Hi. My name is Jay DeMaarten and I write science fiction and fantasy.
Whenever I read the biblical story of Cain and Abel, I often wonder if there isn’t more to it than what’s written. The story makes Abel look like the innocent sibling and Cain the bad one, but what if Abe actually did something to piss Cain off? I thought I’d write a short story to explore that scenario.
Cain comes home from a hard day’s work in the fields. It’s harvest time and the crops are good this year, but today he had to put up a fence because his brother’s damned sheep kept eating the cabbages. They were his best crop, and now half of them are inside the sheep’s stomachs. And the timing couldn’t be worse, because the offering is tomorrow, and they had to give God their best produce. Cain was going to offer the cabbages, but now most of it is gone. Some were still left, though, and they were pretty big. Bigger than last year. It was probably all the manure from the sheep, so maybe they did some good after all. He’ll still be able to make his offering.
He’s already complained to Abel about his sheep’s forays, but he seems too busy conversing with God. And when he’s not talking to God, he’s with Mom, leaving him and Dad to collect the firewood for cooking. Why is he such a momma’s boy? Dad often talks about how life was before he and his brother were born. They didn’t have to grow any of their food.
Everything was there for the taking and they could eat whatever they wanted whenever they wanted. Maybe that’s why they hardly did any work. They didn’t know what work was. But every time Cain asks his father what happened, Dad’s reply was always vague, something about his mother breaking the one rule they had to obey and getting them both kicked out of Eden.
Cain always got annoyed with his parents whenever he heard that story, especially at his mother. Why did she have to mess it up? When they finally get back home with the firewood, Cain smells a delicious stew. It smells like cabbage stew in fact, and Cain notices that the few cabbages he managed to salvage were gone. He was pretty sure he left them in the box. He then sees Abel stirring a pot. “What are you cooking?” Cain asks.
“Cabbage stew,” Abel replies with a sheepish smile. “I thought I’d make your favorite. I wanted to make it up to you since my sheep…you know.”
Cain gasps and looks at the empty box. “And you cooked all the cabbages from the box?”
Abel shrugs. “Well Mom and Dad need to eat, too,” he says, smiling at Dad. “Besides, there’s enough in this pot to last a week.”
Cain walks out of the hut shaking his head. What will he do now? “There’s the carrot crops,” he thought to himself. “They aren’t so good since they didn’t get the best soil, but I’m sure God would understand.” And so that’s what Cain decided. He would give God the small sized carrots for tomorrow’s offering.
What do you think of Cain? Do you think he deserves a bad rap?
CARNIA
Jay
DeMaarten
Genre: Dystopian
Publisher: Storywell Press
ISBN: 978-1-9990165-2-4
Number of pages: 80
Word Count: 13500
Tagline: Only proven fighters win
mates. Cain isn't a warrior, but he's going to fight for a chance to win a
partner
Book Description:
Cain wants an Evite—a woman—of
his own. In a world where mating is strictly controlled, he must follow the
rules and enter Carnia; New Eden’s prestigious annual mating festival.
Many fight for the privilege, but
few are chosen.
After a humiliating defeat,
Cain’s best friend shows him another way—albeit a secret, forbidden way—to get
into Carnia. A way that might offer Cain an opportunity to win a mate, or cost
him everything.
Because not only must Cain prove
he’s worthy to take part in Carnia…
…he must also survive it.
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Excerpt
Chapter 1:
Cain landed hard
on his back amidst shouts and jeers. The dirt felt cold against his skin, and
his opponent—a short and muscular boy named Zak—danced menacingly around him,
daring him to get back on his feet. At first, Cain didn’t budge. He was
paralyzed by the noise of the crowd, which was quickly turning into a mob. The
crowd consisted mainly of Adamite youth. They had gathered in the gymnasium to
watch one of the many bouts that took place in the month prior to Carnia. At
seventeen, Cain was now at the age where he could compete for the privilege to
be chosen for Carnia, but so far things were not going well. Beyond the crowd
of Adamites, Cain noticed that some of the Elders were watching from the
elevated seating nearby. They were all dressed in white tunics, which was the
customary dress. All Adamites wore some variation of a tunic, but the Elders’
tunics were a bit more elaborate, some of them adorned with decorations along
the fringes in special colours to mark status. And unlike Cain, who was covered
in sweat and dirt, they were unblemished. One of them, a bald-headed man, shook
his head in dismay. Cain knew what that meant, and a torrent of fear and
emotion washed over him. He curled himself into a ball and started sobbing.
Displaying such emotion did not help, but he could not control himself. He wanted nothing more than to be swallowed
into the earth.
“Get up, sissy!
Are you an Evite?” Zak taunted. The crowd chimed in as well.
“Weasel!”
“Coward!”
“Mother’s boy!”
That last one
hurt, because nobody among the Adamites ever had a mother. To be called a
mother’s boy meant you were somehow one of the Evites. And sometimes Cain
wondered if, in fact, he was. He continued sobbing, and as he buried his face
in his oversized boxing gloves, he began to wish he was an Evite. He wished he
could live amongst them because at least then he would never have to prove his
masculinity.
“Get up!” Zak
repeated. “What’s the matter with you? I barely hit you.”
The referee, who
was a small boy, knelt beside Cain and began the countdown, slamming his palm
into the dirt floor, kicking dust into the air each time. Cain did not move.
When the referee declared Zak the winner, cheers erupted. The crowd hoisted the
victor up onto their shoulders and carried him off. Cain had his eyes closed
the entire time, but he could hear the noise slowly receding.
When Cain
finally opened his eyes, everyone including the Elders was gone, and all he saw
was a tall, wiry young man with dark hair standing above him. Through pain and
tears, Cain recognised him. It was Abe, his best and only friend since early
childhood. Abe held out his hand to Cain. “You ready to get up?”
About
the Author:
Jay DeMaarten has been a lover of
writing since his high school days. He is a journalist and freelance writer,
publishing articles on a wide range of topics. His primary passion, however, is
fiction in all its mediums. Jay enjoys storytelling in both the spoken and
written word, and for the last six years he has been learning and experimenting
with writing fiction. He developed a special love for science fiction and
fantasy during his days at the University of Guelph, where he graduated with a
Master of Arts in 2013. Since then, he has been working on a full-length novel
entitled Noah’s Ark, which will be published in 2020. When not writing, he
enjoys walking, watching movies, exercising, and studying. He is currently studying
accessibility media at Ryerson University. Jay resides in Toronto.
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