The Crimson Lion and the Golden Fleece
10th of October, 1940, Pokigron, Belgian Guyana.
It was a hot and humid evening, when a new load of Belgian workers and their families came in. This time, five trucks filled with people and their belongings arrived to Pokigron, a small village on the Suriname River. In one of those trucks, Leo Meunier firmly held on to his dad, as the vehicle was rocking left and right on the unpaved jungle road. Leo had no idea why he and his family were here. His father had said something about serving the country. Leo knew they were at war, the priest of his village back in Belgium made sure of that. In his services, he was always ranting about the syndicalist danger, even though Leo and all of the other kids didn’t even know what that was. Before the war, Leo’s dad was an engineer and a good one to say the least. A couple of weeks ago, these men in military uniform, one of which a German, turned up at their door. Leo’s dad was excited and started packing some important stuff. Before they knew it, they were on a ship heading towards Belgian Guyana.
The five trucks stopped at a rather large building. Soldiers opened the back and let the people out. Leo could now see the building properly. It looked like some kind of barracks. One by one, the families, with their trunks, headed inside and settled themselves in their own respective rooms. This was their new life now, living in these barracks. Leo’s dad, along with the dads of other children, worked day and night in another building on the other side of town, while Leo and the children were schooled. Some of the other children spoke Flemish, something Leo had never heard before, but soon he picked up the new language and even taught French to his new friends. Everything went well and Leo adjusted to his new life. But nothing good ever lasts forever.
One day, Leo and some of the other kids were wondering what exactly their dads were doing inside of the building on the other side of town. So they sneaked out of school and headed for the other side of town. As expected, the compound was heavily guarded by soldiers, but kids always find a way in, especially when Belgian soldiers are guarding the place. Leo and his friends walked through the long hallways and ducked behind cover whenever an adult walked by. It’s remarkable how stealthy kids can be. Suddenly, they passed by a door with a weird symbol on it. Leo’s interest was sparked and he tried to enter. The door was locked, of course. Leo tried again, this time using his Swiss army knife. The door opened, but at the same time, soldiers came around the corner. Leo snuck in the room and closed the door behind him, leaving his friends defenceless in the corridor. In the room stood a big table with all sorts of scientific equipment on it. Leo was taken in by the weird looking instruments before him. Not thinking about the guards and his friends anymore, he started playing with the various objects. He recognized some of them, his father had showed him things like a microscope before. Others were so weird that Leo thought they came straight out of the 1931 film about Frankenstein.
One thing in particular drew his attention. A vial containing a liquid was calling out to Leo. The curious boy picked it up and started shaking it. All of a sudden, the machine in the corner of the room turned on and made a ghastly sound. Struck by fear, Leo dropped the vial on the floor, where it shattered in a thousand pieces, the liquid now spread out on the floor. Leo’s attention was taken by the machine, which caused him a considerable headache. Just when he thought things couldn’t get any worse, the light turned off. The machine consumed so much power that soon, there wouldn’t be any power left to keep itself running. After a minute or so, the awful sound stopped and the machine powered down. The lights slowly turned back on and Leo could see his hands again. The liquid on the floor was nowhere to be seen. The boy had no time to worry as a soldier entered the room, followed by Leo’s father. “Leo, what were you thinking?”, the boy’s father asked angrily. “Why did you turn on that machine?”, he continued. Leo dared not to speak as he was still shaken by what had happened. “You could have been hurt! Now, son, come with me, we must not let your mother know about this. She would be even more angry than I already am”, Leo’s father continued, as he took Leo by the arm and took him out of the room.