Blackouts

by Justin Torres

Forty and forty is a kind of shorthand, a catchall, for a time of trial and tribulation. The forty days and forty nights of Moses fasting in the desert. Of Moses receiving God’s law on Mount Sinai. Of Jesus, fasting in the desert.” “The flood, too, right? It rained for forty nights and forty days?” “The time span of purification. And in Sodom, too, when Abraham begs God to spare the city, the Lord cuts a deal. He says to Abraham, If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes. But Abraham haggles. Peradventure there shall lack five of the fifty righteous: wilt thou destroy all the city for lack of five? So God goes down to forty-five, but Abraham pushes on: Well, in that case, how about forty? And the Lord agrees he will not destroy the city, for forty’s sake.” “God, Juan, how do you know all this?” “It’s Sodom, darling, worth committing to memory. Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, which am but dust and ashes …