Who is Elijah? Part 2

This was the first weekend in months I had free time, so I went to New York to visit an old friend which was about a 13 hour drive from Charleston, SC. He lived there with one of our mutual friends who did theater with us in high school. His younger brother who is about 7 years younger than us also lived with them. His name was Alijah. Even though none of them had read my script it was as if what I had typed came to life through them.

In my script I wrote a scene where Adelina, the main character, goes to a diner one morning looking for food to calm a hangover. There she meets the waiter Elijah, they are interrupted when she runs into some old friends from high school. Elijah’s character is reclusive, of little words and rarely joins for nights out. In the script the friends even talk about how the character Elijah rarely goes out with them. One day in Harlem while all of my friends were at work, I spent the day with Alijah watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer and working on designing this website. I didn’t know Alijah very well but we walked to the corner store together and smoked and I found myself feeling so calm, centered and in tune with myself afterwards.

Before my friends moved to New York, the stray cat I had adopted in Kansas, Magic, had kittens. One of the kittens from the litter, Ash, now lives with them in their apartment in Harlem. Magic has since then passed. Although Ash can be territorial and aggressive, Alijah knows how to interact with him and pay attention to his signals. He seemed to bring out a whole different side of Ash. Watching Elijah interacting with him and respecting his boundaries brought so much joy to my heart knowing he was well taken care of. Spending time with Alijah literally fed my soul and I don’t think he even realizes it. I could see the same effect he had on the people and the animals around him, even Ash. I don’t think his name is by coincidence Elijah and Alijah. It was as if the script coming through me was being played out in real time just so I could experience the world I am bringing to life, just so it could breathe or just so it could reveal something to me much deeper?