‘He’s Out!’--a Phone Call Brings Tears and Family Joy at the Kitchen Table

The family waiting near the kitchen table in the second-floor apartment could have formed a Norman Rockwell tableau except for the throng of reporters and the hot television lights.

A framed photograph of hostage Frank H. Reed stood on the table alongside a television set tuned to a soap opera.

While Reed’s Syrian-born second wife, Fahima (Fifi), waited by the phone, his 91-year-old mother, Leota Reed Sprague, and other relatives sat quietly. Marilyn Langston, 33, Reed’s daughter by his first marriage, perched on the arm of a sofa. She hadn’t eaten since Sunday night, when she managed a few mouthfuls of pizza. That’s when her father’s impending release was announced in the Middle East.

Then at 1:43 p.m., the phone rang. On the other end of the line was Mike Mahoney, a State Department official.

“He’s with the Syrians now!” shouted Reed’s wife, holding the receiver. Tears filled her eyes. “He’s out!” She held up two fingers in a “V” for victory.

As the cameras focused on her, Reed’s mother murmured quietly to herself: “It’s wonderful to have all those prayers answered. I hoped it wouldn’t fall through.”

Reed’s 9-year-old son, Tarek, who had written President Bush asking for help in freeing his father, entered the room. His mother put an arm around his shoulder, telling him his father was a prisoner no longer.

“Dad’s out,” she said.

“I’m happy. I miss him,” Tarek said.

When all the hugs and kisses were completed, Fifi Reed reflected on the family’s momentous day.

“It’s not the end of the road. Other hostages are still there,” she said. “It’s not enough to have Robert (Polhill) out and Frank out. We want them all out.”

Reed, 57, director of the Lebanese International School, was abducted Sept. 9, 1986, near Beirut airport. He had lived in Beirut since 1977 and had converted to Islam to marry his second wife.

The first word that his release might be imminent came a week after U.S. hostage Polhill was freed by his kidnapers after almost 39 months in captivity and delivered to Syrian troops in West Beirut.

Fifi Reed, 39, had jumped up and down with joy Sunday night when reporters told her that a group calling itself Islamic Dawn had promised to free her husband within 48 hours.

Then, with the world waiting, the vigil began in Leota Sprague’s apartment decorated with antiques on a quiet street of Malden, a close-in suburb of Boston.

Reporters began arriving at 3 a.m., and by lunchtime, a score of press and television vehicles were parked outside the building.

As the hours passed slowly, Langston said the wait was “agonizing.” Family members moved about carefully in the room packed wall-to-wall with reporters. At 1:30 p.m., Fifi Reed answered a call from a United Press International reporter. It was good news but not conclusive.

“No one has seen him yet, but he has been given to the Syrians,” she told everyone in the room. “I am still cautious about it until I see it.

“It takes about four hours to get from Damascus to Beirut,” she added.

A few minutes later, after an unproductive call, the phone rang again. This time the word was official.

“Mike is on the line with the American Embassy,” she said, referring to Mahoney. “This time it’s for sure.”

“Thank God our prayers are answered. It’s a miracle,” said the hostage’s mother.

Fifi Reed walked over and embraced her mother-in-law.

“It’s a real miracle,” she said.