As we continue on our journey, let us look at the next part of my escapade.
I then hatched a plan to seek assistance from one of the locals in the nearest village at the bottom of the hill. The plan was for me to exchange my watch for a pair of trousers and a shirt. Once this was achieved, it should be fairly easy for me to slide back into the hotel as the tourist I had been portraying. Now herein lays another twist.
You see, we knew that about 80% of the islanders were very keen for the coup to take place. This meant that the other 20% perhaps were not. Once the family got over the shock of my arrival at their home, they seemed willing to help me and they agreed to the exchange. They offered me a glass of orangeade and with that I felt relaxed and put my weapon on the table in relief. Here I broke one of the golden rules of a soldier. Never separate yourself from your weapon. You see, I was captured by my own weapon! The house I had chosen was the home of one of the political commissars. Talk about bad luck and game of percentages.
What happened next was exactly what my fears had been regarding my capture. You see I had saved a number of rounds in my magazine in case capture was imminent. I was going to take my own life. I have often been asked what my thoughts are regarding suicide. I am not sure if it is brave, cowardly or stupid. I do know that my love of life gave me no choice but to hang on and accept the inevitable. Here is another valuable lesson. You see, I could have ended it right there that night, but I would have denied myself my family and many friends of a lifetime together with many, many happy memories.
What was to follow was a never ending series of beatings and deprivation. I was handcuffed and hog tied for the next three days and dumped into a cell measuring 1.5 by 2 meters, in total darkness. Here once again the brain works overtime. You see the keeping us in the darkness was an attempt to disorientate us for the purpose of interrogation. However, I could hear the radio playing in the guardroom, cheerfully saying things like, “Good morning. The time is 07.30 in the morning. Welcome to Radio Seychelles.” I think that they had seen too many spy movies. You see, you can always find a positive in any situation. One just has to look for it.
The next few weeks were a whirlwind of interrogation, threats and roughing up. The beatings got less frequent and I think I got myself into a better place mentally. I accepted that this would be my lot for the foreseeable future. This would be the start of 9 months of solitary confinement. We did not know how long it was going to last, when our trial would begin and a million other questions that came to mind. All that I knew was that for my own mental and physical state I would have to get mentally tough and to start this exercise as early as possible.
I did decide to attempt this in various stages. This would be less of a burden for me and I could increase the tempo as and when I felt stronger. Whilst outside my cell dictated everything in my life, at least in my cell I could be in charge. So I started with the repairing of my body and decided that to keep myself sane, I would look up at the ceiling of my cell where there were patches of plaster missing on the concrete. I made this a task of mine to see how many different shapes I could make out. I could discern an elephant, a map of Africa, a whale. In all, I found seventeen shapes and this would be a mental exercise for me over the next nine months. I would do these mental exercises five times a day and would not leave the challenge before I had counted the exact amount, all seventeen.
Once I had mastered this task, I decided to write the first of my three songs. This would have been a simple task under normal circumstances. However, I had no paper or a pen. So everything had to be written to memory, verse, chorus, etc. Later on this would also bring me some light hearted relief. Sometimes in the early hours of the morning, I would hear the voice of one of the guards asking, “Mr. Aubrey, please sing me a song.” I would ask which song and invariably they would say not the sad one. Who would believe that an awaiting trial prisoner in solitary confinement would be singing to his guard in the early hours of the morning? So you see, that no matter what the circumstances are, everything is possible and all of this also helped to soften the attitudes of the guards towards us. No matter how difficult things appear, what you do and a proactive approach can and will give you a more positive outcome.
What makes you smile is probably the best medicine of all.
Stay safe and happy.
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