Tuesday, June 16, 2009

The golem steps forward

William wandered the stacks of books. He'd come into the library to do research for his golem story. He'd taken out a copy of the Old Testament, a copy of the Kabbalah, and several books on Jewish Mythology. As he walked through the rows of histories he let his fingers brush along the spines of the books. When he lifted his finger from the leather backs he noticed dust. "No one reads anymore," I said quietly aloud. "What's the point?"

His interest in Golems had started when he found out that they'd been models for the first science fiction stories. The first automaton was considered to be a golem. He felt that people were golems, albeit ones with slightly advanced instructions... "Eat, shit, fuck, prattle on and on," were the instructions given to modern people.

He got a book on Judah Loew ben Bezalel a rabbi who had his own golem. The rabbi had created his golem to protect Prague from anti-Semitic attacks. As the golem grew it became increasingly violent, killing gentiles and spreading fear. The emperor promised to stop the persecution of the Jews if the rabbi stopped by the onslaught of the golem. The golem was placed in an attack to arise again when the Jews were threatened once more by the outside world.

William wasn't Jewish, he wasn't religious at all and it was only in moments of extreme desperation that he turned to a higher power at all.

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Jeremy

"Can I get a pitcher of PBR," Warren asked the bartender. The dive bar off the mission was packed with warm bodies. Their heart beating corpses heated with blood, cigarettes, and fueled with alcohol.
"Do you have a pitcher," the bartender asked while pouring a liquor drink.
Warren threw up his hands then asked for two sierra nevadas. He handed the money over to the bar tender with slight irritation. The pitchers of pbr were especially cheap tonight. He brought the beers over to where Lee and Sarah were sitting in the corner. He sat down and handed a beer to Sarah.
"Thanks Warren," Sarah said. "Oh I love this song," she exclaimed. She began to sing to the mid 90s alt rock. Every third tuesday of the month was "Flannel Fun" at the bar. The DJ spun mid 90s alt rock and most of the twenty something kids that showed up to the bar wore long flannel shirts that they had procured at thift stores. While most of the attendees were too young to be active in the alt rock scene in the 90s they still enjoyed the flashback to their preteen years.
"You know what's better than Pearl Jam's 'Jeremy,'" Lee said. "Nothing!" Lee laughed hysterically. Her blonde hair fell behind her. At only 20 she was ecstatic to be out on the town. She'd recently procured a fake id from a friend and so was able to go out to bars.
"Don't you have to work really early in the morning," Warren asked.
"Yeah at like 5 am, I'm thinking of just not sleeping," Lee replied.
"Oh man Mac keeps saying 'Hello please,' you know? And I thought it was really creative especially with his new york accent. Every time someone gets in his way or something he's all like 'hello please.' At first I thought he was saying 'Hella please' trying to be all oakland. Yesterday I realized that he wasn't that creative though. I watched a Southpark episode and they kept saying that. This entire time, for a month, I thought he was a fucking genius though," Warren said.
The girls listened with half an ear to his short monologue while scanning the crowd. Lee got up to go talk to some boy while Sarah fiddled with her drink. She was slightly drunk and annoyed. She'd called Mac up but he hadn't replied to her call nor to her text.