Batsa said, “For the price of ten of Alfonso’s micro-clinics, we can put a thousand ambulance motorcycles and five thousand preemie pods in the villages of Nepal, and we can do it in months instead of years.”
Dree had stopped eating and was just listening to their grandiose plans. “But we don’t even know if it worked.”
Batsa frowned at her. “The baby was alive when we got her to the hospital, and her condition had not deteriorated much at all over several hours.That’sa win. That’s anenormouswin.”
Maxence said, “And such a project would be far more community-based than the construction of micro-clinics that nobody asked for. Several people from each town can be taught to ride and perform basic maintenance for a motorcycle. These motorcycles won’t be computer-based technological marvels like the ones in Europe and America. We’ll use Royal Enfields like we’re riding, or something like that. Just having several people with the basic technical skills to change the oil and brake pads on those bikes will raise the technology level of this whole region. Other people will be able to get motorcycles because basic maintenance will be available.”
Dree nodded. “There are gas stations about every five villages or so. Gasoline shouldn’t be a problem.” Maxence’s strong arm was right beside hers. He’d taken off his black leather motorcycle jacket when they’d sat down for supper, and his coat was hanging over the end of the booth. His biceps and triceps curved around his arm, and his lower arm bulged with muscle. His ripped arm looked like an illustration from her anatomy textbook or maybe one of the models from the life drawing class she’d taken.
Maxence said, “Greater access to transportation means more trade. It means that villages that are close to Chandannath will have more opportunities for employment there, which means more money in those villages. Then, villages that are close enough to those places will have more opportunities for trade, employment, and wealth. This is a project with positive ripple effects.”
Batsa nodded. “When I was a child, I often visited my extended family’s village. We filled our suitcases with anything and everything we could find for them. A few motorcycles in nearby villages would have raised access to things they needed, from iodized salt to more diverse food in the winter.”
Maxence said to Isaak, “This is the kind of planning that charities need. We don’t need billionaires to exploit impoverished people for tax write-offs or to make money off of charity projects.”
Maxence dropped his hands casually at his side while he spoke, but his fingers crossed the small space between his thigh and Dree’s and laced with hers.
She could scarcely breathe, and she held on.
Isaak nodded. “Even I, whose family fled the Communists and used capitalism to build factories to produce alcohol, must agree with you. Creating a product to sell to people who have money and want it is right and proper. Indeed, my family has become very wealthy doing it.” He smiled at Dree, and she was confused. “Sucking a profit out of a charity and exploiting people’s children is grotesque.”
Batsa said, “Exploiting poor people should be a grievous sin, right,Deacon Father Maxence?”
Deacon Father Maxence.
Dree loosened her grip on Max’s fingers, but he didn’t let go. Hewouldn’tlet go, even when she made her hand go limp. He held on, and if anything, tightened his grip.
It was easy to forget the vows he’d made to the Church when his arms were around her.
Too easy.
Maxence nodded. “As Dree mentioned a month ago, in the Gospel of Matthew, chapter twenty-five, Jesus Christ himself said it was a mortal sin.”
What on Earth was he talking about? He couldn’t have known that she was thinking about mortal sins and his hands, his body, his lips on her neck.
Right?
“I didn’t say anything,” she mumbled.
“Oh, yes, I remember,” Isaak said to her. “It was around the campfire when Father Booker got nervous about the personal responsibility mandate. I was listening to you.”
Maxence continued, “Matthew is the first book of the Gospels for a reason. That entire chapter is the key to understanding Christ. The key to all three parables, but especially the Sheep and the Goats, is right at the end. Christ talks about the people who were hungry or thirsty, or the strangers and the prisoners, and he says, ‘I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me. And what you didnotdo for one of these least ones, you didnotdo for me.’ He points to the people who let the poor and prisoners die and says, ‘And these will go off to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.’ Letting poor people die and doing nothing about it is a mortal sin, straight from Christ’s mouth.”
Batsa nodded. “And thus, we have a personal responsibility, according to the Church.”
Maxence shook his head and squeezed Dree’s fingers. “But Christ doesn’t gatherpeoplein that chapter. He gathers ‘the nations.’The nations.We havemorethan personal responsibility. We have a mandate from Christ as a society, as acivilization,to not let the poor be lost, to protect those who are in danger, to feed those who are hungry, to bring justice to the world, and to not stop until we do. Most religions believe this. It’s not unique to Christianity. That baby girl whom we transported to the hospital tonight, none of us asked whether her parents had the money to pay an ambulance. Nobody asked whether the baby’s parents were rich enough todeservetheir child’s life to be saved.You just do it.You just wrap the baby up and get her to the hospital because it’s the thing a decent person does.”
“Personal responsibility,” Batsa said.
“But you don’t stop there,” Maxence said. “Because we have seen the poor and the sick, because we have seen the preemies who die,thenwe make more preemie pods and make sure there are motorcycles for the next time, becausethat’sthe right and decent thing to do.”
“Right,” Isaak said, nodding. “Not just this baby, not just this one time.”
Maxence went on, his words filling Dree’s ears and eyes, “But it’s not just us. It shouldn’t be just us. It should beeveryone,because if you have a few tough years, your kids shouldn’t die. They shouldn’t be physically stunted from not getting enough to eat because you lost your job or the harvest failed. Your kids shouldn’t be blind because you couldn’t get them testing or treatment. That’s unchristian. It’s evil. And Jesus Christ himself said you would go to Hell if you allowed that to happen to other people’s kids. We need to practice Christianity as Christ preached it.”
The words he said filled her lungs and her soul like air.
Dree squeezed his hand. “You’re doing it again.”
