Reports of Osama Bin Laden’s
whereabouts took a new turn this week when a Pakistani woman reported
sighting a tall man in a white robe with matching turban hit his
head on a low doorway.
The woman’s suspicions about the identity of the man were further
aroused when she noticed the entrance led to a recording studio.
So as not to create suspicion, she approached him without revealing
who she thought he might be.
“Are you all right?” she asked, with demur innocence.
“No,” he said. “How can I be all right? Besides just cracking my
head on this low doorway, I’m Osama Bin Laden.”
“Really?” she replied, thinking of the $25-million reward for turning
him in, as well as her opportunity to contribute to the triumph
of justice.
“Yes” he went on. “I haven’t been all right since I fled Tora Bora,
because it’s even hard for me to get out long enough to make my
audiotapes.”
“My, oh, my,” the woman commiserated, “Everybody thinks you’re in
the remote regions near the Afghan border.”
“You’d think they’d know better,” he confided. “How could a spoiled
rich boy like me live this long without some of the comforts only
a city can provide, like a dialysis machine to keep me alive, and
takeout food.”
“That makes sense,” she agreed.
“Yes, it does, but there’s no danger the authorities will figure
out where I am, because every time I record a tape, we filter out
the sounds of the city, like horns and sirens.”
“That’s very clever,” she said. “You’d think that when they see
the tapes are filtered they might guess you’re in a place where
there are background sounds.”
“Let’s just hope they don’t catch on. I don’t want them to take
away from my next surprise move.”
“Oh, a surprise move,” she exclaimed. “Want to tell me about it?”
“No,” he told her, “because then it won’t be a surprise anymore.
But just watch. I’m not going to slink around Karachi forever. I
long for metropolitan delights in the more developed capitals of
the world. Now, if you’ll excuse me, my recording session is due
to start.”
Then he waved goodbye and reentered the doorway, this time remembering
to duck.
The woman, excited to shortness of breath, went straight to the
nearest police station and reported her astonishing interaction.
Police immediately launched a Karachi-wide search for Bin Laden,
vowing to pursue him as part of their apparently somewhat porous
terrorist dragnet.
They were, however, shocked when the very next day, Bin Laden called
police headquarters and offered to turn himself in.
When asked why he had made the decision, when the police, many of
whom are devout Muslims, were doing their utmost to help him evade
capture, he replied, “I can’t stand it any longer. Hiding out every
day, afraid to go outside for fear of getting into a conversation
with a stranger who might report me, and having to spend all my
time with my four wives, when I could be sitting in a topless club
in America, like the martyrs I sent to fly planes into American
buildings were doing shortly before their great sacrifice. Worse
yet, one of my wives told me I may have misinterpreted The Koran,
because, she reminded me, ’Islam’ means peace. Praise be to God
I didn’t, or I’ll have to turn myself in. ”
“Well, if you insist,” the police told him.
“I’ll let you know for sure in a day or two,” Osama replied, “I
don’t want to do it and then regret it later, especially at the
moment I’m being hanged.”
“That’s very understandable, revered sheik,” the Pakistani police
officer replied. Then he added a reassurance that would undoubtedly
have infuriated Pakistani President Musharaff, his much wiser leader
and devoted American ally in the war on terror. “We must scour the
city for you. Before you hang up, tell us your address, so we make
sure to avoid it.”
About
the Author:
Tom Attea, humorist and creator of http://NewsLaugh.com,
has had six shows produced Off-Broadway and has written comedy for
TV. Critics have called his writing ""delightfully funny" and "witty"
with "good, genuine laughs."