“The blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb.”

1
The first time
This is a cautionary tale. Intended to warn you away from what I did.
I took too long. That’s what it was. I took too long to speak. Does it matter that I speak now? I’m not sure. Perhaps not. But in the grand scheme of things, which is my favourite of all schemes, I could be worse. This is what I’ll say outside the pearly gates if I ever find myself there. Context, I’ll plead. Context, guys. Anyway, I’m not ready for forgiveness. Suffice to say that it took me almost half a lifetime to unfreeze myself from the perma-frost of silence. So, in essence, I’m only five days old. Like a baby. Like a whining baby, they say. Like a petulant child, they said. And, simultaneously, I’m as old as a cynical soothsayer, I say. As aged as a belligerent militant, I said.
But don’t buy into those adjectives.
