It was during the flight from England to Canada when Katherine first realized the real consequences of her current situation. Jail, having her children taken away; these were all punishments for the many crimes she was committing at that moment. It’s not like I’m committing murder or anything, she thought, it’s just illegal immigration. The problem was that this was not the first time she was moving into a country illegally.
When she was twenty-six years old, Katherine had moved from the corruption and poverty of Kenya, avoiding the many problems faced in the newly-formed country. With her husband George and her five-year-old daughter, Eve, she fled to England hoping to find safer, more stable conditions and that she did, for only a few months, however. She had to live in four different homes in a time span of only two years before they finally settled down to a humble bungalow in Slough, a calm and cozy area of Central Britain. Around this time she gave birth to her second daughter, Elizabeth, on Christmas day, good news for the whole family. The whole family had finally settled down and found a home for themselves. It turned out, however, that this was just the calm before the storm.
A few months before the flight, many of Katherine’s friends, who had also illegally fled from the troubles of third-world countries, had been caught and prosecuted for their illegal immigration. Immigrations officers had retrieved their fake passports and they were punished with either incarceration or deportation, two punishments Katherine’s family was not equipped to endure. Not only this, but there was dangerous war threatening every family in Europe; from civilian attacks to nationwide drafts to economic depression, many families had been torn apart by the terrors of war. She knew that they had to do something and fast before they too were caught in the war’s thick blanket of destruction.
The day one of Katherine’s closest friends was deported was when she decided they needed a plan. She and George concocted a detailed outline of the process of fleeing their home once again. Raising money, acquiring fake passports and figuring out living arrangements were their first priorities. They had a friend who worked with men who created fake IDs and passports, so they decided to ask him for his help. Of course, purchasing a fake passport is a federal crime so this was much easier said than done. With much hard work and secrecy (for their non-immigrant friends), they eventually got the passports, but they were only a fraction of the way done. They had decided the only way for this plan to work would be if she traveled alone with the kids and George would come later. After a few weeks, they had all they needed to finalize their plans and start moving. Their new identity in Canada would be the Engel family from Leipzig, Germany, a small town family that used to own a little bakery they had to sell to make this big move.

After a few hours, the plane finally landed, and they had miraculously arrived safely. Unfortunately, surviving the plane ride was the easiest part of the trip, depending on how the next part went. The girls retrieved their luggage and Katherine nervously led her daughters to the customs clearing. Elizabeth and Eve didn’t know the severity of the situation, which is why they continued to act as if everything was normal, complaining and giving Katherine a hard time.
They stood in the line for what seemed like forever and during this time, Katherine tried to devise every possible question they could ask in the booth and draft the most appropriate answers: ‘Where’s your husband?’ ‘He’s flying in with his mother another day.’ ‘Where will you be staying?’ ‘With my cousins.’ ‘How did you acquire a traveling visa?’ ‘Through my sister who works as a diplomat.’ As they got closer and closer to the front of the line, her heart beat harder and faster with every step. They can’t arrest me, they don't even have enough information to keep me in holding anyway; she thought the most encouraging thoughts she could.
The final moment before they stepped up to the booth was the longest and most nerve-wracking minute of her whole life thus far. It took all of her focus to keep her trembling legs from buckling under her as she stood at the front of the line. The people around her, all drowsy from long and uncomfortable flights seemed to have known about what she was up to; it was as if they were whispering around her, suspecting all of her plans.
“Ma’am?” a woman behind her had said. She pointed to the empty spot in front of the booth Katherine was supposed to fill. Her heart was pounding so hard she could barely hear the people behind her, let alone the TSA officer inside of the booth. With all of her strength, she pushed herself forward followed by Elizabeth and Eve, who were very excited to be in such a new setting.
“How are you doing today?” This TSA officer is rather nice, she thought, I hope he doesn’t mistake my apprehension for insolence. “I hope your flight wasn’t too bad!”
“Oh, it was fine,” she stated nervously. He could sense her perturbation and was slightly suspicious but continued the small talk.
“So what’s Germany like? I’ve never been there, but I guess I can’t go now with the war and all,” he asked seeming genuinely interested. She responded with what she realized was limited knowledge about the country itself. She did remember a few facts she had heard about Germany on the news and from her sister’s discussions about the UN’s actions towards the war and recited some of those facts. She had finally begun to let her guard down and relax a little.
His expression said that something must have rubbed him the wrong way, and after looking at her light luggage, he asked her to step aside from the line and wait for his officer to speak to her. He knows, oh no, he knows what we’re up to, she concluded.
“Is there a problem?” she asked innocently. He said there was nothing wrong and that he just wanted something double checked by his supervisor. He paged his officer and a few minutes later, several armed men came down the hallway and approached Katherine and her daughters.
“What is going on?” Katherine was astounded by their reaction to her illegal immigration, but she would soon realize that there was a gigantic confusion.
“We need you and your daughters to come with us, now,” the heavily armed men stated. She was not looking for a fight and was compliant to their demands. She quietly followed the men, praying in her head the whole time for safety and to get out of this situation.
They approached a small room, fitted with a table and chairs on either side of the table. Once they entered this room, she was handcuffed and sat down in one of the chairs. Elizabeth and Eve were sent with a woman to another room to be watched while Katherine was being questioned. A tall, buff, older man in a dark suit entered the room with one of the heavily armed men and sat down in one of the seats on the other side of the table. “With the war going on in Europe and specifically Germany, you can imagine our concern with letting people from Germany enter Canada,” the man in the dark suit said calmly. She nodded her head, still very confused and scared for herself and her daughters’ sakes. “When we spoke to Raul, the TSA officer who spoke to you in the customs clearing, he said you had very interesting information about the status of the war and Germany.” Still very confused, she continued to listen, tearing up a little, wondering what they could possibly be holding her for. “See, the only way someone would know this information was if they were fighting in the war for Canada or working for the German government, and since you seem to be a permanent resident of Germany, the only option would be the latter.”
As she slowly pieced together what they were accusing her of, she was thinking of the possible ways to get out of the situation. Once she realized she was suspected of espionage, she knew the only way out of this was explaining the real reason for her travels to Canada. She didn’t have much time to figure out another way to free herself and her daughters and knew this was her only option.
“I am not working for the German government and would never support such monstrous actions.” She was stalling for time to think.
“Then what are your purposes here in Canada?” he was extremely frightening and seemed like the kind of guy who got what he wanted when he asked. She could sense his frustration and that he would no longer take any of her drivel.
She eventually decided that her best bet was to just tell him the truth. She would much rather go back to England with her daughters than be imprisoned and force her daughters into foster care.
“Okay, I’ll tell you the truth,” she said solemnly. She explained her family’s history of illegal immigration and fear about the war and deportation. She then described the plan that she and her husband came up with before her departure and what they would have done once they arrived in Canada. They would have made sure that once they found stable living arrangements and jobs, they would follow the correct and legal path of becoming citizens including paying taxes and serving the country whole-heartedly, but of course this was no longer an option.
“I respect that you told us the truth and your honest reasons for migrating here, but you know this is against the law, and I have no other option but to deport you and your daughters. I’m sorry but there is nothing else I can do,” he said with genuine consolation.
“I know,” she said, almost disappointed that her honesty didn’t get her any rewards. “Thank you for your concern, though; I truly appreciate it.” The heavily armed man left the room at this point and the man in the dark suit removed her handcuffs. The woman who was watching Elizabeth and Eve brought them back to her. He offered to take her back into the airport and have her flown back to England.
Once back in the airport, the man in the dark suit made a quick phone call, directed her to the exit of the airport, then gave her the best news of her life. “Now I’m about to do something incredibly illegal, and you will speak of this to no one. I’m going to let you go.” She looked at him, dumbfounded. “As in go free to live in Canada as you please.”
Katherine was in complete disbelief. She didn’t understand why he would do such a thing. “But why? Why would you risk your job and freedom for me?”
“I just am, go quickly now, before we get caught!” He briskly walked away, very content with his decision, however illegal it may have been.

Ever since that moment of Katherine’s life, she was grateful for everything that man had risked. Her biggest regret for a large portion of her adult life was not asking his name and not being able to do anything to thank him for the most generous act she had seen anyone commit. She had found a job and she, George and her family finally settled into a home safe and sound for the longest time they had ever stayed in one home, and it was all because of the man in the dark suit.
One afternoon ten years later, as she was getting ready for a late lunch with her friends, she remembered the story for the first time in a while, and decided to send him a quick prayer. She then left her house to go her car but decided to quickly check the mail. In the mail box was a letter from a Gerry Joseph addressed to the residents of 40 Rivermere Court, someone she just assumed had written the wrong address, and she quickly dismissed it. But she couldn’t get the letter out of her head and had a strong sense that the letter was in fact meant for her. She opened the letter once she arrived at the restaurant and it read:
Dear Katherine,
My name is Gerry Joseph and you are probably really confused as you’re reading this. In fact I’ll be lucky if you even open this, considering you have no idea who I am, but that’s what this letter is for. You might remember ten years ago this day, you were spared from deportation and allowed to live in Canada. Well the silly man who did that is myself, Gerry. For the last two years, I have been battling a fatal cancer and winning for a while but recently this war took a turn for the worse. I am now facing one to two months to live and I couldn’t help but think about nothing else but the young girl from Kenya who was just trying to find a future for her daughters in a safe stable country but couldn’t because of silly laws. It’s funny because that is the exact story of mine and my mother’s life before settling in Canada. Now I don’t know why I let you go, maybe because of our common tales, maybe I was in a really good mood, or maybe I was just really tired, who knows? But all I know is that I couldn’t leave this earth letting you know that every day since that fateful meeting, I have prayed for your prosperity and success for your daughters and let you know that you have a guardian angel watching you in heaven. I’m feeling very weak right know so I’ll leave the letter at that. I hope you have a wonderful day.
Gerry
Katherine wiped away tears before finally entering the restaurant.