LEVITICUS

In this post we look at chapter three-styled “Leviticus”.

III. Leviticus

18 Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbour as yourself. I am the LORD. Leviticus: Chapter 19:18 (The Holy Bible, New International Version)

1

One of John Hollywood’s greatest regrets in life has always been the frustration that comes from not being able to “rationalise” some human actions. People sometimes do things that are just not logical, things that defy “reasonable” explanation. John would dearly love to penetrate those minds and understand why these people take certain actions. This was, of course, not possible, hence John’s frustration.

He was sitting on the veranda with a book in his hand thinking about how irrational human beings could be sometimes. Although James Clavell was one of his favourite authors, John was finding it difficult to concentrate on the book. He was sitting, facing his neighbour’s house where a young couple had just moved in with their baby son who was probably about two years old. The couple had moved in three days ago. John was thinking about what had happened the day before, when he and his wife, Sarah had gone over to the new neighbours to welcome them to the quiet suburb. The reaction of the couple when John and Sarah knocked on the neighbour’s front door and introduced themselves was quite shocking, to say the least. Right now, John was asking himself the question he had been examining in his head ever since that unpleasant encounter yesterday. Were his new neighbours “mental cases?”

The previous day, Sarah had made an effort to bake some of her special muffins. She and John thought it would be a good idea for both of them to go next door and welcome the new couple by offering them the freshly-baked muffins and also inviting them to come over to the Hollywood place for tea anytime that afternoon. This was common practice in the suburb, at least around the area where John lived. When John and Sarah had bought their house they were given a warm welcome to the neighbourhood by the family that used to stay where the new couple had just moved in. John believed that this tradition was a great idea. He remembered how he and Sarah had been grateful for that simple gesture and it was something that they were determined to practise if ever a chance arose for them to accord the same sort of hospitality to future new-comers.

When John knocked at the neighbour’s door, it was opened by the man of the house. Behind him was his wife, with the small boy tugging at her skirts.

“Hello, my name is John Hollywood and this is my wife, Sarah. We live next door,” John started the introduction. Instead of making some form of positive response, the man said, “What do you want?”

The Hollywoods were taken aback by this and John stuttered, “Well, eh we thought we could welcome you to the neighbourhood. Sarah has just baked these muffins which we would like you to have and perhaps you could come over to our house for tea sometime.”

“Look John, where I come from people mind their own business, so buzz off!”  the man said and he banged the door close, right in John’s face. John and Sarah were speechless. They silently, slowly walked back to their house.

In accordance with their new neighbours’ wish, John and Sarah left them alone after that nasty incident. Of course, there was nothing that the Hollywoods could do if the newcomers did not want to be “neighbourly.”

2

Two weeks after this incident, there was heavy rain in the area. The suburb in which John and Sarah lived was located about 20 miles from the city centre. In between the suburb and the city, there was a large “woody” area which gave one the impression of driving to the country side if one drove along the road to this lovely suburb.

John was driving home in the evening after a late day at the office. It had started raining while he was still at the office and the rain seemed to be intensifying as John drove through the wooded area. Visibility was becoming quite poor and he was glad that he was not on a long journey. On a sharp curve along the road, just as John was about to leave the wooded area, he noticed that a car had left the road and stopped in the ditch beside the road. Through the heavy rain, John could see that the driver had come out of the car to wave down traffic so that he could get some assistance. Because of the fear of hi-jacking, most motorists would not stop along such a secluded area, especially after sunset. For some reason, however, John decided to stop and pick up this poor fellow.

When he stopped, the man who had flagged him down came over to John’s car. He was completely drenched with rain and also covered with mud, suggesting that he might have made an effort to get his car out of the ditch without success. The man started to say something when John opened the car window but he stopped without finishing his sentence. He had recognised John. This was John’s new neighbour who had somehow got himself into trouble.

“Get in the car before I also get wet,” John said to his “unfriendly neighbour.” The man hesitated but he got into the car.

“Thank you very much. You will not believe the number of cars that have driven past without stopping,” the man said. John smiled and said, “I believe you, people around here ‘do mind their own business’ sometimes.” The guy managed to show his embarrassment and actually said, “Look, I am sorry about the other day. You guys caught us on a bad day.”

“Forget it,” John said. “What happened here?”

“Well I think I was driving too fast and I failed to negotiate the corner and ended up in the ditch. I guess I am still trying to get familiar with the place. By the way, my name is Paul, Paul Johnson. I remember yours is John although I don’t remember your surname.”

“My surname is one of the easiest names to remember. It’s Hollywood,” John said.

Paul indicated that he had actually been there with his car in the ditch for the past two hours. Cars that came by were not stopping. To make matters worse, his mobile phone had run out of power, the battery had lost all power before the accident. After Paul had made sure that his car was locked and rushed back to John’s car, they drove away towards home. Paul was going to make arrangements to have the car towed away from the accident scene.

3

On the Saturday following the day of the accident, Paul called John early in the morning and indicted that he and his wife, Mary would take the Hollywoods’ offer of afternoon tea that day if the Hollywoods were available and did not mind. John told Paul that he and Sarah would be more than delighted to have them for tea that afternoon. Tea-time was set for 16:00 hours.

During tea, discussion moved to what the couples were planning to do over the forthcoming holiday weekend. Paul indicated that he and Mary owned a holiday cottage in the Eastern Highlands and it would be a lovely place to go to during that time of the year. The Eastern Highlands were famous for their pleasant cool climate during the time when most of the country would be very hot at that of the year.

“Mary and I would love you to join us at the cottage for the weekend,” Paul said. “If anyone is up to it, there will be a chance to do some trout fishing at a dam near the cottage,” continued Paul. John and Sarah had not made any definite plans for the special weekend and they gladly agreed to take the trip to the Eastern Highlands.

It was agreed that the two couples and the little boy would use one vehicle for the trip to the holiday cottage. They settled on John’s Toyota Land Cruiser as it was ideally suited for some of the rough terrain found in areas around the cottage.

The drive to the cottage was uneventful. The two men were sitting in front with John driving. Sarah and Mary were sharing the back seat with the little boy who everybody called Junior because he shared the same name with his father. The cottage was located on a small hill and there was a small stream that ran through the grounds of the cottage at the bottom of the hill. When they entered the place, Mary asked Sarah to choose the bedroom that she and John would prefer from the three bedrooms available. Sarah thought she should test this new friendship by choosing what was obviously the best room of the three. If she was expecting some unpleasant reaction from Mary and Paul, she did not get any. Mary just said, “Splendid! Paul will get your bag from the car and bring it to this room.”

The weekend turned out to be one of the best holidays John and Sarah had ever enjoyed. Although, John had visited the Eastern Highlands before, it had always been during business conferences and for some reason, it had been winter the previous two times he had been there. Apart from not having had enough time for recreation, John remembered that it had also been bitterly cold. This weekend with Paul and Mary had been entirely different. The weather was perfect and they had all the time to fish for trout at the nearby dam into which the cottage stream flowed. They were also able to take early morning and evening walks in the woods amongst the lovely hills. It had been a pleasant weekend.

4

About a week following the lovely holiday in the Eastern Highlands, John and Sarah drove into the street leading to their house and were immediately confronted with a scene that resembled action from a Hollywood movie. John and Sarah could not believe what they were seeing. There were blue lights, red lights and orange lights everywhere. Police cars, ambulances and fire engines. Their house was on fire!

From the looks of it, the fire must have started in one of the rooms on the ground floor. The firemen were doing their best in trying to extinguish it but the fire was still burning violently.  The lower floor seemed to have been completely destroyed and it looked like the bedrooms on the upper floor were going to suffer the same fate as the fire was now raging violently on this top floor. Sarah, who like John, had been shocked into silence, began to sob. John was trying to comfort her but he also found himself choking with emotion.

How did this happen? How did the fire start? From what he could see, the damage was going to be extensive. The insurance company would, of course, provide funds for repairs and replacement of certain items but there were some items that were never going to be replaced. Some of his precious, rare books which were in the library downstairs could not be replaced. Apart from the books, there were also some household items with great sentimental value. These items had been lost forever.

It looked like the entire neighbourhood had come to witness the tragedy. There were scores of on-lookers. Somebody came over to were John and Sarah where standing watching their precious treasures go up in flames. It was Paul, their new neighbour. He was saying something but it took time for what he was saying to register in John’s mind. He was expressing his sorrow at John and Sarah’s loss and imploring them to come to his house when they had finished with the fire department and the police. He even said, “Our house is at your disposal. We have plenty of room. You can stay with us for as long as you wish.”  

The next chapter-Numbers- will be published not later than Monday, 6 December 2010.

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