The Book
9 Isaac and Leah spent seven days in the garden.
2 They lived off the fruit and bathed in the fountain.
3 And each evening after the park fell dark, and with their bodies expended, their dreams bled out into the city.
4 And the city fell into chaos.
5 Circadian rhythms were thrown off.
6 Some didn’t show up for work. And others didn’t return home at night.
7 Suspicions ran. Wives doubted their husbands. Children disobeyed parents. And the sun burned as never before.
8 And the earth began to crack.
9 By the fifth day the city streets were dirty. Paper flew into the faces of wandering drunks and laundry hung from lines covered in dust.
10 Isaac observed no one was entering the park during daylight. The grass lay uncut, the hedges untrimmed.
11 On the seventh day Isaac reached for Leah’s hand and led her to the west gate.
12 Together they re-entered the city with ash in their hair.
13 Buildings burned and mothers ran with children clinging to their breasts.
14 Carts rolled by with personal possessions and the assets of others—and the whole of the city was heading toward the perimeter and to the gates.