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

248 OUT OF CAPTIVITYas an antenna. We strung that all around the inside and outside of ourhooch. The wire on the outside looked like our clothesline, so no oneever questioned us about it.We resumed listening to the message shows, and Keith and Iswitched off nights. Tom’s hearing wasn’t good enough for him to listento the shows at the necessary low volume to avoid detection. Withthe antennae wire hooked up to it and the sun down, we were able topull in decent reception. We had all come to an agreement. Becausethe programs were on late at night into the early morning, we agreedthat if a message came in for someone who wasn’t awake, the listener’sresponsibility was to get the message in full and not risk missing anyof it by running to wake up the intended recipient. That was crucial atthat camp because we weren’t supposed to have a radio and shoutingabout a message was a dead giveaway.One Saturday night, I was on the radio when I heard the announcersay that they had a reporter from MTV news who had a message forone of the three Americans. He didn’t say which of us, so I had to wait.It was well after midnight, and I was half dozing and half listening.When I heard the MTV reporter’s voice, I immediately sprang up. Atfirst, he was speaking in Spanish. My Harry Potter Spanish still wasn’tgreat, so I struggled to get everything straight in my head. Then heswitched to English. He said that he had talked to Lauren and Kyleand that Keith shouldn’t worry. They were doing fine under the circumstances.He went on for a minute or so telling Keith that he hopedthat he was still alive and well. He couldn’t understand why peoplewould do these things to one another and that he was deeply sorry forwhat had happened. He wanted the FARC to let the hostages go. He’dbeen traveling all around Colombia trying to get this message to Keith,and everywhere he went, people said the same thing—let the hostagesfree.Lauren’s voice came over the radio. I concentrated on what she wassaying as she filled Keith in on Kyle and her. Her “we miss you” was