My short short, AFTER THE ASCENSION, was published In December 2024 by the Philippines Graphic Reader
AFTER
THE ASCENSION
Copyright 2024 by Cecilia
Manguerra Brainard
(Short Fiction in the Style of Joaquin
Antonio Peñalosa’s God’s Diary)
When
the Cherubim settled down and the fluttering of wings turned into soft
rustlings, the Father said, “So tell us, My Son, tell us, what happened.”
The
Father knew everything of course, from the time Gabriel greeted Miss Mary,
every second, every heartbeat, every breath the Son made: the hammer in His
hands when His earthly father taught him carpentry, the wine in the casket,
Lazarus arising, the cross leaning heavy on His Son’s shoulders, the nails in
His hands as he hung on the cross, the cry to Him—Eloi, Eloi—but He wanted to
hear His Son tell the story of His Great Adventure. He wanted to hear His
voice. Tell us, My Son.
And
so the Son spoke, and the Cherubim became excited at the boom of His human voice,
at the veins throbbing on His neck as His words filled the air, and they
marveled at the wounds in His hands glistening as He gestured for emphasize –
(His earthly father had taught Him to do that); and the Cherubim tucked in
their wings and whispered in great awe, “A Human, the Son is a real Human!”
The Son’s voice echoed
throughout heaven and eternity, throughout time and infinity. And the Father
and Cherubim listened, enraptured, and they laughed and marveled and wanted to
weep. It was not just the Son’s words that moved them, but the sight of the
wounds in His hands and feet, and that terrible jagged cut in His side. The
wounds had dried blood in the center, and the flesh was red and blue at the
edges. (Did the Son’s friend Thomas really ask to touch those ghastly wounds?)
When
the Son got to the part of blood and water gushing from the wound on His side, the
Father had to ask, “Son, did you suffer much?”
“Very
much so, Father,” He replied, with forthrightness.
There
was silence for a long bit of eternity. No one had to say, I’m sorry You had to
suffer all that pain and humiliation and die next to thieves, because You are
the Father’s eternal Son—yes, Son of God the Father, Creator of everything—because
the heavenly hosts knew.
After
the profound silence, the Son said, “It wasn’t a piece of cake. I really hated
seeing the women crying, especially my Mother, but I had to do it. Only I could
do it.”
There
was another hushed silence, after which the Father sighed and nodded, and He
bent down to where His Son was seated and gently touched the awful wounds, and
He peered through the wound at the Son’s side, and He was surprised that He
could see all of mankind; and His heart went out to them.
~end~
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