The New York Testament

After speaking for nearly a month, Cristo’s persona had sparked the interest of a group of repeat listeners; these were to be of great importance to him in the future. They would affect him both positively and negatively. Their first contacts with him were simply handshakes and utterances that they had been listening to him on occasion. Cristo was flattered; this was his first sign of approval from anyone. It naturally felt very good. But before this story goes any further, it will be necessary to describe the composition of the repeaters. They were a mix of about ten or twelve men and women of about 27 to 29 years old. They were multi-racial, semi-intellectual, quasi-informed, and spiritually directionless. They could have been anyone of the post high school, trade school, or college group you’d find clustering around any street act. Their interest in Cristo was akin go the interest a rich man finds in a poor one, a small girl finds in a dolly, or a small boy finds in a puppy. It was not much more than a delighted curiosity, comforted by totally assured mental superiority which attracted them to Adan and adhered them to one another. This deep down mental superiority the repeaters felt toward Cristo was untrue but it existed in them to destroy their desire for friendship with Adan. They weren’t friends with nuts after all, and besides what condescender would like to acknowledge him or herself the condescendee? There was another important fact to consider when talking about the repeaters. They collectively wrote, edited and distributed one of New York City’s most avant-garde specialty newspapers. It was the envy of every would-be and has-been cutting edge publication around. To be mentioned favorably by the Alley’s Echo was a major step toward becoming in with the in. The editor-in-chief of the newspaper and the mainspring of its intricate and sophisticated movement was a woman named Emelia Donovan. Emelia was the template with which many a man would mold his ideal woman. To describe her appeal is difficult. She was neither pretty nor outwardly sexy; but there was something about her. Her body was neither svelte nor taunt; but it was deftly balanced between just right and luxurious. Her mind was one of a kind. She was the perfect balance of factual knowledge and precision without being cerebral, and at the same time she was artistically inclined without being artsy. Her dark brown hair was full and curly; her dark eyes sparkled like a country lake reflecting a black sky. Everywhere she went she turned the heads of men. Some of them felt intimidated and small next to her easy going depth, while others of lower conscience simply lusted after her like pigs hunger for scraps. Incidentally, it was Emelia who first spotted Cristo on the street corner and found him interesting. It was she who brought the others to see him. In the interest of brevity and ease, we will refer to Emelia and her band as the ‘Echoes’ from now until their path deviates from ours. Before we move on from the description of the Echoes, and Emelia especially, we must note the following. Emelia did not notice Adan out of pure titillation, and the Echoes did not notice Adan out of their own perception but were focused on him through Emelia’s influence. Once Emelia had introduced herself and the Echoes to Cristo, she gained his permission to speak with him in depth about his beliefs and ideas. Emelia was not a religious person and this was because she lacked any religious benefactors while she was being raised. In spite of having no training in religion, she still subscribed to an unwritten code of conscience-guided decency toward all people. Many of the things she heard from Cristo ran in coincidence with her own streams of thought. He believed in goodness, humbleness and forgiveness; he applied these principals in everyday life too. She marveled that a religious person could share the same beliefs in mankind as she; possibly because she believed her thoughts were more progressive. The way these two young people got along together was truly exceptional. In time the thoughts of Adan and Emelia flowed together like two rivers, in that, they were mutually broadened, deepened, and quickened by the other. Day by day her path and Cristo’s merged more. The Echoes were surprised and to be honest a little appalled. How did Emelia not see through this religious nut they wondered? One day she decided to ask Adan permission to write something about him in the Alley’s Echo. He agreed to allow her to write about him and his ideas, for now the exact content is unimportant. The issue was distributed throughout New York but also found its way to places like Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Tokyo, London and Paris. Some subscribers were surprised to see an article about a Black, Spanish street preacher named Adan Cristo in the newspaper. It was a scoop which made the other newspapers green with envy; even though they were leery of the subject of God.