{"id":7392,"date":"2022-12-15T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-12-15T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sum.malmostudenter.se\/?p=7392"},"modified":"2024-10-18T12:22:50","modified_gmt":"2024-10-18T12:22:50","slug":"jesus-carving-6-6","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sum.malmostudenter.se\/index.php\/2022\/12\/15\/jesus-carving-6-6\/","title":{"rendered":"Jesus’ Carving (6\/6)"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Photo: A. Elmi<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Jesus' Carving (6\/6)<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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By: A. Elmi
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15th of December 2022<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Maryan closed the kitchen door after her, and my siblings and I shut the door to the hallway, sealing Mum and Uncle into the front room together with Jesus. I was about to go join Maryan in the kitchen and give another shot at convincing her to come with me to buy a new dress. Her collection of tattered dresses had grown in size recently, and when I asked her why she\u2019d waste her money on more torn and stained dresses, she would smile and blush and turn away. However, my brothers stopped me, motioning wildly for me to follow them into their bedroom.<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Idris closed the bedroom door, slouched against it, and clenched his eyes shut before a sigh escaped him. Xirsi kneaded his face and then fell backwards on his bed with a groan.<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0I watched them closely as I slowly lowered myself onto Idris\u2019 bed.<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u2018What\u2019s going on?\u2019 I asked.<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Idris slid away from the door and crept up to me to whisper, \u2018We were<\/i> down there!\u2019<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u2018Hooyo <\/i>sent us to the basement to search Jesus\u2019 things for anything that might tell us what he wants from us,\u2019 Xirsi explained.<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u2018And what did you find?\u2019 I asked them.<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Idris slapped his thighs and folded to the floor theatrically. \u2018Nothing! Not a thing.\u2019<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u2018Except for wood shavings,\u2019 Xirsi added, \u2018and a bag of tattered dresses.\u2019<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u2018Tattered dresses?\u2019 I urged.<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u2018Yes, the type a farmgirl would wear in some village,\u2019 Idris said.<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u2018A medieval<\/i> village,\u2019 Xirsi corrected, then looked over at me. \u2018When Jesus isn\u2019t Jesus, he\u2019s a peasant maid in a medieval village. What does that tell us about why he\u2019s here?\u2019<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Our speculations were wasted, for Mum and Uncle Long Nose managed to draw out Jesus\u2019 motives that very day. It turned out Jesus was a beggar, here to collect donations for his trip to his birthplace, Bethlehem. And now, when he wasn\u2019t receiving donations from us and other people in the community, he sat somewhere scratching away at the carving or pulling vanishing acts vaguely reminiscent of the old secretive Maryan\u2019s. With Jesus refusing to name a satisfactory sum and to engage in discussions on this subject, the situation became unbearable as the weeks turned into months. We had emptied our pockets and were at our wit\u2019s end where to find more money. Uncle Long Nose decided he\u2019d had enough and briefed us on his plan to dump the man at a remote train station already. And with that in mind, we convened in Mum\u2019s kitchen and waited for Jesus to turn up, for he was nowhere to be found.<\/p>

\u00a0<\/p>

As evening aged into night, and Jesus still hadn\u2019t reappeared, Uncle snapped and spewed out elaborate curses.<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u2018There\u2019s no need to get all riled up, brother!\u2019 Mum said. \u2018What if he\u2019s lying somewhere dying? A lunatic he may be, but he\u2019s still a human being. We should\u2019ve at least given him a mobile so he could call us in case of an emergency.\u2019<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u2018Give? Hah!\u2019 Uncle sneered. \u2018Why not throw in your house and car while you\u2019re at it, Xalan?\u2019<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Mum kissed her teeth.<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u2018Let\u2019s go look for him,\u2019 Xirsi suggested.<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Mum nodded, opening her mouth to say something then closing it and casting about with a grimace. \u2018Where\u2019s Maryan?\u2019 she asked. \u2018I haven\u2019t seen her all day.\u2019<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0I shrugged. \u2018She made lunch and dinner for Awoowe<\/i> this morning and asked me to serve both, before she raced off to run some errands in town. She said she should be late, but I didn\u2019t think she\u2019d be this late.\u2019<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Mum dipped her head. \u2018Okay. This is what we\u2019ll do. Brother, you\u2019ll go with the kids to look for Jesus,\u2019 she told Uncle, \u2018and I\u2019ll stay here with our Aabbo<\/i>.\u2019<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0It was well past midnight when we stumbled back home. Mum was pacing up and down the kitchen and halted at the sight of us.<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u2018Well?\u2019 she prompted.<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u2018There\u2019s no trace of him anywhere,\u2019 Uncle said.<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u2018I\u2019m calling the police,\u2019 Mum said, rushing over to the landline hung up on the wall behind the dining table.<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u2018Xalan,\u2019 Uncle said, \u2018the police won\u2019t do anything. Jesus is a grown man.\u2019 His brows bunched up as he took a moment to think. \u2018If he doesn\u2019t show up in two days,\u2019 he said, \u2018we\u2019ll file a missing person report.\u2019<\/p>

\u00a0<\/p>

Another day and then another rolled by without a sign of Jesus, and Maryan for that matter. And it was this last absence Mum fretted over the most.<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u2018He\u2019s killed her!\u2019 she shrieked on the second day, while Uncle Long Nose stood off to one side on the phone with the police. \u2018Poor girl! She was only 27 years old.\u2019<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u2018You speak as if you know she\u2019s dead,\u2019 Uncle said, tucking his mobile into the back pocket of his jeans. \u2018The police are on their way. Let\u2019s hold off speculating until they arrive.\u2019<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u2018Fine, brother!\u2019 Mum said.<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The taller of the pair of police officers asked us to show them to the basement. When we got down there, we had one of those moments of disbelief where you find yourself questioning what you\u2019ve seen. We had popped into the basement several times in the past couple of days to see if Jesus was back. And not knowing when or whether he was returning, we\u2019d left his litter and mess alone so he wouldn\u2019t accuse us of violating his privacy again. But now we stepped back into the room, the place looked completely different. I palmed my eyes and blinked, wondering if I was imagining it. If I hadn\u2019t known any better, I might have said a storm had passed through and swooped up the rubbish and carried it away. But, of course, it was likelier someone had come in, tidied up, and even removed Jesus\u2019 suitcases. Only one of his belongings remained. A carving of a face. It stood on the billiard table in the centre of a perfect ring of wood shavings. It faced an uncovered window which let in a stream of sunlight. I went over to pick it up and found myself examining the dark wood. Jesus must\u2019ve brushed a thin coating of oil on it, for it had a subtle sheen and left hints of shimmering liquid on my fingers. The material, the texture, the oil, everything about the statue recalled Maryan\u2019s ring so vividly that my mind circled back to when I\u2019d traced my finger over it.<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u2018Hey!\u2019 Idris grabbed the statue from me and made a face at it. \u2018Isn\u2019t this Maryan\u2019s face?\u2019<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0I snatched the statue back and searched the wooden face.<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0It was her.<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0It was Maryan.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The final part of the mysterious short story.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":7334,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[333,332],"tags":[294,304,291],"class_list":["post-7392","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-creative-writing","category-literature-film","tag-creative-writing","tag-mystery","tag-short-story","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sum.malmostudenter.se\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7392","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sum.malmostudenter.se\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sum.malmostudenter.se\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sum.malmostudenter.se\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sum.malmostudenter.se\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7392"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/sum.malmostudenter.se\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7392\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7397,"href":"https:\/\/sum.malmostudenter.se\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7392\/revisions\/7397"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sum.malmostudenter.se\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7334"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sum.malmostudenter.se\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7392"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sum.malmostudenter.se\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7392"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sum.malmostudenter.se\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7392"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}