I drove over to Charlie’s Truck Stop this past week to pick up some of Jake’s thick sliced cheese and to fill up with gas. Willard Smith was sitting out on one of the two long wooden benches that brackets the front door at Charlie’s as I drove up to the gas pumps. Hermann Spencer was sitting on the other bench. Back when Mister Johnson passed a considerable amount of time at the store, every one gathered around the pot belly stove inside the store whether it was winter or summer. Now that Mister Johnson has passed on, I notice the old guys are taking to sitting out front in nicer weather. Jake came bustling out with that big smile on his face like he always does when I pull up in front of his gas pumps and I told him to fill ‘er up. As Jake was pouring gas into the car, Willard piped up and said he had heard gas was just two dollars fifty cents in Jackson MS. The gas Jake was pumping into my car had a price of over three dollars. Willard appeared scandalized that cheaper gas was to be had farther south. Jake did not seem to much want to join that conversation. He just looked out across the fields. Willard was not willing to abandon the topic of gas prices. As for myself, I had some trouble coming to grips with the idea of gas being cheap at two fifty the gallon. In any case, I would not be driving to Jackson MS to fill my tank, not even if they were giving gas away free.
I followed Jake into the store to pay for the expensive gas. Jake went to slice up a half pound of cheese while I prowled the store to gather up several other things I was running short of. I saw Hurshel Ledbedder’s wife, Dolly, filling a cart with groceries and we passed a pleasant few moments. By the time I had returned to the check out, Jake had my cheese all sliced and wrapped and ready for me. I paid him and was gathering up my purchases when Jake said he did not like to charge so much for gas any more than his customers liked paying high prices. The extra money was not going into his pocket. I told Jake he had no reason to try explaining to me. I had never had any thought he was getting rich off three dollar gas. Jake grinned in a sort of lopsided way and said there were several people around thought he was in on some sort of conspiracy to rip his customers off and he just wanted to make sure I knew the truth. I assured Jake I was not placing the blame on him for the price of gas.
I went out the door and dumped my bags in the passenger seat of the car. I turned back to hear Hermann saying that something was the dumbest thing he had ever heard of. My curiosity got the better of me and I inquired what it was Hermann was thinking was so dumb. With so many dumb things happening in the world, I thought anything would have to be truly spectacular to rank on top of the pile. Hermann set forth to educate me concerning the recent Washington bureaucratic stumble. According to Hermann, and he gave as his source various news reports he had heard over the last few days, a certain Doctor Luis Sauchay and his medical staff of 1600 have volunteered their services including field hospitals and 83 tons of medical supplies to help ease the humanitarian disaster brought on by Katrina. This Doctor Luis Sauchay, at age 34, is not without experience in hardship medicine. Right out of medical school, according to sources, he spent two years on the high seas as the only doctor for hundreds of fishermen aboard an industrial ship. He passed another two years in an understaffed African clinic treating cases of tuberculosis and cholera. The last five years he has served as family doctor to working class families in Havana’s Parraga neighborhood. Last February, Sauchay joined a Cuban medical brigade to give aid to the shell shocked of Sri Lanka. And, a day after Katrina made landfall, Sauchay volunteered to assist victims of the Gulf Coast disaster.
“I can do good there,” said Sauchay, “because I have years of experience dealing with this type of catastrophe.”
The catch is, of course, that Doctor Sauchay is from Cuba, an old Cold War thorn in the side of the United States government. Though the Bush Administration has said international aid offers will be kept free of politics, Washington appears willing to make an exception for Cuba. The State Department asserted the Cuban Medical Team would not be needed since there has been a robust response from the American medical community. White House spokesman Scott McClellan is quoted, “When it comes to Cuba, we have one message for Fidel Castro: He needs to offer the people of Cuba their freedom.”
As was to be expected, Willard had a differing view on the situation. His take was that Castro was only making the offer of medical aid for propaganda purposes. He just wanted to be able to brag he has offered humanitarian aid to his enemy, the United States.
Hermann did not believe Castro was at issue for Doctor Sauchay. This is a doctor with hands on experience in disaster relief offering to help people. Politics are not a consideration. In any case, is the Bush administration afraid of letting this Cuban medical team on American soil in the fear the good doctor will set about trying to convert Americans to Castro’s brand of Communism? What exactly is the threat from Castro in this offer if assistance in recovery from one of the worst natural disasters ever to strike the United States? It does not appear the Regime in Washington thought so badly of Cuba when the administration in charge kidnapped little six year old Elian Gonzalez and sent him back to Cuba to grow up a ward of the Communist State. Now, however, the very thought of a qualified doctor coming to our fair shores and the danger he might in some way contaminate our people with his communist ideas while attempting to attend their medical needs is abhorrent. Hermann suspects the Administration policy toward Doctor Sauchay has more to do with politics and the votes of the Cuban American community than concern for the victims of the hurricane.
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