Cain Read Online Free PDF Page A

was
covered in flies, there were flies on his open eyes, flies in the
corners of his mouth, flies on the wounds on his hands which he had held up to
protect himself from the blows. Poor abel, deceived by
god. The lord had made some very bad choices when it came to
inaugurating the garden of eden, in this particular game of
roulette everyone had lost, in this target practice for
the blind no one had scored. Of course, eve and adam could
always have another child to make up for the loss of their
murdered son, but how sad to be someone with no other goal
in life than to keep making children without knowing why or
for what purpose. In order to propagate the species, say
those who believe in a final objective, in an ultimate reason,
although they have no idea what those might be and have
never bothered to ask themselves why the species should keep being propagated
as if it were
the universe's one last hope. Cain has already given his answer by
killing abel because he could not kill the lord. Things do not augur well for the
future life of this man.

Chapter 4
     
    And
yet this harried man setting off, pursued by his own footsteps,
this wretch, this fratricide, had more principles than most. Just ask his mother,
who would often find him sitting on the damp ground in
their vegetable patch, staring at a small, newly planted tree,
waiting for it to grow. He was four or five years old and he
wanted to see trees grow. Then she, apparently even more
imaginative than her son, explained to him that trees are
very shy and only grow when no one is looking at them,
They're embarrassed, you see, she said to him one day. For a
few moments, cain said nothing, but after some thought,
replied, Then don't look at them, mama, they're not shy
with me, they're used to me. Sensing what would happen next,
his mother looked away, and immediately her son's voice
rang out triumphantly, It grew, it grew, you see, I told
you not to look. That night, when adam returned from work,
eve, laughing, told him what had happened, and her
husband replied, That boy will go far. And perhaps he would have
done if the lord had not crossed his path. And yet, he has
already gone quite far, although not in the sense that
his father had meant. Dragging weary feet, he was now tramping
through a desolate landscape without so much as a ruined shack in sight or any other sign
of life, a terrifying wilderness made more menacing still by the blank sky
and the threat of an imminent downpour. There was no shelter anywhere, apart
from under
one of the few trees, which, as he walked, were beginning to show their tops above
the horizon. The branches, usually only sparsely covered
with leaves, did not guarantee any protection worthy of the
name. It was then, as the first drops fell, that cain realised
that his tunic was stained with blood. He thought perhaps the
rain would wash it away, but then thought better of it and
tried to disguise the stain with earth, no one would ever
suspect what lay beneath, especially since there was no
shortage in such places of people with grubby, grimy tunics.
It began to rain hard, and his tunic was soon soaked, and
not a trace of blood was left, besides, if asked, he could
always say it was lamb's blood. Yes, he said out loud, but abel
was no lamb, he was my brother, and I killed him. At
that precise moment, he forgot what he had said to the lord
about them both being guilty of the murder, but his memory
soon came to his aid, which is why he added, If it's true
what they say, that the lord knows all and can do all, then he
could have removed that jaw-bone and then I wouldn't have
killed abel and we could be standing together at the door
of our house watching the rain, and abel would agree that
the lord had been quite wrong not to accept the only
things I had to offer in sacrifice, the seeds and the ears of wheat born of my
hard work and
the sweat of my brow, and he would still be alive and we would be
the same firm friends we always were. Crying over