You see, to read is to become a part of something other than yourself. And what is this, yourself?

In a minute you’ll see why the question.

*

Abdel Morkowitz was a loser. He also was a Jew. Which was worse for Abdel, being a loser or being a Jew? It is common knowledge that Jews are targets for hate by Jews and non-Jews. It is also common knowledge that being a loser is common for those who are born in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Abdel was born to lackluster bakers in Berlin Germany in a period where Hitler was still a corporal in the German Army. His parents were not losers but neither were they good parents.

“Don’t drop the flour you clumsy boy.” Abdel’s father was quick of the tongue and hand; constantly belittling his son.

The day the Germans smashed the bakeries windows was the day Abdel not only lost his parents, but he also lost his freedom as he was spending his first day in what some would call, Hell.

Hell: A place/setting/consciousness where there is no God, only hate and pain.

The cruelty of the Nazi power was surgically precise as it was horrific. Abdel was shuffled with thousands of other Jews as if sacks of grain destined for market.

There was the day where the loser was packed in a boxcar and sent down the tracks to his final destination. A place where cattle in a slaughter house were afforded more dignity than those fellow Jews gassed and burned in th3 of3nw, it truly was h3ll.

Now, this is a bleak story and at the beginning I told you Abel was a loser, a Jew, a prisoner of hell; beaten by the guards and facing the line of those about to be killed. I said in a minute you will see, and now see you shall.

You see, Abdel had the genetic mistake of skin pigmentation. His the pure alabaster white only an albino can have. To this the Nazi’s were fascinated. An aryan color of goodness and power.

Abdel was indeed a loser and Jewish and yet lucky in a way. His death was to be sure. 100% certainty that his soul would become separated from his body. And it was. Only his fate was not one of gas and oven. No, that was clean and final.

Abdel’s fate was to be skinned alive by a doctor trying to advance the medical science of the Reich. The doctor a firm believer in evil and no believer that Jews were worthy of human status…

And reader? You may think this story has nothing to do with ‘What was the best compliment you’ve received?’ and you are wrong.

‘you see’ Abdel was a loser and Jewish. He had the skin as soft and white as a summer cloud. Which is why when the doctor was finished skinning the young man, the skin was tanned and made into a wonderful light shade for a lamp in Hitlers study.

As Hitler was sitting in the room one day he looked at the lamp and complimented it. “That is a most wonderful lamp. The animal skin is truly remarkable.” And with this tortured way of explaining the obvious was the best compliment Abdel Morkowitz had ever received.

Of today there grew the sun

Ripe and full to pull the berry buds to vine

Heat of a moment lulled by seductions of cold; germination

Bees to ply their trade, all in preparation for the feast

~

Ripening such; thin skin holding such sweet sublime

As Fall should and does come there is the time for the creation of something better; fruits bearing aroma, held aloft in honor, this newly born bottle of wine.

Corked to hold a world where with age comes pleasure

Dust growing a secure coating the wine bides the time

Waiting

Waiting forever if need be, as for to gain title of best, there is more to the flavor, the taste, the actions….

There is the smile of satisfaction of that very special taste from the lips from those able to receive.