?” to see if she had hung up.

“Are you a friend of Dr. Basher?” Gaelle’s voice was cautious, thick with distrust.

“I don’t know him.”

“Then… you saw that video?”

“I did,” Caitlin admitted. “It was a terrible invasion of your privacy and I’m sorry. I would like to help.”

There was silence, but it was a connected silence. She had not ended the call.

“How?” the young woman asked. It was not so much a question as a challenge.

“My patient has had repeated episodes, and while I have treated them I am still searching for a cause. I believe that talking with you might help.” Caitlin paused, then said, “I am concerned for you as well as for her, and very interested to learn if you too have had other episodes.”

“I do not have demons,” Gaelle stated. She seemed embarrassed.

“Of course not!” Caitlin replied. “Good lord, no!” She was well aware of what the woman would be up against in her culture, where Catholics, Protestants, and Vodou believers did not always live free of friction.

Caitlin heard the young woman speak away from the phone in Haitian Creole, talking to a male voice in the background. When she returned to the call, she asked Caitlin to repeat her name slowly and said she was looking her up online.

Caitlin obliged and heard typing. “You live in Jacmel?”

“Yes.”

“May I ask why you were in Port-au-Prince yesterday?”

“I train women at the market to use smartphones. It is a combination literacy and technology program.”

“Do you work for a phone company?”

“No, for my stepmother. She takes people out to fish. I am also studying to be a nurse. I would like to be a social worker so I find visiting programs to volunteer with. I have found your website, doctor.” Her voice turned upward. “You are a psychiatrist.”

“That is correct. I work with young adults.”

“Do you think I am ill? Mentally?”

“Not at all. I believe that you had a reaction to something—”

“Like an allergy? Peanuts? We don’t have food allergies in Haiti,” she said with disgust. “We cannot afford to.”

“I don’t believe it was digested or airborne,” Caitlin replied, as she would to a fellow professional. “It was something else.”

“I see.”

“I want to try and find out what it was. Gaelle, can I come see you? Can I meet you tomorrow?”

She heard the girl say, “Pas bon, pas bon,” but wasn’t sure whether she was saying “Bad, bad” to her or to the person with her.

“Gaelle?” Caitlin pressed. She didn’t want her to jump off the phone.

“No, thank you,” Gaelle said defensively. “I had a CAT scan yesterday, in Port-au-Prince. There is nothing wrong with me. That is in the past.”

“Gaelle, my other patient has had multiple experiences this past week. It appears the past does not always stay past. I’m afraid that what happened in the market could happen again. I just want to be sure. That’s why I am willing to fly down.”

The girl was silent. Caitlin remained patient.

“I am not sick,” Gaelle repeated. “But I want to be a good nurse. I want to help you help your other patient.”

Caitlin hadn’t realized she was holding her breath until she exhaled. “Thank you. I couldn’t ask for anything more. So you’ll see me then?”

“I will.”

CHAPTER 14

Gaelle and Caitlin set a time and place for the following day. Then Caitlin called her parents on Long Island and her father agreed to come to the city to stay with Jacob. She jumped online to reserve a flight to Haiti leaving early the next morning with a return late that night. After booking transportation to and from the airports, she focused on the final necessity, a guide and translator. She did not consider calling Ben or even the ambassador to help, as she knew that most Haitians hated the UN. They believed that one of its camps had introduced cholera to the country for the first time in a century. Thousands had died; a lawsuit against the UN was crawling through the New York judicial system.

She called Sharon Tanaka at the World Health Organization instead. Sharon was a tough nut with budgets but an excellent connector. She agreed to find a good person to meet Caitlin the next morning at a hotel conveniently located in Port-au-Prince and escort her to Jacmel.