James BeauSeigneur - In His Image James

"The scarring to your corneas is quite extensive," she continued. "In addition, both of your retinae have been burned. Was there a bright flash when you were injured?"

"Yeah, I think so," he said, thinking back to the last thing he remembered.

"The burns on your retinae are our biggest worry. The corneas can be replaced with transplants but there's no way to repair a damaged retina. I may be able to remove the remaining glass myself, but I'd feel better if we had a qualified ophthalmologist do it."

"How soon can that be done?"

"Well, it could take a while." The tone of her voice said 'a while' might be a very long time indeed.

"Why? What's going on here, anyway? Will you please tell me why I'm here instead of in a hospital?" Tom was trying not to panic, but it wasn't easy: he had just been told in gruesome detail that he may never see again.

"Please, Mr. Donafin. We're friends. We want to help you, but you've got to realize that a lot has changed since your accident. Israel is an occupied country. If you'll be patient I'll explain everything, but first you need to try to eat something."

Only then did Tom notice he was starving, so he didn't object.

From the kitchen Tom could hear the hushed conversation of Rhoda Felsberg and her brother Joel.

"So, now that he's awake are you finally going to move him in with your other patients?" Joel Felsberg asked.

"No," Rhoda answered. "I'm not."

"Why not?!"

"Because Rabbi Cohen said he should stay here."

"There's no reason for him to insist that you keep this man in your personal care."

"He's the rabbi," Rhoda answered, as though no further justification were necessary.

"Yeah, well he may look like Hasidim, with his earlocks and all dressed in black, but I've heard that the other Hasidic rabbis won't have anything to do with him." Right now Rhoda was glad that Joel wasn't more aware of religious matters; if he had been he would have known that Cohen's standing with the other rabbis was actually far worse than he imagined. It had not always been this way. At one time Cohen had been thought by many to be the heir apparent to the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, considered the most politically powerful rabbi in the world. Now, however, it was not only the Hasidic rabbis who wouldn't have anything to do with him; none of the other rabbis, not even the most liberal ones, would even mention his name without spitting to show their disgust.

"Oh, and since when did you start to care what the rabbis think?" Rhoda asked her brother, not letting on.

"The point is, he's a kook," Joel answered.

"Come eat," she said, not wanting to argue the matter.

"Rhoda!" Joel said, trying to get her back on the subject as she took the pot of soup and some bowls and headed back to Tom.

"Come eat," she said again more sternly, then added, "We'll talk about it later," though she had no intention of allowing the subject to reemerge.

Rhoda put a spoon in Tom's hand and set his soup on a tray in front of him. Tom found it difficult to eat without being able to see, and his first few bites were a bit messy. Rhoda gave him a napkin but as he began to wipe his mouth, he felt the scars that covered his face from the explosion. Silently, he traced the scars with his fingers.

"How bad am I?" he asked.

"You had lacerations over most of the front of your body. Most of the scars will disappear eventually," Rhoda answered. "Some minor plastic surgery may be needed later for some of the scars on your face. We'll just have to wait and see."

Tom reached down and felt his arms, shoulders, and chest. "Well, I guess I was never really that much to look at anyway," he said, trying to hide his pain in humor.

"So, how about that explanation? What am I doing here and when can I see an ophthalmologist?"

"The night after the war began," Rhoda explained, "you were brought here by Rabbi Saul Cohen, who found you buried under rubble about five or six miles from here. Since then, you have been either unconscious or disoriented and delirious."

Tom shook his head. "I don't remember anything since the explosion," he said.

"Well, unfortunately, the war didn't go so well," she continued. "Israel fought hard but it soon became apparent that the Arabs were getting the upper hand. The United States and Britain tried to help by providing emergency supplies and food. I think they could have done more, but a lot of their politicians kept saying they couldn't afford a war, especially after both countries lost so many people just two months earlier in the Disaster. Then it was discovered that the Russians were supplying arms to the Arabs. Of course, the Russians denied it, but the U.N. Security Council voted to set up a blockade of the Arab ports."

"You're kidding! How on earth did they ever get the vote past the Russian delegate on the Security Council?" Tom asked.

"That's the really strange thing. The Russian delegate didn't show up for the vote," Rhoda answered.

"That's crazy," Tom blurted. "The Russians made that mistake in 1950 when they boycotted the U.N. because of its exclusion of Red China. That's what allowed the Security Council action against their allies in Korea. The Russians would never let that happen a second time."

"Well, I don't understand it, but they did," Rhoda said.

"I don't know what the big mystery is," Joel said, sarcastically. "I think they had the whole thing planned ahead of time."

"What do you mean?" asked Tom.

"Joel, just let me tell the story," Rhoda said. "You can give us your theories later."

"Sure, go ahead. But he'll figure it out pretty quickly for himself if he's got half a brain."

"Where was I? You made me forget," Rhoda chided her brother.

"The U.N. voted for a blockade," Joel reminded her.

"Okay, so there were a lot of charges back and forth but finally the Russians agreed not to provide any more arms to the Arabs, and the U.N. agreed not to impose the blockade. A few days later things seemed to be changing in Israel's favor. We had taken back a lot of land that we lost earlier and what was left of our Air Force was clobbering the Arab air and ground forces.

"Then the Israeli Intelligence – the Mossad – found out that because the Libyans couldn't get additional conventional weapons from the Russians, they were planning to launch a chemical attack. To prevent that, the Israeli Air Force launched a preemptive strike against the Libyan chemical weapons storage facilities. Unfortunately most of the air strike didn't get through because the Libyans anticipated the attack.

"When it became apparent that there was no other way for Israel to stop the chemical attack, Prime Minister Greenberg sent a message to the Libyans saying that if Israel was attacked with chemical weapons, we would immediately respond with a massive nuclear attack on Libya."

"So Israel finally admitted it has nukes?" Tom asked.

"The exact wording of the message wasn't released to the press, but he apparently made it very clear that's what he meant," Joel answered.

"Anyway," Rhoda continued, "despite their agreement with the U.N., the Russians agreed to sell the Arabs additional conventional weapons, claiming it was the only way to prevent a chemical/nuclear exchange."

"Yeah," Joel interjected. "It was a perfect excuse for the Russians to do exactly what they wanted in the first place."

Tom still didn't understand what Joel was driving at, but for now he let it pass. Rhoda continued. "So the Mossad tracked the Russian ships they thought were going to deliver the arms to Libya, and just before they entered Libyan waters, our Air Force attacked. They sank four cargo ships and a bunch of escort vessels, but it turned out the whole thing was a decoy. While most of the Israeli Air Force was busy in the Mediterranean and the army was busy with the Arabs on our borders, advance teams of Russian commandos landed north of Tel Aviv and took over an airstrip. The whole thing must have been planned perfectly because no sooner had they taken the airstrip than Russian troops and equipment began landing."