Читать книгу Six Months to Live - Daniel Hallock - Страница 7

Cynthia

Around the same time that Matt came back from Atlanta, Cynthia, an old friend of his, returned from Haiti, where she had been doing similar work. Though Matt lived in Pennsylvania and Cynthia in New York, they had kept in touch for years.

Cynthia, a feisty young woman, was a little on the wild side. She was also known for her capacity to talk nonstop, to get into heated arguments, and to hold her own when someone stepped on her toes. She was, in other words, a perfect match for Matt.

After high school, Cynthia first tried college, and then a restaurant job at a four-star resort. Neither seemed to click. It was only during a stint in Haiti, where she worked for the national press corps (and later at a hospital), that things began to happen. In her words: “I went to Haiti with very little need for God, my parents, or my friends. I felt like I could handle anything the world could throw at me. I soon found out that I was wrong.” She also found out that the rules people played by at home in New York meant nothing in Port-au-Prince, a teeming city that often seemed more like a simmering cauldron of destitution and violence.

After a few months there, Cynthia moved to Cap Haitian, a smaller, less frenetic city. She arrived sick, and found her room crawling with cockroaches. What weighed most on her, however, was a nagging sense of helplessness. She felt directionless and alone. Writing to her parents, she said:

My main problem at the moment is the social life. Wherever I go here I have to run away from men. Everybody wants me because I’m white. There’s a girl working at the hospital here whom I like, but her crowd smokes weed and parties all night. Basically I have to say no all the time to everything that comes my way, and I don’t think I’ll be able to last much longer.