100 Ab'ram

Mr Andrew James Brinkman

1510125

Contemporary Fiction

Module EL7103

Short Story

Mr. Paul Bryers

12/01/16

ABRAHAM ELIAD

'The fish are biting, let us hurry' said a forbidding Abraham. 

It was a cold, dark, chilling winters morning. The fish were biting the ice of the cool, crisp, froth of the mediterranean sea looking for food. Waves were crashing in and out of the harbour pontoon. The fish would swarm, darting in and out of sight. Abraham would spot one and never let it leave his vision. They were fine that day, except for the fact the anchor had got stuck on a rock. He scurried for a machete and ushered Isaac to the end of the boat; 

'Drop the nets' said Abraham coarsely through his thick beard. 

'Yes papa' replied Isaac. 

He whispered to Isaac, 'I will cut the anchor!, and as we pass, drop the Mackerel bait, and I will join you to drag the nets, OK?'. 

Abraham was a valiant fighter, to catch the fish. This was a daily operation not only to put food on the table, but for the markets of Tel-Aviv-Yafo. 

'Naomi is calling me in my prayers' Abraham said. 

'Hurry, hurry, she wants you in your gloves Isaac!'. 

Calm he prayed. 

'God we thank you eternally for the fish we are about to catch'. His daily ritual was about to commence.

He caught many fish darting around the hull of the boat in the corner of his right eye. He shouted with a crescendo, 'one, two, . . now!'. 

The blue chips of paint sprang from the hull, he cut through the water, into the boat and then into his outer thigh. 

'Ow! how! Holy . . . mother!' he shouted. 

'God save me' he said inside, and fell overboard. Blood swelled in the tide. 

'Drag those nets', bubbled under the water. 

'Papa!' cried Isaac; trying to pull the nets on his own. 

Abraham dragged himself back into the sinking boat. 

'Fine help me not the fish now Isaac!' His son dragged his sodden body onto the deck. 

'Ah thank you'; he recoiled. 

'We have 10 fish papa! And a broken father'; he wept. 

'Allelu. . .ia!, . . . Ow!'; he recoiled again. 

'What is wrong with you Daddy?', 

'I'm past it' he said. 

And he was sick all over the starboard decking. Isaac washed him down, with a bucket of sea water, and they made a safe voyage home.

Abraham was married to Naomi in 1990 in a small, gold adorned synagogue in Jerusalem. By 2000 Naomi had had Isaac, however that caused the marriage to breakdown. Abraham was a fine gentleman, but always on the louder end of nervous, which had driven him to drinking. 

He would dress in green smock, rope, sandals, and kippah (/kI'pa/:) on the sabbath, and the rest of the time, he enjoyed very british country gentleman attire that he shipped from overseas. He was neither, and yet both: orthodox and unorthodox. 

He used to say to himself, 'God would dress as an Englishman!' 

Tweed was his favourite cotton, and cotton never as good as tweed. In flat cap, pipe smoking, waistcoat, chequered blue and green freshly ironed shirt, chelsea boots; and on occasions a monocle. They returned home that evening with their 10 mackerel, a broken leg and a damaged boat.

***

Isaac walked into the bedroom the next morning, with a gun in his hands. Abraham was starting to wane from the drinking, never mind the state of his leg. 

'Daddy don't move'. 

'Calm son', he said. 

'Put the gun down please'. 

Isaac took a stab in the dark and shot the end of the bedpost off, through the wall and into the neighbours fishbowl. 

'What in hells name are you doing? . . .Sorry!' Abraham exclaimed to the neighbours through the hole. 

'You're not past it Daddy, last night you gave me a nightmare.' 

'Come here, where did you find that gun please?' 

'In the cistern of the toilet'. Oh I see, he thought. 'Well I must get better at hiding things from you then'. 

'Well?' said a crazed Isaac. 

I can hardly walk and now my son has me under a death threat. 

'I had a dream papa about you killing yourself with a gun, and leaving me abandoned to struggle without mama, it's not fair, you know I hate her, for leaving you', and he broke down wailing and crying. 

'Isaac we have the power of god, if we make the right choices. Now you are not to kill me, and you are certainly not to blame for your mother. I have the gun to protect both you and I, after that break in from the Jordanian police'.

Yafo News 3rdJanuary 2004: 

Abraham Eliad was accosted last night by the Jordanian Police for causing the death of Ibrahim Aseen, but proved his innocence by use of an alibi, Naomi Eliad. Ibrahim Aseen was wanted in Yafo for a bomb threat, but we do not believe there is any link to Abraham Eliad.

Abraham is born on the 3rdNovember 1970, to staunch wealthy parents who claim him to be the second coming. For this he is utterly embarrassed as he suffers severely from paralogism. 

'Where did not, I want a second helping?', he used to say at the dinner table.

'How prophetic Ab's' they would say. 

His father had his doubts, as it had all really been his mother's idea. His mother, Lilith Eliad had an indirect bloodline from King Solomon.

'King Ab's what would you like to be when you grow up?' She would say in front of the other parents. 

'Where did not, I want to be a fisherman and feed the five thousand?' he would profess. 

Everything was a question. His mind was like a philosophers stone. Maybe an orator said the other parents. Lilith got very annoyed with this and would scowl at him.

***

Naomi walked out of the room at the stench of vodka. Abraham was holding a bandage and scissors, 

'I need the vodka to sterilise the scissors!'

'I can't help you' shouted back Naomi. 

Fine he uttered under his breath, 'sorry God I need the vodka to cope with my nerves'. 

Isaac was ushered into the room by Naomi, 'now what do you have to tell your father?'

'I hate this', said Isaac. 

'Mama cares so she doesn't drink'. 

Abraham replied, 'look at this hole in the wall Naomi! The boy is out of control! I will ask you to come fishing again tomorrow, now go and have a nice time with your mother'. 

'But papa . . . !' 

***

Isaac will you write this down. . . 

'Jerusalem was once, and maybe still is the centre of the universe'. 

Abraham and Isaac, had headed to Ashdod the next day, for the trout in the rivers running down to the ocean. It was a long drive. Isaac found a conch on the riverbank. 

'Yes papa!' he replied. 

'J. . e . . r. . u . .s . .a. . l . .' he wrote in very neat hand writing. 

'How can that be, papa?' He had always been inquisitive of his fathers stories. 

Abraham continued . . . 'Jerusalem is the place of the death of Abraham the great, Jacob, David, Jesus, and Mohammed.' 

'Are we great papa?' 

'Yes of course, and so, we will never die?!' 

Abraham looked at Isaac:

'Here, here is a present for helping me with my broken leg!; an original mappae mundi with Jerusalem at the centre. I have kept this for a long time for you, but now is a great opportunity to treat you. You must never let go of the map, and take care of it, it is very precious; you must hand it down to your son, you hear me?'

Abraham and Isaac were waiting for the storm to clear in the car, it grew nearer. Suddenly Abraham decided to go for the fish, for he was worried they would waste the day. 

'Papa wait I'm coming!' said a fearless Isaac. 

Abraham fought the wind and rain, and as he went to the back of the car for the boat, he tripped on a rope, and fell plunging into the rivers torrent. 

Abraham exclaimed! His bib got caught on a branch on the river bank. Before Isaac could open the car door to look for him, for which he was wholly petrified, Abraham had made it to the mouth of the ocean, had passed out, drowned, and was never to be seen again. 

Isaac tried the door again, but it was locked?

Isaac knew there was a spare key in the glove compartment. He carried his conch to the shore. 

He hollered: 'Papa! Come back! I am so sorry!'

Isaac collected his fathers bib that was attached to a tree trunk. He climbed back into the car, and waited for the storm to stop, sleeping off his weary head.

***

As the sun rose, Isaac decided to gather what he could; the map, the conch, a smock; he put them in his bag and clambered out of the sodden car.

He looked at the map. Maybe I can get to Jerusalem and pray for him. Naomi had never taken great care of him, and was out of his conscience. His principle goal was to live for his father.

Isaac lunged over the handbrake, careful not to release it, and grabbed Abraham's wallet, he thought he had enough shekels to get the train from Ashdod to Jerusalem, how long it would last, he did not know, but he would become a scholar, and study the Torah in the study hall, and live on bread and water.

He eventually found the train station, and took the 15:55 to Jerusalem, he had a two hour ride. The ticket conductor, talked to him, as to why he was on his own; and Isaac thinking on his feet, said: 

'I have family there! I will see my uncle Jacob in two hours thank you very much'. 

'As long as you are ok', he replied.

Naomi passed out at the news. The police arrived, towing an old Ford Capri. Naomi was in complete shock, she had just suffered a mild heart attack. Her boyfriend tried to console her aching heart, but she shrugged him off; she was too attached to Abraham still, and Isaac of course. The boy is missing said the police officer. I will find him she said diligently. 

'Please hurry Ibrahim!', she shouted.

Isaac carried his conch from the train station of Jerusalem, and immediately tripped and fell on the smock of Rabbi Johanan. 

'Hello child', said the Rabbi. 

'I'm lost and broken, my father drowned, I only have his map, and a conch'. . . 

'Calm' said the Rabbi, 

'how did you get here?' 

'By train, from Ashdod'. 

'Do you have shekels?' 

'I do' he said nervously. 

'Come and stay with me then', and he accompanied him back to his house in the Jewish quarter.

Isaac was born the 10thJune, the year 2000. It was an easy birth, he could not wait to be born, and he was always very precocious as a child. This is why Abraham was so keen to get him fishing at a young age. Naomi disowned him from the start, because she was suffering from post-natal depression. Abraham had to bring him up himself, and Isaac, lacked the emotional support a mother could give.

***

Isaac met Ibrahim a Jordanian soldier, the next day. 

'Where for not, is the wailing wall officer?' said a headstrong Isaac. 

Surely everyone came back to life in holy Jerusalem. Isaac had asked to walk around Jerusalem, but Rabbi Johanan, had asked him not to talk to anyone. He had already broken the rule. Ibrahim recognised him from the break in. 

'Hello child' he said in yiddish, 

'come this way. . . carry on through Wilson's Arch and on your left'. 

Ibrahim spoke to Yusef a fellow soldier, 'he is the son'. 

'Well, well, well' said Yusef, 

'let's get him to Iraq, no delay'. 

Isaac found the wall, and was in the middle of saying a prayer, when Ibrahim was painting a young calf in gold. He chased after him. 

'Come child, I have money for you, and I know a lot about you, what do you think of my cow?'. . . 'Marvellous' he replied, as innocent as butter on bread. 

He followed him all the way to Herod's Gate, mesmerised by the cow, and there the soldiers bundled him into a jeep. They handed Isaac 50 shekels. 

'We are at last free', denounced Yusef.

Isaac and the conch are abducted, along with the century's old map, to go to Iraq with Ibrahim. Naomi sets off for Jerusalem, as she has heard of sightings of a boy in the muslim quarter. Then a bomb goes off, in the passenger seat of the jeep; Isaac is blinded. And Yusef and Ibrahim die on the scene.

The year is 2014, there have been no bombs for years. Jerusalem is shattered. The screams call out across the muslim quarter. The news that day read: 

A Bomb on two assailant jihadi’s foiled a plot to take a young Jewish boy; Isaac Eliad to Iraq for ransom. However the boy is recovering in hospital and is severly wounded. The bomber was an elite Christian militant, affiliated with the Armenian Brotherhood.

Isaac was taken to the hospital, one of the few places all religions really share in. He passed out, crying. Naomi got to Jerusalem, to find out the news and entered the hospital. She was in floods of tears to read about Ibrahim, but she still had the son!

The muslims on Temple Mount, prayed for little Isaac, as they had not been banded by the Jihads. Judgement day will come God said to those praying.

Isaac spoke to Abraham in his prayers, then it went silent. At that moment on the side of Mount Sinai, Abraham was born again, thanks to Jesus, and his respect for his fishing, and forgiveness for committing suicide at Ashdod. He stepped eloquently down the Mountain side, as sun sets, looking radiant, aged only 30 years old. 

Naomi finds Isaac, covers his eyes. 

'Oh Isaac' she said. 

He opened his eyes; he could see silhouettes, and then colour, he could just make out his mother's face! 

'Papa is here!' he said. 

Abraham headed straight for Jerusalem by camel, in his shining white smock, rope, sandals, and hand on crook.

Abraham now had the power of god, with the spirit world with him, and healed Isaac. 

'I am blessed'. 

'You are a miracle Ab's' said Naomi. 

They knew he would come back to apologise. 

'Sorry he said; I am a christian militant, under the Armenian Brotherhood, ha, ha!'. 

'But . . .papa!'. 

'And I' said Naomi, 'had an affair with that bastard Ibrahim, and always thought he was Isaac's father.' 

'He is', said Abraham, 'but I did a good job in bringing him up!'. 

'Papa you have always been my papa!', said a jubilant Isaac.

***

The three of them decide to stay in Jerusalem and the next day pray together at the wailing wall. 'Alleluia!' shout the jews, from their windows. 

'Abraham is here! Alleluia! They are coming . . !!!' 

Abraham has a vision of Temple Mount and its lush green gardens, when once there was a synagogue. Isaac becomes a wealthy scholar, on the evangelical experience, teaching in a Christian University, after 20 years of study.

He starts a charity to build a garden on Temple Mount, and works to get it built through the peace treaty with Jordan.

***

They vanquished the buildings of Mount Sinai, and there was King Solomon, king of all kings! 'Judgement day has come' he said to the crowds in the street. 

'Now we have 70 years before Armageddon'. 

Abraham hurried to speak to him: 

'Dutiful king, where did you get this information from, oh mighty one?; 'I was told by a muslim we had only 50 years, my son holds the promise of saving us, please come and meet him at once!'

King Solomon travelled by camel the from Mount Sinai to the Christian University on the other side of the city, in hand with Abraham. They found Isaac and burst into the lecture hall. 

'Class, we are more often than not led by intuition and that intuition is what drives our hearts; creating eternal fate. Ah King Solomon I knew you were coming . . . but not so early' 

The class cheered. 

'So you are the psychic?' said the King.

'Well, yes', replied Isaac.

'Abraham here, a good man brought me up to be a fisherman, but my father Ibrahim, tells me in prayer Armageddon is off. He went in that terrible bomb! We have only to save ourselves your royal highness, if you would start your good work by talking to my students . . . I have some fishing to do. . .'

(Word count = 2741)