Man’s First Chance

    Cost found it all the same way, every time. He belonged to a mindset and with it a following of active participants in this behavior. Because of the murder everyone was upset or gloating and the crops were neglected. Six calfs were stillborn that week and the geese went un-chased as they fled their cages. Dehydration claimed a number of children left alone. But Cost was above reproach. He was the only one with a right to gloat, for he had done the murder.

His brother Awe was dead within minutes. The first stone was thrown with incredible accuracy so those that followed needed no guidance to participate. Strangely though Cost was not happy with his results. He didn’t run to his brother and coddle him as he passed but neither was his reaction joyous nor led to satisfaction for a job completed. It had to be done. Those who watched were pleased. Not many loved Awe and even fewer sought him out, regardless of his wealth and impeccable grooming. Their father sat upon his usual bark and smoked a pipe he’d found in the hands of a fallen comrade.

Miles from the site Cost found a surprising item on the road. This road was only used by hunters and the shamed he thought. Who might have left a whip along the path so far from his home? Was it a whip at all or maybe something else entirely? The braids and precise pattern convinced him as did it’s definitive crack. The sound shook through this place of boulder and stone and within minutes Cost was approached by strange men. They believed him when he said his intention was peace. This gave him the advantage but they didn’t seem to desire his life or possessions. He thought it strange that not one of the men made mention of the whip or the garments he wore.

That night he was given lamb and broth until he was satiated. He was kept warm by the fire and instructed to take rest in the comfort of a lavish cave between boulders while many men chilled unprotected in the grasses. This is a great lie he thought. Cost fled the camp before morning leaving behind a confused and disappointed people who searched themselves for blame. He followed the rough path back to familiar sounds of anger and malice. Every step felt like a sharp pain in him. Cost pressed forward eager for his home and the things he’d accumulated during his long twenty year stay.

He walked into the place and saw a few faces hidden from him as they tucked quickly away into their tents. Cost was struck on his crown with a bone that splintered as it hit. He fell not ten paces from where his brother left them forever. Above him he saw his father who was unhappy with the attention and praise his son was receiving since his victorious sin.