Previous Challenge Entry (Level 4 – Masters)
Topic: WALL (02/17/22)
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TITLE: My Part | Previous Challenge Entry
By Jack Taylor
02/22/22 -
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A cloud of black kites often swooped up and down in dizzying displays of grandeur over an oak tree where a mating pair of turtle doves sat in rapt attention. If it’s one thing that takes my mind off of the brokenness below it’s the beauty above. A hawk circled lazily under cotton candy clouds.
I am always thankful for the rains and the rats. A wash clears the air. A gnawing rodent disposes of disintegrating matter. Sometimes the stench of abandoned waste wafted our way on the wind and it is a relief to know that the westerly winds are coming each evening to dissipate the aromas.
The stuff on the ground always made for interesting storytimes. On spring days, when the grass and wildflowers proliferated the landscape, making it look like a picnic ground, my family would take our meals and sit on the top of the stack of brick and rock and speculate on how this had all happened.
My favorite part was the wall. You could see where the stone blockade had circled around the neighborhood. An old roadway had run alongside the barrier and a huge ditch below it was still filled with chunks of rock too big to haul away. My son Joseph used to stand on top of one large boulder, yelling, I am king and I order you all to Babylon. The other three would work hard to dislodge him off his perch and to prove their worth as rebels.
Sometimes, creepy things happen in the dark when you’re isolated among the ruins. Last week, a man on a horse rode around and around in the pitch black. I asked the neighbors and they had no idea who the stranger might be. One neighbor thought I was crazy until we walked the old road and saw the footprints and horse dung. “Do you think someone’s trying to see if we’re vulnerable?” I asked.
As we stood there, a stranger stepped out from behind a hedge. “Peace, friends,” he said. “Are you feeling safe around here, these days?”
His eagle eyes seemed to pierce through me and I shuddered. “Why are you asking?” I inquired. His clothing was clearly upper class but I don’t trust easy.
“I guess most people like to feel safe,” he said. He stroked his neatly cut beard, the color of fresh coal, and adjusted the cap on his head. “I’m wondering if you’re tired of seeing all these ruins taking up space. Could I count on you to help me with a little project?”
“What do you have in mind?” I asked.
“I’m thinking that if you and your neighbor took all the bricks and stones and blocks in these piles and put them together where the old wall used to be, that maybe this place would be a lot neater and we’d feel a little safer.”
“What’s in it for me?” I asked.
He bounced up onto my son’s huge boulder and surveyed the land. He posed like a sailor up on the mast looking for whales in the distance. “Got anyone in the neighborhood who gives you trouble?” he asked.
“Of course! Doesn’t everyone,” I asked. “We all live with barriers between us. People from outside this community come by and they think this is all a disgrace. Sometimes you don’t have a choice as to where you can afford to live.”
The stranger nodded and jumped off the boulder. “Tell you what I’m going to do,” he said. “I’ll talk with your neighbors, organize a little work party, gather up all the supplies you need, and we’ll see what we can do over the next few weeks.”
“Are you really thinking of putting up this wall again?” I asked.
“Some of the outsiders are not going to be happy?”
“Will you be happy if we have a wall and you’ve done your little part?”
“Of course, but who are you anyway?”
“Nehemiah ben Hakaliah.”
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Blessings
So we’ll written too.
Loved it.