MT. ARBEL'S SHADOWS

  

My micro story tied for third place in Globe Soup's June 2024 Micro Contest. Theme: Mountains. I won twenty-five pounds sterling! That's thirty American dollars. I'm on my way to writing riches.

MT. ARBEL’S SHADOWS

 

Ham and I passed fragrant jujube trees on our approach to Mt. Arbel. Its cliff cast ancient shadows of Hellenistic battles, and Christ’s Great Commission. I was Ham's disciple, and he’d commissioned me to climb.

Halfway up, we scrabbled into a cave, where Jews had hidden from marauding Romans.

Ham huffed, forcing me into a hands-and-knees position. My palms bled. I reared like a stallion. Ham’s head struck a stalactite. He stumbled out of the cave’s mouth and tumbled over the cliffside.

I scrambled from the cavern and summited Mt. Arbel—its shadows dissolving into the blue Sea of Galilee.