Chapter 1
From a church balcony on Christmas Eve… gradually, a memory emerges… a minister, wearing a robe adorned with a festively embroidered stole, moves slowly from the pulpit below me towards the congregation, a shoe box in each extended hand. She removes the lid from the first box… the darkness released from within has no effect on its surroundings. Light fades to nothing… now the sanctuary is in total darkness. As she slowly lifts the lid from the second box the gleam from a hidden flashlight effuses, highlighting her face like a figure in the dramatic illumination and shadows of a Caravaggio masterpiece. A tenebrism from long ago, from far away. I don’t remember the sermon or the carols, but I do remember the image: two boxes, the darkness, the light bursting forth.
What I wouldn’t give right now for that second box. I’ve lost track of how long I’ve been wrapped in the darkness of this cell. I’m not sure I’ll ever see light again. I’m not even sure I want to, knowing what I now know.
