Abi
Abi and his 10-year old sister, Leyla, lived in Ankara, Turkey in 1920. The zeitgeist of the era was one of freedom and happiness. He and his sister’s favorite thing to eat was halva that their mother made for them. They enjoyed the sapid, sweet candy which consisted of ground sesame seeds and honey. Unfortunately, the Turkish government considered halva to be a contraband food so Abi and Leyla had to wait until late at night to eat it.
Sometimes when the children were playing outside in the street, Abi would look up and admire the Turkish flag. It consisted of a bright red background with a blazing white semilunar shape in the middle.
Abi’s room was a mess! His mother kept asking him to clean up his room, so he rushed through to clean it up so he could play with his friends. He told his mom that he would clean his room with a lick and a promise. In other words, he would spend more time and clean it better next time!
One day as Abi was playing outside, he had a stroke of serendipity! He found a gold coin in the middle of the street. The usual praxis would have been to give the coin to his mother but he decided to keep it for himself to buy some penny candy. Abi had a feeling of ataraxia as he walked into the candy store. He wasn’t worried about his mother catching him in the store. But when he walked out, he looked to the right and saw his mother standing there staring at him. She was so mad she threw a fit right there on the street! She was screaming about how she cooked a huge dinner and how he wasn’t going to be hungry anymore.
When Abi asked his mom how she knew he was there, she reminded him about her mantic powers. She had this unbelievable ability to always know when he was doing something he wasn’t supposed to be doing. He loved his life in Ankara and loved his mom and sister. When he grew up to be a man, he would always remember how wonderful his life was when he was young.
Chris Cracraft
