Prompt - Crossword Clues (400 words): Get yourself a newspaper and go to the crossword puzzle. Take two or three of the crossword clues and formulate a story around them. For example: From the New York Times - In Tahitian it means “good.” From the Guardian - Blue swallow feathers fell from above.
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“Jesus, just look at him!” My college roommate’s ex-girlfriend exclaimed when she saw the rabbi walking down the sidewalk toward the hotel where we were to meet. In the 10 years since we graduated, she still seemed surprised when people didn’t look the way she expected.
I glanced at the elderly rabbi. Side curls, a bushy beard, the typical outfit of a white shirt, and a dark coat and pants. It was winter, so he’d donned a big parka over his long coat, and a fur hat covered his yarmulka. I noticed that he was a little stooped, but everything else seemed pretty normal. “Yeah? He’s a rabbi. What did you expect?”
“I dunno. But I wasn’t expecting a hirsute himalayan.” She was grinning slightly, expecting me to rise to the bait. I debated letting it go but decided to give her what she wanted.
“Kate, Seriously, did you just call him an abominable snowman?”
She grinned, then cracked up. “I might have. He’s awfully hairy, and that fur hat and all.”
I sighed. “Remember, don’t offer to shake hands. Orthodox Jews don’t touch the opposite sex, unless they are family.”
“Yeah, yeah, I got it.” Kate said. She was a journalist, and in public, she knew how to use tact … when she wanted to. When she was among friends, though, tact went out the window.
“Rebbe Cohen agreed to talk to you, but he’s Hasid, so it will be very easy for a shiksa like you to make him uncomfortable. Be polite.”
“Of course.” She rolled her eyes at my worries. “Does he know that I’m also going to interview … Holy Mary Mother of Jesus … what’s a mosque holy man called again?” She looked frustrated this time.
“Imam, and yes, he does.”
“Ever since the explosion, I lose words.” She was definitely not smiling.
“Oh.” I’d forgotten that the embassy where she was staying on her last assignment had been bombed. She’d been in a part of the building that had remained standing, but the shockwave had knocked her into a wall. The doctors thought she’d recover, at least physically. I wasn’t so sure about the PTSD. “Sorry.”
“No worries. So, why does he want to meet at the Bates Motel?” We’d pulled into the parking lot of a rundown inn. She was right. It did look like a creepy film motel.
“Because it’s neutral ground. An Orthodox rabbi would prefer not to have a Gentile in his house. But, this is important to the community, so he found a way to make it work.”
We locked the car and went inside. Instead of the brash, tactless friend, she had assumed the role of a professional and strode up to the rabbi. “Rebbe Cohen, my name is Kate Smithson with the Washington Post. Thank you for meeting with me.” She nodded and did not extend her hand.
The rabbi smiled warmly at her, and spoke loudly to be heard over the Metro squealing to a stop nearby. “Of course, my child. It’s not every day that the imam of a local mosque organizes safety patrols to protect Jews from antisemites. He is a brother to us. The least I can do in return is to normalize the idea that not only are we all Americans, we are all sons and daughters of Abraham.”
--April 18, 2021
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Notes:
- Clues came from Washington Post crossword from April 18, 2021. I set the piece in D.C. because of that.
- I used 3 clues: 70. Hirsute Himalayan, 73. Mosque Holy Man, and 109. Creepy film motel.
- I wildly missed my 400 word goal; it's 550 words. It also doesn't feel like a stand-alone story, and feels like the introduction to something longer.
