CHAPTER 16DEAD MAN WALKING
I was in the hangar looking over some damage done to one of the airplanes when de Ruiter called me into his office.
“There’s a village up country that needs a body taken to his home village for burial. I need you to do it.”
“Okay, so long as he’s in a box.”
De Ruiter shrugged. “I wouldn’t know.”
“How long has the person been dead?” I asked, an important question in tropical Africa.
“I don’t know that either. I would imagine not long. But, whatever, you’re doing it, right, matey?”
I flew up to a little village due north of Gbarnga. They had a white sheet out indicating all was clear, and I landed without difficulty. A crowd of villagers was waiting for me as I approached. Five of them were dressed up and apparently ready to go to the funeral. It was about a
