Wiretap - Cain and Abel Live

Episode Date: June 29, 2020

Jonathan reads his story of Cain and Abel in front of a live audience in Vancouver, during the 2010 Olympic Games. Plus, musical guest Hannah Georgas is on hand to play a few tunes.

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Find the latest season wherever you get your podcasts. This is a CBC podcast. You're listening to Wiretap with Jonathan Goldstein on CBC Radio One. Today's episode, recorded live in Vancouver, Kane and Abel. Thank you. Thanks a lot. In advance of coming here to Vancouver, I was speaking to my friend Gregor, who you might know from the radio show that I do.

And I told him I was going to be doing this live show, and he asked how I was going to be coming out. And I said, I don't know, I'll probably just come out from behind a curtain. And he was like, you should like come running down the center aisle, high-fiving everybody. That was like one of the tamer ideas. There was another one that involved a trapeze coming down with me on it, and coming out a human Olympic torch on fire and doused by the Vancouver fire department with the riot hoses.

So anyway, let the games begin. This is the story of Canaan Abel from the book of Genesis in the Bible. On their first night outside the Garden of Eden, it was windy and cold. and the air was full of whistling. They scraped at the tree trunks and dug their fingers into the earth. At the top of their voices, Adam and Eve called out to God.

We get it, they screamed. You've made your point. Now let us back in. To fend off the cold, they hugged each other with all of their might. They thought about all the things God had said in his wrath, how a little human would one day tear his way out of Eve, how they would no longer live forever,

but how they would one day die. eye. These thoughts made them colder. They slept face to face, pressed so tightly together that the bones and their noses hurt. Later they would learn to make clothing, but just then all they had was each other. Nine months after that first night, this would change. In the beginning, in God's original drafts of Eden, a baby was supposed to be a surprise, appearing as suddenly as a sneeze. The way God intended it, two people in love would share a like-minded did pretty thought, and there it would be, a baby nestling in a tree above their heads. People would like this, too. It wouldn't be like they'd walk around afraid to have a good time

for fear of making babies. But the way God intended it did not pan out. After he cast Adam and Eve out of the garden, God wed the creation of babies with the act of sex. It was like pairing the eating of a nectarine with a lunar eclipse, the tearing of a fig leaf with a sudden snowfall. on the night their child was born Eve was asleep dreaming about the ocean she was swimming deep under sea breathing in the water like it was air very carefully she climbed onto a shark and rode him I am actually doing it she thought then the shark turned its head around and bit off her lower body eve awoke suddenly she had begun to give birth Adam hopped from foot to foot as Eve felt the pain crush her into the earth.

There's a head sticking out of you, cried Adam. And it has a face. For a minute, Adam thought that this must be what a baby was. Just a head that sticks out. He would just have to get used to it. But then rather quickly, more came out. Shoulders, then arms, and then tiny hands. Yes, this was the baby.

And the baby was attached. to a vine. After a few days, despite their great care, the vine wore away, and baby Kane was freed into the world. At the time of her second birth, there wasn't the same stage fright. Eve knew the drill. She laid herself on the ground and grabbed two fistfuls of grass. Forty-three and a half hours later, Abel was born. They called Kane over to meet his new brother. They placed the baby in his arms. The baby was slippery and Kane lost his grip. Abel fell. He lay on the ground looking up at his brother. He did not cry. Abel could not be rattled. Back in those first days, things changed very quickly. A new person being born meant there was a giant spike in the population. For Kane, it made

the planet feel lopsided. He watched Eve bounce the newborn in her lap, and as she cooed at it, he felt the gravity tilt in their direction. It pulled at the insides of his stomach and made him seasick. Years later, Adam and Eve would have many more children, but just then there was only Cain and Abel. Because there was simply nobody else, the brothers became very close. They invented their own language and played each other's stomachs like snare drums. They budded their heads like goats and cracked each other's knuckles as though they were

cracking their own. Despite their bond, the brothers were different. Abel was content to sit around and think his thoughts. Thoughts like, if I bit off my pinky toe, would it grow back? Cain, on the other hand, was always on the move. He'd reel back his fist and break a donkey's nose for the sheer thrill of it all. Because of their differing dispositions, Abel became a shepherd, which afforded him long hours of rumination as his sheep grazed,

while Kane became a farmer, which allowed him to work with his hands. Adam and Eve encouraged their children to sacrifice a portion of their produce to the Lord. God told us to, said Adam. And considering what he could do to us, it's probably wise to obey. When they were teenagers, Canaan Abel did a pretty perfunctory job. They made sacrifices the way one would take to being forced to talk on the telephone to a crazy and infirmed grandfather on his birthday. What does the creator of the universe need with cauliflower and dead sheep, Abel would joke?

and Cain would laugh. One day when Adam and Eve thought the children were old enough, they sat them down and told the story of what life was like before they were born. In those days, God was like one of the family, said Adam. Eve told Cain and Abel about the screw-up. What does it mean to die? asked Cain. Well, we're not exactly sure, said Eve, but basically it means that one day, and this is not any day soon,

We will no longer be. There was silence. Then Abel spoke up. If we won't be, he said, then we won't even know that we're not being. There will be no we to see that we can no longer be. I guess that's true, said their mother. Well put. Abel smiled.

Kane, on the other hand, felt like a sharp plum pit had been forcefully lodged down his throat. All his life he had felt like himself, that his hands and fingers, that his thoughts were his own. Now he felt like they were someone else's, someone who could just yank them away at any chosen moment. Until then, it had never even crossed his mind that such a thing could be possible. The brothers continued to live their lives,

but all the while Kane felt a new sadness. It was there all the time. It ate with him, worked with him, and in the morning it raised from his bed with him. Dying. It just didn't make any sense. He knew this. deep in his heart, he thought nothing was more important than making God change his mind. Nothing.

He began to take his sacrifices more seriously. They became elaborate and garish. They involved richly choreographed interpretive dances, colorful, oblong facial masks, and the very best of his legumes. But God never answered. And so Kane started to change. When he got a splinter, he cursed the heavens all out of proportion. Back in the Garden of Eden, there were no splinters,

Kaine said to Abel. Instead of splinters, they had trees that hung with fried eggs and home fries. He even started to resent his parents. He spoke of them as though they had gambled away his inheritance. If it hadn't have been for Ignoramus No. 1, tempting Ignoramus number 2, we'd be living in luxury. Kane tried to get Abel worked up about the whole thing, too, but Abel had an easy come, easy go, we all have to die someday attitude that drove his brother crazy.

Now that he was older, every week Abel would choose the fattest sheep and sacrifice them to God. Everything Abel did in his life was for a reason. He ate so as not to be hungry. He made clothes so as not to be cold. But making sacrifices to God, that he did for reasons he could never know. He did it simply because he was told to. There was something about that that made him feel clean and deep. Adam and Eve made their sacrifices out of fear of being further punished,

and Cain was pleading for answers and changes, but Abel fulfilled his obligation and walked away expecting nothing from God. Of all the people who had been created, he was the only one who was glad with the way things were, and God could not have helped liking that. Meanwhile, Cain decided to test out a new approach with the Lord. He believed that God would have greater respect for him if he did not cowtow. He's going to kill us, he thought. He wanted God to

understand that he couldn't walk all over people and then still have them come crawling back with their arms loaded up with gifts. No, they had to get tough. They had to show God what was what. So Kane's sacrifices became more and more lackadaisical. He did not even check to see whether his gifts were being received or not. That would look like he was caving. Then one day while Cain was laying in the field, Abel came running over. God spoke to me, cried Abel. Kane shot up and looked at his brother. What did he say?

He said he was a great fan of my sheep. He told me to keep up the good work. Was my name mentioned? asked Cain. It didn't come up. What was it like to hear his voice? asked Cain. Look at me, said Abel. I'm still shaking. If you're absolutely loving your summer read and don't want the book to be over, your experience doesn't actually have to end when you finish reading.

I'm Matea Roach, and on my podcast bookends, I sit down with authors to get the inside scoop behind the books you love. Like, why Emma Donoghue is so fascinated by trains, or how Taylor Jenkins' Reed feels about being a celebrity author. You can check out bookends with Mateo Roach wherever you get your podcasts. There was a certain pang that Cain started to feel. It was in his stomach. He felt the pang grow sharpest when he looked upon his brother.

He could hardly speak with him without having to hunch over in pain. Since the world was still new and no one had yet felt this way, Kane did not know that this was jealousy he was feeling. Instead, he decided that his stomach no longer wanted to be his stomach. It wanted to escape his rib cage. It wanted to be able's stomach. This was because he wanted to be able. There was no shame in this.

Being able meant being happy. Being Cain meant being wretched. Being Cain had brought him nothing. He had a plan. He decided to just spring it on Able. I am no longer Cain, said Cain. I am now Able. We are both Able.

All right, said Able. The two Able's performed routines for the amusement, of their brothers and sisters. How is that apple, Abel? It is fine, Abel. Abel, could you pass it over so that I may have a bite? I, Abel, don't see why not, Abel. Then one day things became more grave.

If I am able, said Cain, then I am just as much able as you yourself are able. I suppose that's true, said Abel. Before God, are we not both able? asked Cain. well in the case of being before God I think at that time I would be able and you would go back to being Cain but at all other times though

like when we're climbing trees and making pottage and flirting with our sisters you are just as much able as I myself am able that won't do said Cain his eyes lingered on his brother he looked at this other able as standing in the way of who he was

he was able he knew this in his heart he simply wanted it more when he heard his father call out for Abel and he saw his brother go forth it made him feel like he was nothing he couldn't even say that he felt like Cain anymore

one could not feel like Cain because it had no flavor Cain was the absence of flavor Cain was like saliva or a Wednesday Abel was among his flock when Cain neared him from behind God will have to show himself Once I've called his bluff, he will have to stop playing possum and get directly involved.

These were Cain's thoughts. Slowly he pulled out a stick, and slowly he lifted it into the air. Still though, there was no sign of God. Kane looked at the back of Abel's head. Then he looked into the sky. Just in case God was reading his mind, he thought to himself, I'm really, really going to do it. when he brought his stick down onto his brother's head he could hear no sound at all abel just toppled over

he toppled over the way he did everything with an easygoing acceptance he sank to the earth as though thinking i must fall so i will fall i am falling i have fallen kane grabbed his brother by the shoulder and turned him over his brother's eyes were wide open it was like abel was looking past him over his shoulder and up into the sky. Here it was. Death. Kane couldn't believe it. He'd been sure that at the last moment God would step in.

He would have thought that only God could have taken a person's life, but it was as simple as killing as sheep. Abel, his eyes wide and unblinking, stared directly into the mystery of life and death, and he was not saying a word about any of it. Kane sat back and waited. The sheep continued to graze, and the sun continued to shine.

There were no bolts of lightning, no booming voice from behind the clouds. Life went on. That night, God appeared before Kane in a dream. Where is your brother? asked God. It's always about my brother with you, said Kane. Do you ever think about where I am? No, that you don't think of.

What have you done? asked God. Your brother's blood cries out to me from the ground. Am I my brother's keeper? asked Kane. God did not answer. He just gave him a look. It made Cain feel naked and small. He then felt the finger of God upon his forehead. It sank through his head and into his brain, where it spoke. The earth shall scorn you, said the voice from the finger. I shall scorn you. You will wander the earth and death will not come. There will be no escape from your guilt. All will look upon you and none will dare kill you, for they will know you by your mark. God withdrew his finger, leaving behind a fingerprint on Cain's forehead that was shaped

like a tear drop. At first he tried to convince himself that the mark was to protect him, that he had a secret pact with God, that they understood each other. But the earth then did scorn him. For once his hands withdrew berries and tomatoes, now they produced tobacco, ragweed, and alfalfa sprouts, things the world had never seen before. So as the centuries passed, Cain abandoned farming and roamed the earth. He walked with a sense of purpose, just in case anyone was watching.

But in his heart, he knew he had nowhere to go. He became so lonely and full of regret that instead of fearing death, he became yearnful for it. He would chase after bears and they would scamper away. They haven't the guts, he'd say. Run you little cowards, he'd call out to the tigers. Run you, yellow mouse, he'd cry into the face of an alligator as he tried in vain. to pry open its jaws.

Over time, Kane could no longer remember very much at all. Twenty years after the death of his brother, it seemed like it was only yesterday, but after 200 years it felt like something that might have happened in a dream. There were details he remembered that now seemed improbable, like the way he saw his brother's soul leave his body, and the way it waved goodbye to him and winked. After three and then 400 years, it all felt so long ago that who he was back then felt like someone else.

When people he met asked him questions about the old days, he just made stuff up. We had wings, he said. After 500 years, his story was repeated so often that Cain only remembered the repeating, not the events themselves. It sounded like a fable, something that might have just as easily happened

to a fox and a rabbit as to himself and his brother. He began to doubt everything. He even began to wonder, whether he had ever actually heard God's voice, whether the mark on his forehead was the mark of God and not just another liver spot. Was this a part of his punishment, he wondered, to be left so uncertain of whether God really was

or whether God was only something inside his own head? As he wandered, Kane met many people who had never talked to God and who seemed unsure if God existed, and he thought how things had changed since he was a boy. after 700 years when he told his story to himself or heard it told by others he felt nothing he was too old to feel guilt or remorse or anything he didn't even miss his brother anymore he wanted nothing from god he wanted nothing from the world the world was what it was and he didn't need it to change and in this way he'd finally gotten his wish to be just like able and then god let him die Thanks Put on my old Thank you

Put on my old fall coat While listening to fist up by the blood by the blood Grandma to go I can't I can't forget my scar The willows I've a chat with the breeze

The grass sway Sways in time to the beat The birds and I all sing along Shal la la la la The sun peaks out to play We all welcome her for the time for the day. Oh, the sun peaks out to play.

The optional lengtheners stay. You said all I need is this right now. I got the, when I'm about, got the sun's standing tall. All I need is this right now. I said all I need is this right now. I said all I need is this right. is this right now. I got that when I'm about, got the sun's standing tall.

All I need is this right now. You said all I need is this right now. All I need is this right now. All I need is this right now. I said all I need is this right now all I need is this right now all I need is this right now all I need is this right now all I need is this right now all I need is this right now all I need is this right now all I need is this right now all I need is this right now all I need is this right now all I need is this right now all I need is this right now all I need is this right now all I need is this right now all I is this right now? Say, all I need is this right, now all I need is this right, now all I need is this right now. All I need is this right now.

Thank you. wonderful music tonight and thank you all so much for coming out on wiretap today you heard you heard jonathan goldstein reading the story of Cain and Abel from his book, Ladies and Gentlemen, The Bible. Today's Wiretap was recorded in Vancouver's Studio 40, with a live performance by Hannah Georges, with Robbie Driscoll and Laura Smith. Special thanks to recording engineer Gary Morgan and to Bruce Durek, Denton Booth, and Anne Penman. Wiretap is produced by Jonathan Goldstein with Mira Bertwintanick and Crystal Duhame.

For more CBC Podcasts, I know I try. For more CBC podcasts, go to CBC.ca.