“But you don’t want me to mail yours, do you?”
“No, I don’t.”
“Because you’re thinking you might deliver it yourself.”
Connor takes a deep breath and slowly lets it out. “Is that just me being self-destructive again?”
“I can’t say . . . but it would seem to me that wanting to bring closure is anything but self-destructive.”
He looks to the trunk one more time. “What’s the use? Like you said, I’ll never find it in there anyway.”
“No, you won’t.” Then she opens her top desk drawer and pulls out a single envelope. “Because it’s right here.”
Had she pulled out a stick of dynamite, it couldn’t have felt more dangerous.
“I went fishing for it the night you came back. I thought you might want it eventually.”
She hands it to him. His handwriting. The address where he grew up. On the back is the ripple of dried saliva where he licked it closed two years ago. He cannot yet tell if this letter is an enemy or a friend.
But now that he’s holding it in his hand, there’s something he knows beyond the shadow of any doubt.
God help me . . . before this is all over, I’m going to face them. I’m going to confront my parents. . . .
Part Two
* * *
Here Be Dragons
From The Telegraph:
GIRL SMUGGLED INTO BRITAIN TO HAVE HER “ORGANS HARVESTED”
By Steven Swinford, Senior Political Correspondent 10:00 PM BST 18 Oct 2013
The first case of a child being trafficked to Britain in order to have their organs harvested has been uncovered.
The unnamed girl was brought to the UK from Somalia with the intention of removing her organs and selling them on to those desperate for a transplant. . . .
The case emerged in a government report which showed that the number of human trafficking victims in the UK has risen by more than 50 per cent last year and reached record levels. . . .
Child protection charities warned last night that criminal gangs were attempting to exploit the demand for organ transplants in Britain.
Bharti Patel, the chief executive of Ecpat UK, the child protection charity, said: “Traffickers are exploiting the demand for organs and the vulnerability of children. It’s unlikely that a trafficker is going to take this risk and bring just one child into the UK. It is likely there was a group.”
According to the World Health Organisation as many as 7,000 kidneys are illegally obtained by traffickers each year around the world.
While there is a black market for organs such as hearts, lungs and livers, kidneys are the most sought after organs because one can be removed from a patient without any ill effects.
The process involves a number of people including the recruiter who identifies the victim, the person who arranges their transport, the medical professionals who perform the operation and the salesman who trades the organ . . .
The full article can be found at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/10390183/Girl-smuggled-into-Britain-to-have-her-organs-harvested.html
7 • Sky Jockey
Trouble in the world, trouble at home. How can they expect a man to concentrate on his work with all this trouble? AWOLs wreaking havoc everywhere, clappers blowing things up—and then, of course, there’s my daughter. I thought she was finally wising up, getting a good head on her shoulders—and now she does this? What is she thinking?
“Earth to Frank!” the foreman’s voice booms over the intercom, startling him. “Are you on this freaking planet?”