(2 of 3)
Out of the blue comes hope. At the end of June Anderson learns that TWA Flight 847 has been hijacked and 39 American passengers are being held. Hajj, the chief guard, arrives with word that a package deal is in the works. "You will be going home," he says.
Nothing happens. The guards, however, improve living conditions for Anderson and the others, apparently in fear they might fall sick and die like Buckley. "Christmas in July" brings dinner of Swiss steak, vegetables and fruit, medical checkups by a kidnaped Lebanese Jewish doctor, and the chance to start worshiping together. Anderson, once a lapsed Catholic whose faith now grows stronger by the day, wheedles permission from Hajj to make his confession to Father Jenco. Later, all the hostages are allowed to hold daily services in their "Church of the Locked Door." They celebrate Communion with scraps of Arabic bread. Anderson tells the guards to shut up when they mock the Christian service.
After the first worship, Pastor Weir reaches out and grasps Anderson, and the two men hug. Perhaps worried that the frail minister might be slipping, Anderson urges him to be strong. "Don't give up," he tells him. "Keep going."
Another new hostage has arrived, Thomas Sutherland, dean of agriculture at American University (kidnaped June 9, 1985). Eventually the captors permit their prisoners to be together all the time and to remove their blindfolds when the guards are out of the room.
One day in September, Hajj raises everybody's hopes again by announcing that a hostage will finally be released. He has them play a cruel game: they must choose for themselves who will go free. "Think it over," he commands as he walks away.
The hostages drag their agonizing discussion late into the night. Pastor Weir and Father Jenco make no effort to put themselves forward, and Sutherland is too much of a gentleman. But Anderson nearly takes a swing at Jacobsen as the two men engage in a bitter contest to be chosen. Anderson wins the vote, but then is devastated when Hajj refuses to abide by the decision. "Terry Anderson will not be the first to be released," he snaps. "He might be the last one." A few nights later, Hajj tells Pastor Weir he is going home.
On Christmas Eve the hostages hear on the radio that Church of England envoy Terry Waite has failed to negotiate their freedom, and has returned to London. Anderson is crushed. Father Jenco tries to sing carols but is too depressed. Jacobsen draws a crude Christmas tree on a piece of cardboard and sticks it on the wall.
Anderson fights back boredom and depression by throwing himself into habits and hobbies. Each morning he obsessively cleans the sleeping mats and takes spirited 40-minute walks around and around the room. When he fashions a chess set from scraps of tinfoil, the guards take the game away. Anderson takes French lessons from Sutherland, and stays up all night reading the Bible and novels by Charles Dickens that the guards provide.
After solitary confinement, the camaraderie is energizing. From memory Sutherland recites the poetry of his beloved Robert Burns, in the brogue of his native Scotland (he once played professional football with the Glasgow Rangers). Father Jenco takes the hostages on an imaginary tour of Rome and the Vatican. Anderson makes a deck of cards from paper scraps, and they all play cutthroat games of hearts.