By the Rivers of Babylon
Chapter One
"For there they that carried us away captive required of us a song ..."
- Psalms 137:3
A barefoot woman in a torn dress was running along a cratered path between
buildings. Her long hair, matted and wind-tousled, but silky as the inside
of a coffin, flapped like ravens' wings against her shoulders. Her burnished
arms, cross-hatched with scars, held the hands of two little boys who could
barely keep up with her, moving so fast their feet were a blur.
The taller of the boys, dressed only in pajama pants, was sobbing
uncontrollably. The face of the smaller boy, who had managed to put on one
of his sneakers and only the top of his pajamas, was shut as hard as a door.
Above them, the sky, clotted with stars, was as purple as a bruise.
Shades jerked as they ra ... read full excerpt from By the Rivers of Babylon ebook
