Return to the Old City of Isaiah
***
“Come inside. We’ve been waiting for you. Amir’s mother, Rachel, led her son inside. She held onto him until he stepped across the threshold, and the door locked. “I heard terrible things happening in the valley. Someone should rid the country of these murderers and robbers pretending to be our holy leaders.”
Her son’s face showed the trauma of his last few days. In a single incident, their dreams of him becoming a holy man had evaporated. Rachel hugged her son again and ushered the men to the table. Amir’s mother interrupted Jacob, Amir’s father, from his morning routine. “Jacob, dear. Amir and Subinyá are here.” She turned to her son and Subinyá. “Please sit down, and I will make breakfast. Jacob will speak with you soon.”
When they were all together at the table, Subinyá explained, “Amir’s safety is at risk if he continues to live in the valley or attend school. The Scorpion Judges could find him and use him for their evil designs. The Old City offers safety, as the Red Scorpions hold no power here. It would be best if you took caution.”
Everyone agreed Amir would stay with his parents and work in the fields. When their discussion ended, Jacob and Subinyá left on horses to visit the fields and talk between themselves.
Amir worked to reorganize his former bedroom. Later, he settled at a small desk by a portal, reading his old copy of the Holy Laws. The pages of this timeless book had yellowed, with worn ink on the edges, where he had thumbed through them throughout his young life.
Amir could hear his mother working the pans and stoves, making the day’s bread for the shop. Soon, customers would arrive eager to buy the bread still warm from the oven. He put his book down and joined his mother to help her prepare the dough for baking.
***
The two brothers watched as dusty workers in ragged clothes tossed shovels of harvested grains into the air. The heavier grains fell back into the pile while the desert dust and chaff drifted away in a thick cloud. They continued until the grains and chaff separated.
Jacob expressed his frustration. He wanted Amir to live in an academic world that served the people and helped improve the future of their poor city.
“I want Amir to work in the new city and get paid well. The farm work and bakery will tear him down as it has me and his mother. We are old and will soon have less opportunity to help him.”
The old cavalry officer offered his brother hope. “Let him work to make the bakery profitable and use your profits to send him to the university in the new city. He will meet people his age and see what opportunities suit him. The old city will eat him alive with poverty and the people’s struggle.”
The men fell silent until Jacob replied. “Good idea. I’ll talk with him and see where his heart is.”
“Amir is an intelligent young man. He is not a fighter, and he is also full of self-doubt. Encourage him, and you will see how capable he is.” Subinyá climbed on his horse. “We should go back. I will leave at sunset.”
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