The Columbus Affair: A Novel

“You must stay away from him.”

That drew her interest. “Why?”

Irritation swept across Rocha’s tanned face. “We must go.”

“I’m staying.”

He grasped her arm. Hard. Lifting her from the chair.

“Get your hand off me or I’ll scream.”

“We have to go,” he said, his voice softening. “It’s for your own safety.”

He was serious, she could see.

“Who was that guy?” she asked again.

“A problem. One Mr. Simon must know about immediately.”

———

TOM LAY ON HIS BED, FULLY CLOTHED. THIS MORNING HE’D DECIDED to die. Now, tomorrow, he would see a body.

Quite a reversal.

“He’ll come around,” Michele said to him. “He’s your father. He loves you. He’ll eventually understand that you have to make your own choices, even when it comes to religion.”

“You don’t know Abiram. He’s made his choice. It’s my call now. I have to make the next move.”

“Why do you call him by his first name? He’s your father.”

“It started in college, when we began to drift apart. It gives me … some distance.”

“He’s still your father.”

He shrugged. “He’s only Abiram to me.”

She hugged him. “I don’t agree with how this has evolved, but I love you for doing this. Giving up your faith is a big deal.”

“If this makes you happy, then I’m happy.”

She kissed him.

They’d been married for less than a year.

“I have some news,” she said.

He stared into her eyes.

“You’re going to be a father, too.”

Eight months later Alle was born. What a beautiful child. For the first few years of her life she’d meant the world to him, then the world began to mean more. His time away grew longer until he was gone far more than he was there. Temptations started presenting themselves and he’d succumbed. What had he been thinking? That’s just it. He hadn’t thought.

And Abiram. A Levite?

He remembered Deuteronomy, Moses’ blessing to the Israelites.

About Levi, he said of his father and mother, “I have no regard for them.” He did not recognize his brothers or acknowledge his own children, but he watched over your word and guarded your covenant. He teaches your precepts to Jacob and your law to Israel. He offers incense before you and whole burnt offerings on your altar.

Amazing he still remembered the words, but Abiram had been relentless in his teachings. He also recalled that, after the sin of the Golden Calf, when the Israelites wrongly worshiped a false idol, Levites, who’d abstained from that act, were chosen to serve the Temple.

But how did any of that relate to Abiram?

Never had anyone in his family ever mentioned that their Jewish roots came from the Levites.

Until Tom reached high school he and Abiram had been close. Being an only child came with the advantage— and disadvantage—of constant parental attention. During his teenage years they began to drift apart. The gap widened in college. Meeting Michele and falling in love finally confirmed what he already knew.

He was not a Jew.

No matter his birth, heritage, custom, or duty.

None of it meant anything to him.

His mother had tried to persuade him otherwise. Perhaps she knew what her husband would do. But Tom had not been convinced. So he renounced his birthright and, to please his new wife, became a Christian. For a few years he, Michele, and Alle attended Episcopal services. That happened less and less as he traveled more and more. Eventually, he realized Christianity meant nothing to him, either. He just wasn’t spiritual.

Chalk that up as another failure.

“Patch things up with your father,” Michele said to him.

“It’s too late for that.”