Thursday, May 18, 2017




Antonio invited us to a party at his place. He's below us on the second floor. He had two bedrooms, a normal size apartment, but in a two hundred year old building that meant ceilings about twelve feet high, with tall windows that overlooked a garden fountain and had views of our quiet street. We met some old friends and about a dozen new people. Everyone was dressed in the same sporty casual style of day.

A center table was spread with appetizers and several bottles of local red wine already decanted. Of the people we knew there was Bru, his girlfriend and our land loard. Others were friends of Antonio we'd see a few times and friends passing through Rome.
There was a young man from England dressed in good casual clothes who had recently returned from Africa. He was a talker. I was reaching for a slice of cheese from the buffet table and he began speaking to me. “I have been in Africa for six months and am going back to London for a short while.”

“Africa, for six months." His hair was neat, he seemed normal, civil. How he got to the party I had no idea. I was friendly to him. "What were you doing in Africa for that long?"

“I am a missionary and am going back for funds, to Britian.” I nodded. He was about thirty and enthusiastic. “It’s a fund raising expedition for my work.”

“What’s your work?”

“I’m a missionary.”

“What type of work does a missionary do, exactly? Are you working in hospitals or helping children?”

“We are attracting hunters, hippopotamus hunters. It is hippopotamus hunters for Christ, that’s what the organization is called.”

"What was that?"

"Hippopotamus hunters for Christ," he repeated.

I closed my mouth. I had heard him correctly. He was serious. I was stunned. Seconds past, I swallowed and finally responded, “No shit...interesting. Excuse me. I want to try some of that other cheese.”
After the antipasti we had a great sit down dinner with pasta. About eleven the party broke up and we climbed a few stairs and were home. I never heard any more about the missionary.

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