pillar of salt

pillar of salt

fiction
edward w pritchard

The groups formed and marched toward the old sanatorium.

Ghazi is fierce militarism for God. The men marching were not religious men; they were just silently called to march. Spontaneously chanting, the men all knew that they had been called to march. It would be dangerous to interrupt the men and to confront them was ill advised for there were already ten of thousands of them with more coming every hour.

The marchers were watched, carefully monitored, and they were photographed. Individuals were categorized and listed; and the marching men were ominously news worthy. The men were young, twelve to eighteen, wearing the black shirts, and they were too numerous to count. We in power nervously tried to survey them. Once, at the beginning, we had tried to communicate with them.

The God the men marched for was a vengeful God. Each man when they reached the old Sanatorium opened a pouch or bag they had brought and pored their pile of salt in a large heap, added to what the others had carried. A large glistening heap of salt grew in the middle of the cornfield that was part of the expanse of the grounds of the old Sanatorium.

As the salt pile grew the marching men began to develop a communal purpose. As the men waited around their campfires in small groups; each group slowly become aware of their destiny. Waiting in their tents in gentle rains, the men planned preordained battles and confrontations.