I
love a good story, especially the ones about real people, and real
situations. Those are pretty hard to come by during the winter in
Maine because the entire state hibernates from December to May.
So,
until the snow birds wend their way back to our lovely coast, and the
summer tourists arrive to entertain us during the warmer months, here
is a short piece of ficton that I hope amuses you until the “real
stories” arrive in a few weeks. I'm calling it “What's In A
Name”.
I have
a friend who travels a lot for his work, and he endulges himself in
an unusual hobby while traveling. He likes to go to the local post
office and view the “Wanted” posters to get a feel for the local
constabulary.
On a
recent trip to Haifa, Israel, he came upon a rather peculair name –
Jose Cohen. Wondering how the match of a beautiful Spanish name
became connected to a wonderful, Israeli clan stymied him, so he dig
into it further.
It
seems Jose was the illegitimate son of an Israeli salesman, who
during a business trip to Madrid, Spain, spent a perfect evening with
a lovely Spanish maiden. Several weeks later, the Spanish senorita
realized that her dalliance with the handsome Israeli would produce a
forthcoming child in a little less than 9 months.
Not
wanting to trouble him for his evening of fun and frolic, but feeling
very ashamed, she left Madrid and joined a convent in Barcelona,
where she became a nun as a token of her atonement, and raised her
son in the friendly confines of the nunnery.
Upon
reaching the age of 18, young Jose wanted to find out more about his
father so he immigrated to Israel, where he got a part-time job as a
farmer's assistant on a kibbutz near Kiryat Shmona. Before leaving
Spain Jose became an accomplished musician, and when he wasn't
plowing and tending fields he had an evening gig as the 2nd
flutist in the Nathania Symphony.
The
Heifa police posted his picture in the post office because he was a
“Person of Interest” in a series of recent break-ins at local
houses.
My
friend finally realized he had come upon......
The
Haifa-lootin, flutin-tootin, son-of-a-nun, from Barcelona, part-time
plow boy, Joe.
