Out of Captivity : Surviving 1,967 Days in the Colombian Jungle

Broken Bones and Broken Bonds225The three of us were all seated in front of the little TV, with Keith onmy right side. Consuelo was sitting next to me on my left, and Ingridwas sitting next to Consuelo. When the video continued, we saw scenesof our family members. All three of us were extremely emotional bythe first sight of our family members in such a long time. We were allchoked up and had tears in our eyes. I saw my mother’s message again,but then I saw Shane. As soon as I saw her I burst into tears right therein front of everyone. I was watching my wife on that little TV, trying toconcentrate with all my might, and find some type of mental telepathicforce within me so that I could transport myself from that jail to my livingroom where I saw Shane seated and upset on our sofa. But I didn’thave that power, so I continued to watch the video, sobbing and hopingto see my children. Then I felt someone consoling me, caressing theback of my head. When the scene of my wife ended, I looked to my left,expecting to see Consuelo comforting me. But it wasn’t Consuelo, itwas Ingrid. I looked into her eyes, and I could see pain. It was my pain,she was feeling my pain, and I could see that her empathy was real. Iwondered again who this woman really was, how she could be capableof such generosity and such selfishness.This whole display made me wonder how much I could trust whatwas being told to me. My Spanish was getting better, but I could easilyhave misunderstood something or been flat out lied to. I chose to believethat everyone was being honest with me about news like Plan Patriotaand other items that affected my fate. I knew that no one would messwith messages from home. If there was one thing that was sacred to usall, it was those messages. We knew that we had to be very careful inassessing the truthfulness of anything the FARC told us; I didn’t want tohave to do the same with what we heard from the other hostages.Something told me that I had to up my Spanish skills more quickly.During our time in the political camp, I finally took to reading a bookI’d been given in camp: the Spanish-language edition of Harry Potterand the Sorcerer’s Stone. This book became my gateway to increased lit-