Mea Culpa

"Well, we really wanted to know what was going on at the monastery, and we figured we'd be able to see down over top of the place from the cliff to the one side. So we went up there. Victor was getting dizzy once in a while, I guess from the height. I never thought of that when he said we could climb a tree to see better. We picked out a tree and climbed up. When we were high up there he slid out onto a limb. I said not to, but he did anyway. And then he suddenly got dizzy and fell.

The tree was leaning out over the cliff, so he fell a long ways down. It was hard to find him. When I did he was all bloody, and his leg was twisted. I could feel it was broken when I straightened it out. He was still breathing then, but when I got the others and we found him again he wasn't breathing, and we couldn't find a heart beat."

Maartje, "Those poor people, to lose their son just like that. And while they're on a holiday! This is going to change everything. We'll have to cancel the plans for the rest of their time here. And we'll have to make all kinds of arrangements."

Bertus, "Siem wants to send for the other children. They could get on a plane to Calcutta and be here in a couple of days. They all have passports and everything, for going to Canada. So we'll have the funeral after they arrive. That's simpler than taking the body back to Holland."