I’ve been
sleeping less of late
stirred by
thoughts of no one there--
No one but
the hand of fate
writing something
in the air.
With the
hand a pair of eyes
blink softly
like a moth
set not on seeking light but lies
and falsehoods of whole cloth.
Ever-watching
are the eyes;
ever-writing
is the hand;
ever-pacing
are the spies
who cannot understand.
© Tom Kapanka, February 21, 2019
It's true. I have not slept well this week. I'm not anxious or worried, but sometimes the hardest kind of learning happens in the night. I catch myself waking up and thinking about Enoch's parents and what the past six weeks have held for them. This morning, I woke and wrote these 12 lines. At first, I didn't even understand them myself. That's a bad sign.
Several hours later, I read them again and they reminded me of Daniel 5 in that they hint at the warning given to two arrogant kings, a father and son, who rejected God. One was humbled until he understood God's role over the affairs of man; the other was "found wanting." The lines are also a warning to the kind of men that serve such leaders; the kind who bring down good men to prove loyalty to those in control; the kind who ignore truth to cry treason; the kind who find false accusation more useful than the facts. Such crimes against character can happen in any political systems where authority is not earned but grabbed. We see it in the East; we see it in the West.
His parents did not answer the question, because the fact is all the information they need to know is typed in plain sight on legal documents that went through all the proper channels at the highest levels of both countries. It is as clear as "the writing on the wall." It is only at the provincial, plain-clothes, gumshoe, neighborhood "house arrest" stake-out level that Enoch's disappearance took weeks to notice. Only to those "spies" did the missing boy (who used to catch the bus each day) seem to be a mystery.
Having been in prison on trumped-up charges means that when you are released from prison you remain under house arrest indefinitely. If more trumped-up charges are needed, no problem. If they cannot be fabricated of whole cloth then they can charge you for having a hole in cloth. Those in power control the game board and the dice. Consequently, whenever such a released prisoner leaves the fourth floor apartment of his eight-story building with barred windows at all levels, he is shadowed by at least two plain-clothes officers whose sole job it is to know where he is at all times. When mother and children leave the building, they are not followed as tightly but their goings and returns are noted. It was the interruption of that daily pattern--of Enoch going and coming--that they finally noticed. It was that that led to the questions about the missing boy.
I asked Enoch if his father ever speaks to the men who watch their building or if he just leaves and lets them follow. Enoch said it is routine.
"My father is free to leave. They just follow. There is no attempt to be secret, but they do not speak. My little brother, he is very outgoing. When he and my mother walk to his school, and he passes these men, he always smiles right at them and says 'hello.'"
"Do they speak back?" I asked
"Not really," Enoch replied. "Guiyang is known for being rude. We don't try to be rude. It is just natural for most people. Like in America, you say 'Hello' like that. Like it is a song. But we just say 'Hello' like we are saying 'Be quiet!' We don't mean to be rude. It just comes out in our tone. Because of this when a person from Guiyang is in an argument with a person from some other province, the person from Guiyang almost always wins the argument. This is why I try to have a pleasant tone when I speak. And that is how my little brother always says 'Hello' to the men who watch our building... in happy voice, but they say nothing back."
"So how did the men ask about you?" I asked.
"They came up to the apartment and knocked on the door. There were many police, but only one of them asked where I was since they have not seen me for a long time. My father did not tell them where I was. I do not know how he got them to leave. Maybe they think I began boarding at my school like some of the students do. At my school, in 12th grade it is required to live at the school. He did not tell them this, and I am only 11th grade, but maybe that is what they thought. I have no idear." (The "r" at the end of idea is not a typo. For some reason, Enoch adds the "r" sound.)
[Enoch often abbreviates conversation with "I have no idear" It is his "go to" utility phrase, and it usually means "There is no point in discussing this further. My thoughts have run dry." or just "This is boring to talk about." But I had not yet learned this cue, so I continued asking questions.]
"Does it make you nervous that they know you're gone?" I asked.
"No. I am not their concern. My own school already told me I can never return. I have no student ID in China anymore. The right people already know what these men pretend not to know. I think these men do know I am gone, but they ask just to show power... just to remind my father they are in control. They think maybe he will say something that gets him in trouble. Like if he got nervous and made up something not true, they might arrest him. But he is very smart. He says nothing."
I took some comfort in Enoch's calm assessment. He said they knew a day of such questions would come, but now that Enoch's absence is noted not just at school, there seems to be a new level of scrutiny from the men with watching eyes. These events have also raised a new topic that cannot be discussed in this space except as a vague reminder for continued prayer.
Like Rahab in Hebrews 11, there are helpers involved who do not share her profession but are equally heroic in their efforts. I have been assured that the worst is behind us and no one is in real danger (partly because of the high level of international attention involved with Enoch's father), but we pray for God-speed for all involved in the weeks and months ahead.
[On to Chapter 8]
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