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Page 150
I'm sure! I've been tucking those darn things in every morning for the past fifteen years, and when I tell you they're gone, believe me, I know what I'm talking about! They're gone!"
That day, another unexpected event took place. Thelma invited me into the hotel room where she was doing her operations. Her assistant told her that I was a reporter, and that I shouldn't be allowed to observe, but Thelma shushed her away, and turned toward the buxom Swiss woman who was disrobing for a varicose vein operation. The woman lay facedown on the bed, clad only in her underwear, and Thelma began to massage her thighs laboriously, as red fluid squished and splattered all around us.
Thelma told the woman and her concerned husband to pray. The husband stood at his wife's side with his head bowed, and he held her hand as they murmured hushed words together in German. I was moved by their devotion to each other and to their God, by the man's gentle sensitivity to his wife, and by his relinquishing of control to Thelma. They had something I had rarely seen before, something that was entirely foreign to me. These seemingly intelligent people believed in a Higher Power that was real and had meaning for them, and they believed that their prayers might be beneficial for healing. For me, it was like watching a play. I could not understand why they would spend their money to come here and pray in a hotel room, while this Philippine woman put on a spectacular performance of trickery with animal entrails and blood. It was as if we were all agreeing to participate in some cathartic ritual.
All of a sudden, I realized that I was in the play, but no one had ever given me a script. I was enveloped in the loving, prayerful ambiance in that hotel room. All was quiet for a few moments as I felt my mind joined with theirs, hoping for healing.
Right in the middle of the operation and prayers, a dark-suited man followed by two others barged into our room, and announced that he was an agent of the U.S. government. He acted like a character in a James Bond movie as he ponderously declared that he would be staying all day to observe the proceedings. I was outraged at his rudeness, and felt embarrassed to be of the same nationality. He was oblivious to the naked Swiss

 
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