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When Sylvia returned, our eggs had already been served. She sat down without a word, and with a blank face that was unmistakably 'sour' as if something terrible had just happened, something so terrible that she couldn't talk about it. I put the cup in front of her and the sugar, and said not a word. She didn't touch the coffee. Without looking up she started to butter the toast. She started to eat it without honey or jam. Something big was up all right.
"I have a surprise for you," she said a long while later after she finally put some jam onto the last bit of toast. "It is a terrible surprise. It can also be seen as a beautiful surprise. I just can't decide which it is. And even if it were beautiful, it's not entirely pleasant."
"All right, all right! Let's have it," I said and did my best to smile. "Let's clear the air!"
"There's been a change in plans," said Sylvia quietly and began to cry.
"What change? What plans? Fred didn't have any plans lined for us. If nothing has been planned, nothing can change."
"No, it isn't like that. I can't say it. It's not Fred that changed things. Our plans have changed, Peter. What we have planned will never be. Fred merely conveyed what needs to be done. That's what changed all of our plans for us."
"It can't be as terrible as your face says it is," I replied almost jokingly to cheer her up.
"Our plans have been advanced," she said. "We will be going to China. We'll be there in two days. Fred said something about a place called Yibin."
I just shook my head. "You are not making any sense, Sylvia," I countered her.
"I am trying to. Fred said that someone high in the Justice Department is busy setting up a case against us," said Sylvia. With that she broke down fully into tears. "We have to get out of the country as fast as we can. Ross and Heather have already left for Germany. Tony, Dag and Al are in Germany with Fred right now. They left last night. Fred suggests that we get into our car as soon as we can and drive to Mexico while that option still exists. He said we should travel on secondary roads as much as possible. He expects us to be in Mexico City by midnight. He wants us to clean out our U.S. bank accounts along the way, but not totally. He wants it done as soon as the banks open. He believes that we still have three days before the official warrants can be issued for our arrest, but one never knows. That's all he said, except that we would meet him in Hong Kong."
"This means saying good bye to America," I replied calmly. "Something enduring?" I just shook my head. Then I began to smile. Now I understood. It is the human spirit that is enduring. What is a country, a place, and a house by the sea? There are greater things in the world. I pointed out the Oak tree to Sylvia.
Still, none of what she said seemed quite real to me. It seemed like a bad dream. I put some salt and pepper on my eggs and started to eat. That too seemed to be an element of the enduring. "Let's not jump into this," I said, as if my hesitation could hinder the outcome. Still, deep down I had expected that it would come to something like that. I had already transferred most of our funds to banks in Malaysia and China, just to be on the safe side. It was the immediacy that was disturbing.
"We must have hit a raw nerve with someone," Sylvia suggested when she recovered from the shock.
"Steve should be pleased that we are now officially recognized as a bonafide enemy," I added jokingly. Then, suddenly, as if a knife had struck me, the thought emerged that this was actually all for real. "There is nothing left for us here, is there?" I said to her.
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