The Dead Saint (39 page)

President Benedict told everyone goodbye with an old word: "Farewell. In the full sense of the meaning.
Fare well."

As they left, curiosity won and Lynn spoke privately to Viktor. "Over a century ago a boy from Croatia went to Crested Butte, Colorado, to work in a mine. His last name was Machek."

"Stephen. How do you know of him?"

"A friend told me the story."

"He was my grandfather's uncle. The Machek family tree goes back for generations."

Like its ties with St. Sava, thought Lynn.

Viktor glanced toward Mrs. Darwish. "What I learned from Elie's data . . ." His eyes filled with sadness. "I could not add to her hurt."

"I understand." She grinned at him. "Rooster Cogburn would have done the same thing." It was good to see him smile again.

At 10:17 on Wednesday morning Lynn arrived at Café du Monde in the French Quarter and chose her usual outdoor table. Her mind was on the mystery she wanted someday to write. She scribbled on a napkin the one decided word:
Secrets
. . . She doodled flowers around the word. Then she began to doodle the St. Sava symbol around the flowers, longing to write
The Dead Saint.
But she could never tell that story.

Secrets. Secrets what? Secrets take us on a journey.

Like President John F. Kennedy, young President Boris Trajkovski of Macedonia was assassinated after a brief time in office. He proved himself to be one of the world's finest leaders toward peace. I met him in Oslo when he was the recipient of a World Peace Award. Macedonian President Basil Dimitrovski in this book is fictional, but the character was created in honor of President Trajkovski. While writing the first draft of the scenes set in Macedonia, my mind and heart "living" there, President Trajkovski was killed in a plane crash. I strongly felt the death of this man with the courage to envision and enliven peace. His death, like that of President John F. Kennedy, changed the future that might have been. His death also changed this book.

I am grateful to Dirk and Carol Van Gorp for escorting Bill and me through Bosnia in a UN Jeep during the NATO bombing, a personal experience of war that still burns in my heart.

To Chaplain Carl Johnston for showing us around the UN base at Zagreb, Croatia, including the MASH unit where I met a young Russian soldier who had lost both legs when a Sarajevo landmine exploded, and whom the fictional character Sasha is meant to honor.

To Bishop Heinrich Bolleter, longtime friend, for sharing knowledge and experience about Austria, Macedonia, and Bosnia-Herzegovina. To Rev. Mihail Cekov of Macedonia and Rev. Ljiljana Sjanta of Serbia for patiently answering my questions and giving me significant insight; to Macedonian missionary Carol Partridge and Rev. Dave Rieck of California for research materials providing grassroots Macedonian perspectives, and to my dear friend Dr. Annegret Klaiber from Germany for sharing the wisdom gleaned from health work with Macedonian women.

To Bill Avera and Dirk Oden for helping me seem more knowledgeable about guns than I actually am, and to Bryant Oden for a thorough reading of the next-to-final draft and for keeping me updated technologically.

To Sgt. Cunningham, a Dallas mounted policeman, for showing me the large beautiful steeds and giving me background information.

To good friends: Bishop Dick Wilke and Julia for listening to the first scene soon after its birth; and Etta Mae Mutti, Phyllis Henry, Doug and Mary McPherson, David and Paula Severe, Bishop Dan Solomon and Marcia, and MacKenzie and Edith Thompson for listening and sharing. Dick Smith for the photograph. Thank you for cheering me on.

To more good friends who read this manuscript: Bishop Charles Crutchfield and Karen, Paul and Elizabeth Escamilla, Sandra Estess, Judy Gibbs, Sally Kelley and David Severe for wading through the first draft; Dan and Barbara Batchelor and Bill Henry for giving the second draft a go. To Bishop Sharon Brown Christopher, past president of the United Methodist Council of Bishops, for reading the final draft through the eyes of a woman in the episcopacy. My thanks to all of you for reading the novel and offering astute comments and encouragement. To other special friends in the episcopacy who are women: thank you for leading the church in an inspirational way.

To Kathleen Davis Niendorff, agent extraordinaire, and Ramona Richards, excellent editor.

To Bishop Rueben Job for guidance in my winding inner journey and, thereby, smoothing the path of my outer journey, and for steadfast interest in my writing. Thank you for bestowing confidence that invites me to swim in deeper waters.

To my husband, Bill, for our shared adventures on five continents; to Dee, Dirk, Valerie, and Bryant for the amazing adults you have become; and Angela for joining our family by marriage. My thanks to each of you for your interest, comments, and support.

And finally to Vini, heroine of my first novel,
Crested Butte,
and great-grandmother of the President in this one, who continues to peer over my shoulder as I write, asking:
Is it just? Is it fair?
Then smiling and asking the most important question of all:
Is it entertaining?
Ah, Vini, so it is!

[PART 1]

1. In the first chapter Lynn is enjoying her surroundings, and suddenly one event changes everything. Have there been times when you were enjoying yourself and something unexpected occurred that totally changed the situation?
   
2. For Lynn, Elie's death was like "a machete had sliced through time severing it into the before and the after." Have you experienced before-and-after life changes?
   
3. What do you think of Lynn's way of handling the request from the president? Would you have kept it "totally confidential"? How do you respond (verbally and inwardly) when you are asked to do something outside your comfort zone?
   

   [PART 2]
   

4. During Lynn's first day in Vienna, she sees a new friend killed, forces herself to retrieve President Benedict's letter, helps the people around her, and gives an important speech that evening. Have you had days that demanded more than you thought you had the capacity to handle?
   
5. Lynn recognizes that one's reaction to an event (the bomb threat at the Austrian president's reception) increases or reduces its power to bring fear and be destructive. Can you think of an example?
   

   [PART 3]
   

6. Lynn admires and respects the Macedonian president. What did you think of him? How did you feel after the crash? How does the sudden death of a beloved leader affect us, both on the surface and at deeper levels?
   

   [PART 4]
   

7. As Lynn enters Sarajevo, she recalls war zone experiences that indelibly touched her life. In what ways has an experience with war (personally or through someone close to you) shaped or reshaped your life?
   
8. Lynn speaks favorably of being in the hands of the church community and of the Mystery of Faith. Do you have a similar experience of faith (from your perspective of the meaning of that word)?
   
9. How did you view Zeller (the mime) in the beginning? In what ways does your perception change by the conclusion? Does hearing someone's story sometimes affect our view?
   
10. Did your ideas about St. Sava change as the story progressed? If you have a negative impression of a group, how does new information change your view? Can we hold such strong negative or positive impressions of a group that new facts make no difference?
    
11. What was the most moving or memorable scene to you?
    
12. At the conclusion Lynn completes the first sentence of her novel. If you were trying to complete the first sentence of your novel that began "Secrets," how would you finish the sentence? "Secrets . . . ."
    

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