July 4， 1976<br >NEW YORK HARBOR<br >Tall sails scraped the deep purple nigl~ as rockets burst， flared， and flourished<br >red， white， and blue over the stoic Statue of Liberty. The whole world was<br >watching， it seemed; the whole world was there. Ships from fifty-five nations had<br >poured sailors into Manhattan to join the throngs， counted in the millions， who<br >watched the greatest pyrotechnic extravaganza ever mounted， all for America s<br >200th birthday party~ Deep into the morning， bars all over the city were<br >crammed with sailors. New York City had hosted the greatest party ever<br >known， everybody agreed later. The guests had come from all over the world~<br > This was the part the epidemiologists would later note， when they stayed up<br >late at night and the conversation drifted toward where it had started and when.<br >They would remember that glorious night in New York Harbor， all those<br >sailors， and recall: From all over the world they came to New York.<br >Christmas Eve， 1976<br >KINSHASA， ZAIRE<br >The hot African sky turned black and sultry; it wasn t like Christmas at all.<br > The unrelenting mugginess of the equatorial capital made Dr. Ib Bygbjerg<br >even lonelier for Denmark. In the kitchen， Dr. Grethe Rask， determined to<br >assuage her young colleague s homesickness， began preparing an approxima-<br >tion of the dinner with which Danes traditionally begin their Christmas obser-<br >vance， the celebration known through centuries of custom as the Feast of the<br >Hearts.<br > The preparations brought back memories of the woman s childhood in<br >Thisted， the ancient Jutland port nestled on the Lira Fiord not far from the<br >North Sea. As the main course， Grethe Rask knew， there needed to be some-<br >thing that flies~ In Jutland that would mean goose or duck; in Zaire， chicken<br >would have to suffice. As she began preparing the fowl， Grethe again felt the<br >familiar fatigue wash over her. She had spent the last two years haunted by<br >weariness， and by now， she knew she couldn t fight it.<br ><br >