Pray

MONSTER ROCK

 

Mt. Shapiro is erupting. Magnum is flowing down the volcano. Trees have disintegrated. Flames fly, fall into the magnum and become destruction partners. Screams can't be heard over the flowing red death. Does anyone think for even a nano second that our town may one day be unearthed again like Pompeii? I leap. I jump, I crawl, don't want to be found as a barbecued shell of me. My house is far to the left of the red river  but I will be toasted before I can even wave it goodbye. Sweat is pouring out of every inch of me. Yet, I keep my senses, waste no time praying to god, promising I'll be a better person if he stops this Apocalypse.

 

Fie! I try it. 'Oh, Heavenly Lord, I, my parents, children, the entire town of three still living families, promise to be god-fearing, never lie, cheat, steal. Please, please, if you have a switch, turn it off. Leave the old synagogue in good shape and I will go to services every Friday night and Saturday morning. I will save the holy Torahs somehow.'

 

What is that sound? My god, it is silence or else I have gone totally deaf from the roar.  Am I seeing things? Can the magnum be flowing backwards into the volcano? I have lost my shoes but not my mind. The red hot air is still red hot. Breathing is a struggle. Quickly I turn my eyes to the left and catch a glimpse of a tree, not a very big one, but a tree that has leaves. A yellow bird circles over it, dives down and drops what may be baby food into a nest, or part of a nest. I can't be sure.

 

The earth still shakes but not as violently. There can be only one explanation, my god, yahweh, has heard me, knows I am a man of my word and will keep my promises. He reads minds too and lets me know that the magnum has not, will not stop. The side of the volcano that I am on, grows higher. Ashes cover it and me and I am as ready as I will ever be to die. God is a teaser, plays tricks on me, gives me strength to  stand and survey the situation that is not a good one at all. My worries are almost over. Everything rumbles, crumbles as the other side of the volcano explodes. It is as if we few remaining people are watching the atomic bomb change the world from what it had been to what it has  become. I have to pray louder, more fervently. 'God, stop this devastation. I will give away all the wonders you have been so kind to bestow on me. Just guide me, lead me, to be a true believer in the history of our people, not quibble with the rabbi about the parting of the Red Sea, King Solomon, all that was stuffed into my brain for my Bar Mitzvah. It happened and now this upheaval is happening. Who will write about it, find the torahs that must be burned to cinders? Oh, god don't desert me. I fall on the ground that is somehow cool, rise and fly down the volcano that is at last resting quietly.

 

Our town, as small as it was, is smaller now. There are no friends, relatives, pets, but then I see a miracle and call to god one more time. 'You did this for us, God. Our synagogue has only half of one wall standing, the bema holds a clean and holy Torah. Across it lies the Christian Cross that had been on the top of St. Michael's Parish since I was a child.

 

Good night!