Palindrome

Books and cars

I could almost feel the energy radiating from the book. What did I know about Seth? If it was the biblical Seth, he was the third son of Adam and Eve. That was the thing that struck me, the name ADAMSON. It was a long leap, but I'd felt the nudge that told me I was onto something.
            Seth was born to Eve after Kain killed Abel, like a replacement for her loss. I had learned some of this history working in the garden with mom. I'd asked her about the Garden of Eden, if our garden was as beautiful as that. Lilith had brought with her the love for growing things and passed it on to her children. Seth was known for many things; he was the forefather to Noah to mention one of them. I walked over to dad's reading-chair and sat down with the old book.

The beginning was a tale, about how Eve took her son, Seth, with her back to the gates of Eden. On the way there, Seth is attacked by a furious wild beast. He chases away the beast and survives, though injured. When they reached the Garden, Michael the archangel, stood guard, but Eve begged him for some oil from the Tree of Mercy. Michael refuses, but promises that they will receive some at "the End of Time". The end of time meaning "when all flesh raises up, the delights of Paradise will be given to the righteous people and God will be in their midst.» Quite the drama-queen, this Michael. When Eve and Seth got back to Adam, he was mad with anger. He yelled to Eve; "What hast thou done? Thou hast brought upon us great wrath which is Death."

Why did Adam get so mad? It almost seemed like a piece of the tale was missing. The next pages were a family-tree, starting with Adam and Eve. Seth was a productive man; he married his sister and they had 33 sons and 23 daughters.

We didn't like Adam that much, being descendants from Lilith. He was somewhat of a pariah in our tales, like the rogue uncle you didn't talk about.

I had to take my time reading, the words were small and written in archaic English. Maybe I could scan the pages and transfer it to my computer, so I got the letters bigger? I put the book away gently and decided to do just that after dinner. As I put together an omelette, I pondered what the connection between the Adamsons and the book was. Beside the obvious with the name. It was a bit far fetched to think they were descendants of Adam. Or was it? Could it be so simple? I wondered why I hadn't heard anything about that before, but my education in the history of our craft had been sat on hold when my parents died, and after that I'd concentrated on the craft itself.

Then why was it called "The Children of Seth", and not the Children of Adam? What was the significance with Seth and why did the book open with that tale? The omelette went cold as I thought about too many things at once, but I ate it all up. Usually, my kitchen was an oasis of serenity, but now I could feel the ghosts of my parents linger. They'd been on my mind so much these last couple of days, and I felt a pang in my heart, the sorrow finding a way out. I stopped before the memories of my brother popped up as well, I didn't want to go there tonight.

The book laid un-touched the rest of the night, instead I went to bed and cried myself to sleep.

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The next morning, I felt much better. I'd slept almost twelve hours, my body was tired after the Beltane ritual, I guess. I whistled as I got dressed for work, happy that I'd found the book last night and eager to read some more now that I'd gotten over my sudden melancholia. The sun came through my kitchen-window, and I stopped to feel the warmth. May was a beautiful month. Since I was in such a good mood, I decided to put on some makeup and even fixed my hair in a bit more complex ponytail than my usual. Mrs Jensen was outside in her garden when I opened the door, sometimes I wondered if she really was doing anything there or if she merely was curious. I waved and smiled to her.

For a normal person, being a witch might seem hilarious and unbelievable, but the things we did was all rooted in the energies already present in the things around us. The ability to draw energy laid latent in just about everyone, but it was easier for us who were descendants from Lilith. That meant you could have witches who were normal people, they had learned the craft, instead of being born with it. The power wasn't nearly as strong in them, but you had some who had an affinity for it. In the rare cases of a dark witch, it was most likely to be a regular human, because they went mad with all the power they tapped into.  Only once had I heard about one of "us" who went over and that was one of Bridget's ancestors.

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I walked into work with a big smile, and Oscar lighted up at the sight of me. "Hannah! You look amazing today." He blushed and I thanked him for the compliment. We worked well together, despite his overly affection for me, and when Mary clocked in, we were finished with everything. The first hour we only sold drinks and already-made sandwiches, so the real breakfast-rush started at nine. I smiled, talked and served food, keeping my mood. Some might have thought that a job at the local café was a bit low-life, but I loved it. Here I could keep up with everything that happened in my village, it wasn't the rumour that didn't end up here sooner or later.

The day went by fast, and I stopped by the grocery-shop on my way home. When I was done, I had two full bags, milk took up so much space. I studied the bike with dread, would I manage to get them both on the handle safe? I tried but found out I had to push the bike instead of riding it. The weather was nice, so I didn't mind it that much. As I neared the last, long hill before my house, I became aware of the sound of a car behind me. I was already walking on the side of the road but edged even more to the left. The car stayed behind me, and before I turned to check it out, I felt the tingling down my spine. I looked straight ahead; I didn't want to give them the benefit of me turning first. The car crept up the hill just behind me and the big engine purred. I could see my house coming up, and I straightened my back. Would they try anything? I could hear music coming from the Mustang,some kind of rock. As I turned into my driveway, I heard the car speed up. I turned quickly and before it disappeared, I caught a glimpse. There was only one person in the car.

The tale about Seth is a well known legend in some religions.