Cain (14 page)

Do you, asked
lilith, I'm cain, remember, the one who killed
his brother and was punished for his crime, Fairly leniently,
it must be said, remarked lilith, Yes, you're right, I would
be
the first to admit that, but god,
the one we call lord, was
still
the main person responsible, You wouldn't be here if
you hadn't killed abel, in fact, from a selfish point of
view,
you could say that one thing led to
the other, No, I just did
what
I had to do, killing my brother and sleeping with you
in this bed are all effects of the same cause, Which cause,
Being in god's hands, or in the hands of fate, to give him
his other name, And what do you intend to do now, asked
lilith, That depends, On what, Well, if I ever become master
of my own life again, if this skipping from one present to
another, completely independently of my will, ever stops, I
will lead what is usually called a normal life, like everyone
else, Not like everyone else, you will marry me, we already
have a son, this is our city, and I will cling to you as
faithfully as the bark to its trunk, But if that doesn't happen, if
my fate continues, then, wherever I am, I will be subject to
being shunted from one present to another, and we will
never be certain, you and I, what tomorrow might bring,
besides, Besides what, asked lilith, It seems to me that what
is happening must have some meaning, some significance,
and I feel that I shouldn't stop halfway without trying to
understand what it's about, So that means you won't be
staying, that you'll leave again one day, said lilith, Yes, I
think
so, if I was born for something
different, then I need to
know
what it is and why, Let's enjoy what time we have,
then, come here, said lilith. They embraced and kissed,
rolling
from one side of the bed to the
other, and when cain found
himself
on top of lilith and was about to penetrate her, she
said, The mark on your forehead has grown bigger, Much
bigger, asked cain, No, not very much, Sometimes I think
it will grow and grow and spread all over my body and turn
me into a negro, That's all I need, said lilith, laughing, a
laugh that immediately became a groan of pleasure when,
with one thrust, he drove his penis home.

Only two weeks
later, cain disappeared. He had got into
the
habit of taking long walks on the outskirts of the city,
not as before, because he was in need of sun and fresh air,
natural benefits that had not been lacking in the last ten
years, but to escape the oppressive atmosphere in the palace,
where, apart from the hours spent in bed with lilith, he had
nothing else to do, unless you count a few rather fruitless
exchanges with the stranger that was enoch, his son.

Suddenly, he
found himself going in through the gate of a
city he had never visited before. His first thought was that
he didn't have a penny on him and, as a stranger there, he
could see no immediate way of earning one. If he had taken
the donkey with him when he set out for his walk, this
economic problem would have been easily resolved, because,
as any buyer would have agreed, such a beast was worth his
weight in gold. He asked two passers-by for the name of
the city, and one of the men replied, This is the land of uz.
The natural tone in which he said this, without a hint of
impatience, encouraged cain to ask another question, And
where might I find work, he asked, adding, as if to justify
himself, I've only just arrived, you see, and I don't know
anyone. The men looked him up and down and could see
that he was neither a beggar nor a vagabond, although their
eyes did linger a little longer on the mark on his forehead,
and the second man said, The richest landowner in these
parts and the greatest of all the men in the east is called
job,
you could try asking him for work,
you might be lucky, And
where
would I find him, asked cain, Come with us, we'll
take you there, he has so many servants that one more or
less won't make
any difference, Is he that rich, Immensely
so,
imagine being the owner of seven thousand sheep, three
thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen and five hundred
she-asses, The poor have a lot of imagination, said cain,
indeed, you might say that's all they have, but I must
confess
I find such wealth unimaginable.
There was a silence, and
then
one of the men remarked quite casually, We've met
before, Yes, I have a vague recollection, said cain
nervously,
We angels have excellent memories,
your name is cain and
you
were in sodom when the city was destroyed, Yes, that's
true, I remember now, As you know, my colleague and I are
angels of the lord, And what have I done to merit two angels
of the lord helping me in my time of need, You were kind
to abraham, you helped to ensure that no harm befell us in
lot's house, and that deserves a reward, How can I thank
you, We are angels, if we don't do good, who will, asked
one. Cain took three deep breaths before summoning up
the courage to ask, Given that your mission in sodom was
to destroy the city, what mission brings you here, We cannot
reveal that to anyone, said one, Well, it's not a secret
exactly,
said the other, and it won't be a
secret once things start to
happen,
besides, this man has shown he can be trusted,
Well, it's up to you, but what if he runs and tells job, Job
probably wouldn't believe him, Fine, do as you please, I
wash my hands of it. Cain stopped and said, Please don't
fall out because of me, tell me if you want, but if you
don't,
don't, it really doesn't matter
either way. In the face of such
selflessness,
the more reticent of the angels gave in, Go on,
he said, tell him, then fixing cain with a stern eye, he
said,

But you must
swear that you will reveal to no one else what
you are about to hear, I swear, declared cain, raising his
right
hand. The other angel said, A few
days ago, as happens now
and
then, all the celestial beings were gathered before god,
including satan, and god asked him, Where have you been,
and satan answered, I have been walking to and fro about
the earth, Did you notice my servant job, there is none like
him on the earth, he is a perfect and upright man, who fears
god and eschews evil. Satan, who listened to these words
with a scornful sneer on his face, asked the lord, Do you
really think his religious feelings are entirely
disinterested,
isn't
it true that, like a hedge, you protect him on all sides,
him and his family and everything that belongs to him. He
paused, then went on, But if you were to put forth your
hand and touch what is his, you would see how he would
curse you. Then the lord said to satan, Everything he has is
at your disposal, but him you cannot touch. When satan
heard this, he left, which is why we are here, To do what,
asked cain, To make sure that satan doesn't go too far, that
he doesn't overstep the mark the lord has set him. Then
cain said, If I've understood you rightly, the lord and satan
made a wager, but this man job isn't to know that he is the
object of that gamblers' agreement between god and the
devil, Exactly, exclaimed the angels as one, That doesn't
seem
very fair of the lord, said cain,
if it's true, as I've heard, that
job,
for all his wealth, is also a good and upright man, and
very religious too, he has committed no crime, and yet, for
no reason, he is about to be punished with the loss of all
his money and possessions, now it may be, as many people
say, that the lord is just, but I don't think so, it reminds
me
of what happened to abraham, whom
god, in order to put
him
to the test, commanded to kill his son isaac, it seems
to me that if the lord doesn't trust the people who believe
in him, I really don't see why those people should trust in
the lord, The ways of the lord are inscrutable, not even we
angels can fathom the workings of his mind, Oh, I've had
enough of all this nonsense about the lord's ways being
inscrutable, answered cain, god should be as clear and transparent
as a pane of glass and not go wasting his energies
on creating an atmosphere of constant terror and fear, god,
in short, does not love us, He it was who gave you life,
My father and mother gave me life, they joined flesh to flesh
and I was born, there's no evidence that god was present at
the act, God is everywhere, Especially when it comes to
ordering people to be killed, why, the death of just one of
the children burned to death in sodom would be enough
to condemn him outright, but for god, justice is an empty
word, and now he's going to make job suffer because of a
bet and no one will hold him to account, Be careful, cain,
you're talking too much, the lord is listening and, sooner or
later, he will punish you, The lord isn't listening, he's
deaf,
everywhere the poor, unfortunate
and wretched cry out to
him
for help, they plead with him for some remedy that the
world denies them, and the lord turns his back on them, he
started out by making a pact with the hebrews and now
here he is making a pact with the devil, what's the point of
having a god. The angels protested indignantly and threatened
to leave him there with no work, but at that point, the
theological debate ended, and the three men more or less
made their peace. One of the angels even said, I think the
lord would enjoy discussing these matters with you, One
day perhaps, said cain. They were standing at the door of
job's mansion, and one of the angels asked to speak to the
steward, who did not come in person, but sent a representative
to find out what they wanted, Work, said the angel,
not for us, because we are not from around here, but for
our friend who has just arrived and wants to start a new
life in the land of uz, What can you do, asked the under-
steward, Well, I know a little about donkeys, I was assistant
to the farrier in joshua's army, Very good, that's an excellent
recommendation, I will send a slave with you and you
can start work at once, I just need to know your name, Cain,
And where are you from, From the land of nod, Hm, I've
never heard of the place, You're not the first, saying the
land
of nod is tantamount to saying the
land of nowhere. Then
one
of the angels said to cain, There you are, now you have
work, For as long as it lasts, replied cain, with a glum
smile,
Don't be so pessimistic, said the
under-steward, anyone
fortunate
enough to enter this house will have work for life,
there's no better man than job. The angels said goodbye and
embraced cain before returning to their task of ensuring
that the lord's orders were carried out, besides, who knows,
it may all turn out better than we think.