The Leech Woman Page #5

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to set us free.

We're not here to do harm to anyone.

I've come to help...

I know why you've come.

You're searching for the source

of the sacred Nipe.

I will show it to you.

An orchid.

A species that grows

only in this region of Africa.

Look, the pollen.

A rare plant.

It takes years to harvest

even a few ounces of the pollen.

Then it is aged

five years more.

That flower, the plant,

they're still alive.

It is too valuable

to destroy.

I must have it.

For that one plant and permissin to go,

I'll give your people whatever they want,

money, cattle,

guns, anything.

Why in such a hurry

to depart?

Didn't I tell you that there was

even a greater secret?

Don't you want to see me

made young again?

Of course I do,

but I never dreamed it could be possible.

I came here

to die, Dr. Talbot,

but before the old women of Nandos die,

they receive the final gift of youth again,

a few days of happiness and love

before they wither to dust.

You're a scientist.

The greatest gift that I could give you

would be to let you witness this.

Yes. If I could see it,

I would believe it.

Tonight, you,

your wife and guide

will share the Nando secret.

Then you will sell me the orchid

and let us go.

For you, white men,

and you, white woman,

you are about to witness

that which none other than the Nandos

has ever seen before.

For a man, old age has rewards.

If he is wise, his gray hairs bring dignity

and he's treated with honor and respect.

But for the aged woman, there is nothing.

At best, she's pitied.

More often, her lot

is of contempt and neglect.

What woman lives

who has passed the prime of life

that would not give her remaining years

to reclaim even a few moments

of joy and happiness,

and know the worship of men?

For the end of life

should be its moment of triumph.

So it is with the aged women of Nandos,

a last flowering of love and beauty

before death.

He's drugged.

He's lanced the pineal gland

deep in the cerebellum.

He's adding the pineal hormone

to the Nipe.

It's a trick.

It's another woman.

No, no, it's Malla.

It's impossible.

It can't be the same woman.

I believe it is.

They took a man's life

to do it.

Now you have seen the secret

of the Nandos as I promised.

How do we know you're Malla?

Do you remember the mark

of the Arab slaver

that I showed you

in your office?

I knew I was right.

Malla, you've got to help me

take your secret back to the States.

It is the one secret

that will never leave my people.

When I die,

you, too, shall die.

Enjoy the night

while you can.

Until morning, I grant anything

you may wish, save freedom.

Malla, could you make my wife

young again?

Yes, but she must choose the man

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