A Short Story

ELEVEN JEWS AND A JIHADI

-by Hameeduddin

As soon as the blast occured Ibn Ishaq the martyr and Emmanuel Stern the scholar-jew along with ten other random unconnected people tore through their tattered bodies and began flying in the skies above the Gaza strip. Among them only one seemed to be smiling and at peace with himself, Ibn Ishaq had achieved what he was supposed to and he was revelling in his victory as they flew past the clouds and began entering the oxygen free region. Emmanuel Stern the jewish scholar was the last of the pack and flew in what one might venture to call a sad mystic fashion. He flew last for he had consumed much time waiting to say a proper goodbye to his shock dazed family which was alas denied to him. Those in front of him had all tears in their eyes; tears that flew backwards as they all soared through the stratosphere in Mach six speeds, their sonic booms sounding like pitful moaning, except of course Ibn Ishaq who was flying at a blinding speed ahead of the pack in anticipation of the seventy virgins promised to him.
As they cleared the realms of the airs and entered the space of nothingness, eleven souls lingered for a moment, turned around and gazed mournfully at the planet where their loved ones were experiencing unimaginabe loss. Ibn Ishaq went into high gear and floored the accelerator as he began flying at beyond light speeds, hoping perhaps to reach his paradise like the blazing light. Emmanuel caught up with Ishaq and began amidst hysteric cries asking him 'why! why! did you do this? what wrong did i do you?' This came somewhat as a shock for Ishaq, only now did he realize that the Scholar-jew was behind him, also he realized the other random innocents were too, not far behind. 'why? you are a Jew thats why!' he shouted back and accelerated further. Emmanuel too speeded up and was beside him again, 'I have children and a family you know' he said in a softer tone, then he added 'had'in an even softer tone .

'Nonsense! you are sinners you all, the condemned!' cried Ishaq, he tried turning left and right but soon found that the eleven jews kept following him. Each in turns caught up with him and asked him 'why?'. Round and round in circles he flew, and yet they were there, the eleven jews 'I am a shopkeeper, i have five children' said one, 'My new born girl is left with no one to breast-feed her' weeped a lady, 'What is the name of that star?' asked a small curious minded jew boy, and on and on they spoke to him, his ears overflowing with the words they spoke into them. He kept flying one way and another, in search of his paradise, in search of his seventy virgins. Every where looked the same, and the jews were driving him mad. 'Shut up! shut up!' he shouted, then in tones of pity he pleaded for his all compasionate God to intervene. Only black dust and meteors came his way. His prayer bounced back off the planets to came back in the form of an empty echo. Far away somewhere Judas felt the same as Ishaq, eleven jews following him. Asking him 'why?'.

Time passes slowly at the speed of light, in fact it ceases to exist.The mindless jews never spoke among themselves but only to him, at first they questioned and soon he ran out of smart answers, then they cursed, after which they cried, then they returned to normalcy and questioned him again 'why?' they kept asking. He wished for being deaf. He wished for being alone. No more a longing for paradise. And then suddenly the jews vanished, into thin space, phoof! just like that! Wow!! his prayers got answered he thought. Out of nowhere came eleven other jews. Skull caps, david stars and all. The chatter resumed. 'Where are my eleven jews?' he asked. 'They have gone to where they belong, now we are your eleven jews'they replied. In that moment he realized his destiny. If they had gone and he was here, then this was his eternity. Not with seventy virgins, but right here, flying in literally 'no time', forever. No virgins here, just eleven jews, asking him 'why?', never letting him forget. Never.


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