war-torn towns

11/2/15

Franco was a eunuch. That's what he was told when he was a child. He would never have children, that he was unlovable.

A sweet kid, quiet, studious, respectful. There really was nothing wrong with him except for the emotional abuse he had no choice but to accept as the gospel.

One day at the age of twelve, he had a terrible premonition. He knew something awful was going to happen. When he heard his father had had a heart attack and died, he felt it must have been his fault.

Hating himself for having had angry thoughts about his father, trying to reason with himself that he could not be that powerful to have his thoughts kill someone, he nonetheless felt despair.

 ... Until he saw Desiree.

He forgot he was a eunuch. He was not just love sick though that too. He composed endless poetry. Chaste love from not very far away.

By chance he rode the same subway to high school as his beloved. Overcoming shyness he asked about her classes- weeks after he first had the courage to smile at her.

They became friends. Three years later, she dated him on the rebound.

He often wondered whether if his father had been alive whether he, Franco, could have dated, then married this beautiful young woman.

Franco became an electrical engineer, Desiree a gastroenterologist. They had four sons, two daughters and moved to Israel where they opened a tea house which served the most delicious and interesting soups and breads anywhere near the Galilee.

Neither were religious, both from nominally Jewish families. Franco came to religion via Buddhism, Desiree by way of Shinto. Neither had a fixed sense of a god. That was not important. What was important was feeding hungry people. Daily they gave food away. At first, leftovers at the close of business. When their children took over the business, they coupled a soup kitchen with job training. Welcoming Arab and Jew alike, they set up a debating forum where everyone was encouraged to defend someone else's religion.

When their peace-promoting was terrorized, they redoubled their efforts, expanding into war-torn towns.