efficiency or privacy. Rafa said more people would come for me. Efficiency wins out.
In the reference section the sun throws rectangles of light across the carpet. I grab the first bible I come to, the New King James, and run my finger down the names of the books listed under the Old and New Testaments.
‘There’s no Book of Enoch.’
Jason is further along the stack. ‘Try the apocrypha.’
‘The what?’ I slide the bible back onto the shelf.
‘Books written by prophets and other people, not kept as official Jewish or Christian texts.’ He grabs a hardback, checks the contents and then turns the open page to me. ‘See, Book of Enoch.’
‘How do you know this stuff?’
‘I studied religion for a year.’
‘You did not.’
He flicks through the pages, head down. ‘I got mixed messages about religion when I was younger. I wanted to find out a few things for myself. A year was enough. It’s not like I went into the seminary.’ He gives Maggie a quick smile. ‘It was just a couple of subjects at uni.’
Maggie is sitting on one of the tables, swinging her legs. ‘I think it’s sexy.’
‘Wow,’ I say. ‘Religion as foreplay.’
They both blush.
‘Anyway…’ I gesture to the book.
Jason skims the page. ‘This says the Book of Enoch is an ancient Jewish text. Enoch may have been Noah’sgreat-grandfather… The Ethiopian Orthodox Church is the only church that includes it in its official canon.’ He flicks through the pages. ‘Here.’ He hands the book to me, pointing to where I should start.
I read aloud:
And the Lord said unto Michael: ‘Go, bind Semjâzâ and his associates who have united themselves with women so as to have defiled themselves with them in all their uncleanness. And when their sons have slain one another, and they have seen the destruction of their beloved ones, bind them fast for seventy generations in the valleys of the earth, till the day of their judgment and of their consummation, till the judgment that is for ever and ever is consummated. In those days they shall be led off to the abyss of fire: (and) to the torment and the prison in which they shall be confined for ever.’
I toss the book on the table next to Maggie. ‘Noah’s great-grandfather wrote that? Seriously?’
Maggie clicks her fingernails on the table. ‘Noah, as in Noah’s Ark?’ She frowns. ‘Wasn’t there something about Nephilim and a flood in that stuff we read online?’
‘Yeah. Some theory about God sending the flood to kill them as well as the wicked.’
‘Who is Michael?’
‘My guess—the archangel,’ Jason says.
‘What’s an archangel?’ I ask.
‘From memory’—Jason squints in concentration— ‘they’re part of the upper echelon of heaven. I think Michael was the most important.’
Maggie’s forehead creases. ‘Do you think this is all real, about the fallen angels?’
He picks up the book, rubs his thumb on a corner. ‘I think there’s more to the world than what we can see.’
‘But they’re just stories. Aren’t they?’
‘Most stories are based on something real.’
I go over to the window. A couple is walking past on the esplanade, away from the beach, carrying plastic buckets and shovels. Two young girls skip along behind them, laughing. They’re sunburnt, and trying to eat gelati before it runs down their sandy arms.
‘But what’s any of that got to do with me?’
‘I have no idea,’ Maggie says.
I go back to her and Jason, tapping my finger along the reference shelf. I can work this out. I just have to get my head around it.
‘All right. Let’s pretend I have this whole other life I know nothing about. And that angels really were kicked out of heaven because they couldn’t keep it in their pants. Why would I be looking for their leader if he and the rest of them are in hell?’
‘That story is a couple of thousand years old,’ Jason says. ‘Older even. Maybe that wasn’t the end of it.’
‘Do you seriously think a
In the reference section the sun throws rectangles of light across the carpet. I grab the first bible I come to, the New King James, and run my finger down the names of the books listed under the Old and New Testaments.
‘There’s no Book of Enoch.’
Jason is further along the stack. ‘Try the apocrypha.’
‘The what?’ I slide the bible back onto the shelf.
‘Books written by prophets and other people, not kept as official Jewish or Christian texts.’ He grabs a hardback, checks the contents and then turns the open page to me. ‘See, Book of Enoch.’
‘How do you know this stuff?’
‘I studied religion for a year.’
‘You did not.’
He flicks through the pages, head down. ‘I got mixed messages about religion when I was younger. I wanted to find out a few things for myself. A year was enough. It’s not like I went into the seminary.’ He gives Maggie a quick smile. ‘It was just a couple of subjects at uni.’
Maggie is sitting on one of the tables, swinging her legs. ‘I think it’s sexy.’
‘Wow,’ I say. ‘Religion as foreplay.’
They both blush.
‘Anyway…’ I gesture to the book.
Jason skims the page. ‘This says the Book of Enoch is an ancient Jewish text. Enoch may have been Noah’sgreat-grandfather… The Ethiopian Orthodox Church is the only church that includes it in its official canon.’ He flicks through the pages. ‘Here.’ He hands the book to me, pointing to where I should start.
I read aloud:
And the Lord said unto Michael: ‘Go, bind Semjâzâ and his associates who have united themselves with women so as to have defiled themselves with them in all their uncleanness. And when their sons have slain one another, and they have seen the destruction of their beloved ones, bind them fast for seventy generations in the valleys of the earth, till the day of their judgment and of their consummation, till the judgment that is for ever and ever is consummated. In those days they shall be led off to the abyss of fire: (and) to the torment and the prison in which they shall be confined for ever.’
I toss the book on the table next to Maggie. ‘Noah’s great-grandfather wrote that? Seriously?’
Maggie clicks her fingernails on the table. ‘Noah, as in Noah’s Ark?’ She frowns. ‘Wasn’t there something about Nephilim and a flood in that stuff we read online?’
‘Yeah. Some theory about God sending the flood to kill them as well as the wicked.’
‘Who is Michael?’
‘My guess—the archangel,’ Jason says.
‘What’s an archangel?’ I ask.
‘From memory’—Jason squints in concentration— ‘they’re part of the upper echelon of heaven. I think Michael was the most important.’
Maggie’s forehead creases. ‘Do you think this is all real, about the fallen angels?’
He picks up the book, rubs his thumb on a corner. ‘I think there’s more to the world than what we can see.’
‘But they’re just stories. Aren’t they?’
‘Most stories are based on something real.’
I go over to the window. A couple is walking past on the esplanade, away from the beach, carrying plastic buckets and shovels. Two young girls skip along behind them, laughing. They’re sunburnt, and trying to eat gelati before it runs down their sandy arms.
‘But what’s any of that got to do with me?’
‘I have no idea,’ Maggie says.
I go back to her and Jason, tapping my finger along the reference shelf. I can work this out. I just have to get my head around it.
‘All right. Let’s pretend I have this whole other life I know nothing about. And that angels really were kicked out of heaven because they couldn’t keep it in their pants. Why would I be looking for their leader if he and the rest of them are in hell?’
‘That story is a couple of thousand years old,’ Jason says. ‘Older even. Maybe that wasn’t the end of it.’
‘Do you seriously think a
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