B is for Stealing

"You aren’t truly a man, until you’ve gotten married.” The preacher said with such conviction that all the women cheered and all the men nodded in the affirmative. And all Yacob could do was burst into uncontrollable laughter. It was good that he stayed in the back of the building, it would be hell to explain his actions if he weren’t.  Where was he, this preacher, during the days of hunger and want; when Yacob and the High Priest who bore him made miracles from morsels? Where was he, when he reached his hand into despair’s crocodile pit to pull friend and former foe from –what most thought was – inevitable desctruction. See, while many saw the sins of multitude, Yacob saw the tears that led to the lacing up of shoes, that led to the sin; and he would sit there, with them, on the road and weep. Empathy did not care for age. Nor did wisdom. They came to those who were open. And what of Sebastian, who held his brothers with that which was stronger than rope? Or Rory, t...

--> “Do you remember the colour of your first spell?” It was an off question. He had never thought about it. He had never associated colour to magic. Then again, he rarely associated anything with colour. “I remember the intensity,” he offered, “I remember the feeling and what it caused. I remember the soundtrack of tears that led to it.” “Yes, but what of its colour! What did the spell look like?” He paused a full ten minutes… then three minutes more. She remained patient till she saw the light return to his eyes. “It… it was blue. Steel blue. Kind of... no, it was blue. Steel blue.” It was the night of the rainstorm. The night he pulled away from crowd consciousness. The night when he decided to take from the sky what he had always hoped was his. “I was playing. I was… tricking myself into believing while… not believing. Does that make sense?”   Her smile held the answer. “It was becoming blacker by the hour and the stars wouldn’t call me master. The...

One day will not kill you, they said. Take the day off, they said. Come with us to the river, they said. Aye! Stop here for drinks, they said. We know a back road, they said. This road real jerky, you know, they said. ... Jump from the big rock, they said. Let's see who could hold on the most nah, they said. Boy come and take a drink, they said. We go chase the river with some rum, they said. Nah man, all ah we cool, they said. Hoss, none ah we eh that  drunk * hick* , they said. ... Leh we pass by dah road again nah, they said. Ha! Ha! Like yuh fraid yuh go dead, they said. Buh where dat manicou come from, they said. QUICK! SWERVE! SWERVE! they said. Oh God! Oh God! Hail Mary, Shiva, somebody, OH GOD! they said oh lord we go de --- --- ---- One day will not kill you, they said. Yeah. Right. *Saturday last, we had writers meeting. We usually do these little exercises. Just write whatever. Maybe there's a...