July 4， 1976
NEW YORK HARBOR
Tall sails scraped the deep purple nigl~ as rockets burst， flared， and flourished
red， white， and blue over the stoic Statue of Liberty. The whole world was
watching， it seemed; the whole world was there. Ships from fifty-five nations had
poured sailors into Manhattan to join the throngs， counted in the millions， who
watched the greatest pyrotechnic extravaganza ever mounted， all for America s
200th birthday party~ Deep into the morning， bars all over the city were
crammed with sailors. New York City had hosted the greatest party ever
known， everybody agreed later. The guests had come from all over the world~
This was the part the epidemiologists would later note， when they stayed up
late at night and the conversation drifted toward where it had started and when.
They would remember that glorious night in New York Harbor， all those
sailors， and recall: From all over the world they came to New York.
Christmas Eve， 1976
KINSHASA， ZAIRE
The hot African sky turned black and sultry; it wasn t like Christmas at all.
The unrelenting mugginess of the equatorial capital made Dr. Ib Bygbjerg
even lonelier for Denmark. In the kitchen， Dr. Grethe Rask， determined to
assuage her young colleague s homesickness， began preparing an approxima-
tion of the dinner with which Danes traditionally begin their Christmas obser-
vance， the celebration known through centuries of custom as the Feast of the
Hearts.
The preparations brought back memories of the woman s childhood in
Thisted， the ancient Jutland port nestled on the Lira Fiord not far from the
North Sea. As the main course， Grethe Rask knew， there needed to be some-
thing that flies~ In Jutland that would mean goose or duck; in Zaire， chicken
would have to suffice. As she began preparing the fowl， Grethe again felt the
familiar fatigue wash over her. She had spent the last two years haunted by
weariness， and by now， she knew she couldn t fight it.
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