Frail and shaking, the wrinkled hand reached out for the Book. Looking sideways toward the elderly man sitting in the brown wicker chair beside him, who was gazing across the large field that one could call a backyard, but only in the loosest of senses. His friend didn't like the Book; didn't trust it. "I've never put any stock in fairy tales and I never will! Mark my word, that Book is full of nothing but lies - it's trash!" They fought long and hard over the Book and its origins, but in the end they decided to tiptoe around this ugly spot in their otherwise peaceful retirement and so from then on the Book's title was forgotten and it was simply called the Book.
The old man who held the Book so lovingly in his hands had faced more trials than a man should and less than he deserved, in his opinion. Thomas A. Masters had been friends with Jack Rivvers since they met in Tom's first platoon and had kept each other alive ever since. These days they mostly reminded each other that soon enough they would be laid to rest next to their beautiful wives.
Tom flipped to the middle of the Book, one of his favorite parts, and had barely begun to read when a certain sentence caught his eye. This happened often, the Book was full of words, phrases and paragraphs that would strike a deep chord with old Tom. Excitedly he looked up at Jack again only to see that Jack had turned to him with a raised brow. The suspicious expression on his face was clearly daring Tom to share whatever had so excited him. Looking back at the Book, Tom re-read the sentence and, smiling slightly, he closed the Book and returned it to the small wooden table beside him.
Seeing this Jack relaxed, "Say, Tommy boy, you weren't going to read out of that blasted Book to me again - were you?"
Tom looked towards his companion thoughtfully, "Nah, 'course not - I know good and well how you feel about this Book," he paused collecting his thoughts, "Hey, Jack, did you ever hear about the City on a Hill?" Jack frowned, "The what on the what?" To which Tom replied, "The City on a Hill. It once shined bright and it would be shining still, but they all started turning on each other…"
Jack looked questioningly at Tom who, taking this as a sign of interest, started to tell the tale.
