The gun shots where in rapid, short groups. It was a natural reflex for us to duck and we did. Children started crying.
Several men pushed and shoved their way onto the plane. They were all dressed in Khaki colored clothes and all looked dirty. They were yelling at us but we couldn't understand a word they said. I was starting to panic along with several others. They would yell at someone and when they didn't respond, the men would hit them with the butt of their gun rather they where a man or a woman, young or old.
The ones at the exit door would yell at whomever was there then shove them out the door. We finally got the idea that they wanted us off the plane. I held onto my husband tightly and as we passed the men they spoke to us in such a tone you didn't have to understand what they where saying to realize that they did not like us at all. Somehow I knew this wasn't going to end well. We got off the plane and started walking straight out, away from the plane. There where so many of these people, they where everywhere. It was like they knew this was going to happen, had planned for it and where ready.
The smell of fuel was heavy in the air, pungent, almost to the point of making you sick. I looked back at the plane, it looked like a discarded, dirty, broken toy. One of the men walking beside me spoke to me harshly and shoved me with his gun, I clung tighter to my husband. The sound of all these people yelling was deafening. They yelled and yelled all the while raising their guns in the air.
We where a prize.
We where herded into a circle and once we all grouped up the men surrounded us. We could hear a lot of commotion and a fleet of trucks and heavy equipment pulled over to the plane. We could see those men jump off their rides and like a well oiled machine started taking the plane apart piece by piece. We where yelled at again and the men pushed and prodded us to turn around. We got the message and did. The men started walking through our group separating the women and children from the men. Some families and couples resisted. This was met with either fierce strikes or outright fist hits to anyone resisting in any way.
I started crying even harder as I knew if they separated my husband and I, we would more than likely never see each other again. They came our way and I could hear myself saying "No, No!" as I was wrangled from my hold on my husband.
They marched the men off in one direction. I stood there crying desperately along with most of the other women and children. I caught the glance of a woman standing by me and with a look we both acknowledged our desperation.
We where directed to move in the opposite direction and they walked us down the
They took us to what appeared to once have been someone's home. It was bare of any furniture, the windows where gone and all the lights had been knocked out. It was quite dark inside and we all huddled up together. Some of the women went to trying to console the children, others started trying to assist anyone that was wounded.
After a bit some of the native women came in carrying folded material. Everything on them was covered except for their eyes. They did not speak to us nor would they look us in the eyes. They laid the material down and promptly left the room. We all looked at each other afraid to move. One of the ladies got up and went over to the piles of cloth. She unfolded one and it appeared to be native dress. We heard footsteps and we looked at the door. An elderly woman came in and spoke to us in very broken English.
"You have 5 minutes to change your clothes into one of those. Place your clothes in a pile. The children are fine as they are"
It seemed we all started talking to her at once trying to find out what was going on.
She uttered "Just do it now and we might spare you another day." and left the room.
Everyone started to change, some of us hid our jewelry in our shoes and bras. I noticed one lady just sitting there. Another lady was trying to get her to change and she just sat their defiantly.
In about 10 minutes the group of native ladies came back in the room and started gathering our clothes. They noticed the one lady who didn't change and they all looked at each other and a couple of them spoke quietly to each other and hurried out of the room. Immediately after the elder woman came back with two men. They said nothing as they headed toward the woman who wouldn't change. They grabbed her by the arms and she started fighting them as they drug her off. Somehow I knew and I think we all knew she wouldn't be back. We heard a lot of noise outside and more gun shots. We could see out the windows and off on the horizon we could see them separating a wing from the plane and loading it on a truck.
I wondered if I would ever see my husband again and decided at that moment that I had to separate my mind from his place..
Then I woke up with a loud "WTF was that....!"
anyone dare an interpretations?
Thursday, January 20, 2005
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