Previous Challenge Entry (Level 4 – Masters)
Topic: Rage (violent, uncontrolled hatred and anger) (02/05/15)
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TITLE: No! | Previous Challenge Entry
By Jack Taylor
02/12/15 -
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The jagged projectile ricocheted off the underside of the olive branch and whizzed by the ear of the smiling shepherd. He recoiled against the trunk and peered out at his assailant. His tight black curls glistened in the mid-day sun.
The bronzed farmer raised his fist and flexed his huge biceps. “Try that again and you won’t be so lucky next time.” The familiar knot wrapped tighter in his stomach, the surge of power flowed into his arms, the tightening clamped down on his neck and shoulders. He crushed a dandelion under his heel and ground it into the dirt. “You have no clue what it’s like, trying to save our family from this cursed wasteland. No matter how hard I work it’s never as good as the crops mom and dad had in the first garden.”
The Shepherd ran his fingers through the wool of a ram and picked off a small thistle. “Maybe if you worked harder you could make them happy. Those weeds seem to grow faster than your wheat. The thistles strangle your vegetables. I don’t think you really know what you’re doing.”
The farmer scooped to pick up a larger rock and took several steps toward his younger brother. “Before you came along everything was fine.” He watched a pair of eagles riding the thermals. “Mom told me about how things used to be and how I was a gift from God to make things right again.” A few more steps toward the flock. “Then you arrived, noisy as a goat for its momma, taking my time, taking my place.”
The shepherd backed away. “At least you got a good name. My name means a brief puff of wind. How would you like to be called that the rest of your life?”
The farmer glanced around. He would prove himself. Stepping into his garden he picked off samples of fruit and vegetables. Only a few of the produce carried wrinkles or blight, hardly noticeable. He looked over his shoulder as his brother butchered a young lamb.
He jogged the final few steps to the sacred mound where his father often called out to the heavens. He laid the offering on top of the dirt and rock. “What do I have to do to win your blessing?” he called. Nothing.
He walked away and hid behind a bougainvillea bush rising as high as a coconut palm. His brother arrived, hands filled with the bloodied internal organs and fat of his offering. He dumped them on top of the same sacred mound, fell to his knees, raised his bloodied hands and cried out, “life for life, breath for breath, you are everything.”
The farmer heard a distinctive rumble and saw the smile arise on the face of his kneeling brother. Within minutes, the shepherd was gone and the birds descended to claim their feast. None of them touched his vegetables or fruit.
He rushed to the mound and chased the fowl away. “That little show off.” He wiped away the grisly remains and planted his vegetables back on top. “It will be life for life all right.”
As he finished his deed, a deep presence surrounded him. “Why are you angry? Why the dark face? If you do the right thing won’t you be accepted? The destroyer crouches even now wanting to devour you like the birds eating the entrails. It comes like a wolf after your brother’s sheep. Guard against it. Be under control.”
Cain turned to watch Abel dancing among his lambs. They jumped with him in a playful ballad. “You ask me to do what is right?” The farmer looked toward the heavens. “My brother dances with the lambs he kills and rests with them in the shade of trees. I slave in the sun and the thorns and thistles strangle everything I work for. Mom and dad are always blaming me for not doing enough.” He stared back at the shepherd. “What chance do I have?”
Power surged through the farmer. His heart seemed to beat right through his breast. His chest heaved as he sucked in bushels of air. The shame, fear, humiliation, wrapped around his soul and threatened to suffocate him. He bent over and hoisted a huge boulder as if it was a pebble. “Abel,” he yelled.
The shepherd’s face contorted in fear as he stumbled backward and then tripped. Time stood still as Cain brought the rock down on his brother’s head. And then all went strangely calm.
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