Fiction

Lucky Strike

The Best of Babylon’s final tour stop, the coup de gras, takes the international travel group to the ruins of Etemenanki, an ancient ziggurat built of myth, or fact, depending on who you asked.

The tower; however, had little to do with what happened to Mrs Petra Goldberg that day, at least not as far as authorities could prove or disprove, also depending on who you talked to.

The Tower of Babel, reputed by Christians to be the ultimate landmark to man’s hubris, was the historically ambiguous site of a throw down between God Himself and his creation following The Great Flood. In an attempt to reach the Almighty and demonstrate equal prowess in matters of autonomy, man, directed by a self-appointed god, built a grandiose tower intended to reach the gates of Heaven. Perhaps, to barge in during dinner, or to knock politely, who can say?

But, God was having none of it. Thus, the legend goes, He struck the ill-fated tower and its builders with a scathing bolt of supernatural lightning which scattered to the four winds any hope of continued linguistic understanding between the masses. Language, once unified, was splintered into gibberish according to each different tribe, confounding communication and peace, forevermore.

Some believe the Tower of Etemenanki, once 91 meters high and located in the ancient city of…