As the dank, eerie mist rose in the humid air, a loud, piercing scream came from the hut at the edge of the jungle. It shattered the tranquility of the Indian village.

In obvious agony, the painful cry and subsequent moans came from a young Indian girl. The shrieks and wails reverberated through the dense rain forest deep in the Amazon Basin.

"Keep pushing, Elia, keep pushing. The baby is trying to come," emphatically instructed the attending American medical missionary.

"Oh, Dr. André, why is she in so much pain? Why won't the baby come? Was the shaman right? Have the river gods put a hex on her?" implored the young female Indian aide, wringing her hands.

"Don't be ridiculous, Minnini. You know there is only one God, and he is watching over Elia. Now help me hold her from struggling. I've got to try to turn the baby. It's in the breech position."

"I'm so scared, Doctor. What is breech? Is it bad?"

"Well, it's not good, child, but I've seen it before, and I know what should be done. Not like those women in the village who are supposed to be midwives and, even worse, those medicine men with their incantations. The shamans would make the women walk away from this poor expectant mother. She probably wouldn't survive that ordeal and most certainly lose the baby."

"Caroline, hold her shoulders and try to keep her still while I work," ordered the doctor to his wife, who assisted him in these births.

* * *

André Clark received his medical training at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore. He then decided to become a medical missionary and studied theology at the University of Huston. It was there that he was contacted by the Mission Society of the Universe to travel to the depths of the Amazon to administer to lost Indian tribes deep in the Amazon Basin. He felt that he had a calling and realized the dangers and sometimes futile efforts that others had faced and never came home. He decided to dedicate his life to this calling.

While getting the basic theology training, he knew that he excelled in the medical end of missionary work and aspired to heal the body as his goal. Of course he had a deep religious faith and was aware that the lost tribes of the Amazon were in need of discovering Christianity, but they also were in dire straits and lacking the basic health necessities.

At the university, he joined a study group that had heated debates on many subjects, one of which was the goals of mission work. In the group was a bright-spirited female student named Caroline, who sometimes seemed to enjoy sparring with André on a one-on-one basis.

After one of these heated sessions, André purposely encountered Caroline in the hall and said, "Hey, you were kind of tough on me today."

She answered with a smile, "Well, I guess that's one way to get your attention. Shall we discuss it over coffee?"

He was astonished and flattered that this desirable young female theology student would have an interest in him. He couldn't help but notice her in class but hesitated approaching her because of his shyness and the very nature of her major.

Love came quickly. Neither one wanted a long engagement, and by the end of the school term, they were married. The Amazon assignment soon followed after graduation when the Mission Society of the Universe needed a married couple with qualifications to find and contact the lost tribe of Yano-Matis Indians and establish a mission as well as a clinic.

* * *

André was having a difficult time with this birth and was perspiring profusely even though it still was not yet in the heat of the day. The sun was just rising over the dank, steamy jungle in which this primitive Indian village was neatly tucked away. In its own remote corner of the world, the village was far from any semblance of modern medicine or, for that matter, far from any modern convenience of even the most basic kind.

André mumbled to himself, "It's no use. The baby is too far into the birth canal. I can't turn it."

He straightened his aching shoulders, regained his resolve, and announced, "Okay, Caroline, then we'll have a breech birth. I'll need your help."

He called out to Elia, "Push, my darling, push ... Your baby wants to see the light of day."

Elia screamed again as she gave a gigantic effort fighting through the excruciating pain.

"Good girl ... good girl ... one more big push ... I'll help you all that I can."

She screamed in full voice once more as she strained in response to her attendant.

With the young mother's final gigantic push, the baby was born, feet first, but one leg was bent back at the hip. With Caroline's help, the leg snapped back into place as it cleared the birth canal. No permanent damage was done due to the flexible joints of the newborn.

It was a baby boy, and a quick look determined that he had all his fingers and toes, but wait ... He's not breathing ... He's turning blue. André quickly started mouth to mouth, breathing carefully into those tiny lungs, giving him the life-sustaining oxygen needed to get his start into this cruel world where he was destined to struggle from the very beginning.

"My baby ... my baby ... Is my baby okay?" called Elia, sensing a problem and reverting to her native tongue.

André raised his head away from the child's, grabbed him by the feet, hoisted him into the air, and gently smacked him on his butt.

The baby gulped a huge breath and lustily let out the first cry of his life.

"Oh, he's a fighter all right," said Caroline with a huge grin.

She laid him on the new mother's breast.

"Everything is okay, Elia. You have a fine baby boy."

Even though weak from her effort, Elia cooed and whispered, "He's beautiful but so tiny."

"He's healthy and will grow quickly, my child. Have you thought about a name for him?" André asked.

"Yes," she answered in broken English. "I shall call him Franco Jr."

Minnini, the young aide, looked startled and suppressed a throaty sound. She glanced at Caroline but kept silent.

André, in his wisdom, said, "I want you and the baby to stay with us here in our lean-to, Elia. I want to make sure that the milk comes and is enough to satisfy the hunger of your little one."

"Yes, of course. I'm so tired. Can I rest now?"

"Certainly, let me have the baby," he answered.

He took the baby and gently handed him to Minnini, instructing her, "Clean him up while I handle the afterbirth."

"Yes, Dr. André." Minnini swabbed the newborn with clean towels.

"Oh, look how light his skin is, Miss Caroline. I know there will be trouble. The shaman will look badly on this. I just know it."

"Just never mind. I'll take care of her and the baby. There will be no trouble if I can help it. And I will see to it," said the determined missionary with a stern look on her face. She was strong, and with the help of God, she will conquer this adversity. God will help her with this challenge just as he has helped her make the headway she has made with these primitive people.

In a month or so, after she has helped this young mother and her newborn son get on their feet and get established, she will make a trip to the gold mine upriver, north of the village, and see what she might be able to accomplish with the father of this child.

"Hmmm, I wonder what kind of reception I will get. The young man seemed decent enough, but what of the management at the mine. They don't look...