Red Dragon

 

So . . . two D.C. Metro cops, Nguyen and Trent, are sitting at a bar. One says to the other. . .

    "Did you hear that?"  

    “Hear what?” asked Nguyen.

    Trent lowered his voice. “That guy right there, at the bar. He said something about a red dragon. Listen for a minute.”

    Morris Schroeder and Shapur Kabir were having one of their usual discussions. Morris was saying: “Modern minds don’t comprehend the metaphorical truth that is imparted through the use of archaic symbolism. Ancient writers didn’t have the use of cinema, or photography. And they didn’t have the benefit of scientific inquiry. They would use symbols, based on creatures or elements of the natural world, to represent entities in the spiritual world. Anyway, this serpent, or dragon, spews water out of his mouth. It’s a desperate attempt to drown the woman, or extinguish her influence. But then the earth helps the woman, by swallowing up the flood that comes from his mouth. Maybe that flood is rhetoric, because it comes out of the mouth—you know, like the hate message that Hitler spewed out. But the symbolism could be more inclusive than that. At any rate, this pregnant woman is given wings like an eagle, and is taken to the wilderness. I suppose that could be related to the expanding use of aircraft as the 20th century progressed. Or it may be more specific—the Allied powers used air power to overcome the Nazi war machine and afterwards to transplant the woman--Israel-- to Eretz Israel, the land, which is a wilderness. But of course there were people already living there in Palestine, and many of them were displaced with bloodshed, so another cycle of the old grudges were set into motion. It’s a mess, always has been.”

    “Excuse me, sir,” interjected Trent. “I couldn’t help overhearing your fascinating treatise. May I ask what it is you’re talking about?”
    Morris turned toward Trent. “Oh, I’m glad to be of service. I was talking about the flood of anti-Semitism that is metaphorically prophesied in the book of Revelation.”
    “You were saying something about a red dragon?”

excerpt from chapter 23 of my 2007 novel,    Glass half-Full