Red's CD Project Part 5

Disc 1
Track 13
9 Crimes
Damien Rice
9

And is that alright? Yeah. Give my gun away when it’s loaded. That alright. Yeah.


Hal read.

“I, first son of Adam, toiled in the fields with nothing that grew filling the uneasy urge in my stomach. I felt compelled. I heard the snake slither in the weeds. When the fruit on the tree was ripe, I heard the wolf in the thicket. My brother’s flock was restless. The Lord came. Our offerings were ready.”

There was dizziness in Hal’s head as time bent on itself and the words appeared in live action across his vision.

“I was wroth as we stood under the bright sun. Abel beamed, full of the Lord’s love. He was favored. I heard the snake’s hiss. I felt the thorns of the thicket tear at my skin. I was compelled. Abel smiled. Could he not hear the wolf’s growl?”

Hal grinned.

“I planted my brother in the dust and the dirt. He will not grow. His blood stained the grains of dust red and my heart eased. My stomach ceased to hurt. I do not hear the snake. The wolf has moved on. It grows late and the Lord shall come soon.”

The phone rang, but Hal ignored it. He was hungry, but he did not stop to eat.

“The Lord cast me away to the land of Nod. The Lord allowed me a wife of my choosing. I took Abel’s wife. She was suitable. I am content.”

A putrid smell came from the open chest, but Hal did not close it.

“My wife has bore a son. I have named him Enoch. He is restless and rarely sleeps. I believe he hears the hiss and the howl. I see the mark, although my wife denies it. We have built a city in Nod, I believe Enoch shall destroy it.”

Hal read the rest of the day and very late into the night. The book passed through the generations. Name a historical atrocity and line of Cain was behind it in some form or fashion. It ended with his father’s stirring of chaos and confusion during the Civil Rights movement by the assassination of key figures. While he was quite successful, he attempted to sway nearly 150 other attempts that failed for various reasons.

Hal placed the book back in the chest at 2 a.m. It disappeared when it touched the bottom and the pile of artifacts reemerged. He was tempted to look through those, but instead he closed the chest.

Hal needed his rest. He had a lot of work to do.



Disc 1
Track 14
Promise
Butch Walker
Letters

Well I fumbled for a pencil. And my I’m so sorry pad

Misba,

I do not know why I write this. I have intended to keep my promise to spare you the pains that have become of me. I have dearly wanted to save you and your family from any suspicion, but I am afraid that my sending of this will only incriminate you. The police will read it that I am sure. They will ask you what you know of me. I beg tell them only the truth.

You must believe that I did not do what they claim. I have been a loud voice in a restless time. By banishing me to this rural jailhouse, I am silenced for the time being. My captors know I am innocent. They will soon let me go, but will continue to watch.

But all of this is not why I write. For so long, I have depended upon you as my spiritual beacon. I have been troubled. I have prayed long hours and all for nought. I do not believe Allah is listening to me. My whole life, I felt his comforting presence in my prayer.

I am troubled.

Coldness settles over this cell. Something terrible lurks around. I feel it inside. Last night, I heard a snake from outside my window hissing. I did not know such snakes lived in this area of the country.

Yours,

Abdul


Disc 1
Track 15
From the Bottom of My Heart
The Wallflowers
Rebel, Sweetheart

From the bottom of my heart comes a cold dark feeling. There is eminent death to the promise I’m keeping


Hal nicked his cheek while shaving the next morning. Blood squirted out like it was trying to run away from his body. For ten minutes, he held a towel to his face and it turned a deep red.

Finally, the blood stopped and he finished his duty of ridding his face of the dark stubble peaking through his skin. Afterward, he jumped into the shower. He sang an old Stones tune that he hadn’t heard in years as he soaped up. He couldn’t think of the name of it though.

After 15 minutes, he shut off the hot water and wiped off the clouded mirror. Blood had bubbled on his cheek again. He wiped it away revealing the long curved scar that looped just below his eye to his jaw. He didn’t think he had cut that much of his skin, but this looked deep enough that it might leave a mark. Blood came to the surface again and he fumbled for some gauze and tape. He would have to keep it covered for a while.

He nearly laughed. He remembered his dad having a similar scar on his cheek. Hal never asked where it had come from.

The name of the song popped into his head.

“Sympathy for the Devil,” he said aloud to himself and the rest of the voices hanging around his head. He sang it word for word while he put on his suit. He finished it up when he found his service revolver draped over a coat hook near the front door. He had always been careless with his gun.

He started to sing again.

“Please allow me to introduce myself. I’m a man of wealth and taste. I’ve been around for a long, long time. …”