Chapter 10: The Sixth Crazy Night of Hanukkah
Dateline December 26, 2000, C.E.
Adam woke up next to Sally Acorn, his face somehow buried into her chest like a newborn kitten. Sally woke up with a slight yawn and held Adam tightly. Sally said, "Perhaps after this party of yours is over, I?ll hire you to be my plushie or pet." Adam laughed at the thought and said, "No, I am not anyone?s pet and never will be. I will admit your embrace feels good with me not knowing much affection growing up beyond what my parents gave. All this affection and understanding is so foreign to me but I just can?t get enough."
Sally Acorn replied, "No one should ever have to go through what you did or what Tails or Sonic did. If you ever need a listening ear or someone to rub you the right way, I am here."
Adam?s eyes filled with tears for the first time since he was nine and got beat up by mental hospital inmates. Only this time, it wasn?t tears of pain but those of being overjoyed and accepted something he?d never have gotten in his homeworld.
Adam said, "I-I think I will stay in this world if your people have me. You don?t have to stop celebrating your holidays. Just understand that not everyone enjoys the same ones and that due to my trials in the past, this time of year is a constant struggle to not remember what I?d been forced to do. It really is all I ask I will do anything else but those are the only conditions I ask. Also, if I pretend not to like it, I am just a little embarrassed to look like a softie in front of certain others."
Sally nodded, "Your terms are very reasonable and easy to accommodate. I cannot speak for everyone, but if no one else has your back, I do."
Adam was still in tears nodding in understanding. Adam said, "It?s all I ever wanted but never received back home." She hugged him tightly as he cried out releasing a lot of pain he?d since bottled up and frustration.
Rouge the Bat said, "Well, I?ll be, the kitty boy has a soft side eh?" She had snuck into the Palace and overheard the entire conversation. Rouge continued, " I suppose it?d be no fun for me if he was incapable of pain."
Sally was furious and asked, "How could you even think I of royal blood would be doing such unholy things with this c-cat?" Sally said, "The poor guy?s been neglected and ill cared for in life and I was only reminding him not everyone wants to hurt him. Someone here has to be able to look past the bad in him and make him comfortable or else our world will be ruined. I know he still has a good soul in there beneath the pain this talk we had clearly demonstrated that." Sally asked, "or are you as blind to that as your species is to most everything else in the physical realm?"
Adam interrupted them, raising a fist to the air "I see how it is now, you are nice to me because you are scared of me. I should have known better than to let myself feel anything."
Sally yelled, "Adam, you have it all wrong! I want to help you not just to protect the world but because you are so nice to people. I don?t want you to feel that succumbing to the darkness is the only way to live. Even if you may have religious differences with people, it doesn?t mean all will hate you for those differences. I admit I was scared when I first heard your tale, but then when I got to see the kind of person you really were, I was compelled to help you through this! Please don?t undo everything we?ve worked for here."
Adam lowered his fist "You are right it is unreasonable of me to have expected you all to not have your discomforts I mean you are talking to the epitome of death itself as far as your people know. As long as your people do nothing to purposely make my life a mess like it was at home, I have no reason to live the life I ran from again and massacre people. Let?s return to my castle so we can enjoy the 6th night of Hanukkah." Rouge rolled her eyes and followed them back.
That night Rouge the Bat was the lady of the house and lit the candles for the 6th night there being only two candles left unlit. The present of the night is a Yacht Private Jet and RV in one with an emergency spaceship in it. Neko called it a Multi-terrain Air Road Sky Vehicle or M.A.R.S. Vehicle. Rouge is pretty impressed. "Wow, how do you people afford all these fancy things?" she asked.
Adam smiled and said, "Let?s worry about that after our party is done ok?" Classic Sonic still felt a mix of concern and hypocrisy but kept quiet out of respect. Sonic X Sonic was still enjoying everything without a care in the world as were the other contemporaries. That night?s leading entertainment was the Chabad Dancing Rabbis.
Cream tapped Adam?s shoulder and asked: "um Adam, what are those that are dancing?"
Adam replied, "They are the ?Chabad Dancing Rabbis.?"
Cream asked, "Like rabbits?"
Cream said, "They sure don?t look like them."
Adam replied, "No, a Rabbi is the leader of a Shul, Synagogue, or Temple. Those are all places of worship for Jews depending on how strict they are about the observance of the customs of the Jewish people. The Ultra-Orthodox are known for wearing very out of date clothes consistent with 19th-century garbs. This basically means no skin should be shown below the face except maybe hands. The Conservatives and Reformed Jews tend to wear outfits more consistent with the times while still observing most if not all dietary law restrictions. Their method of worship is also different."
Adam continued, "Orthodox Shuls tend not to include music in their services and are all in Hebrew. Conservative services in a synagogue are almost all in Hebrew. If not all and in a Temple, we got the music we got singing dancing and Hebrew and whatever language of the land they are in. Additionally, we have what is called a Cantor during song prayers. The Cantor leads the singing and in some rare cases, we have a person who was trained to be both a Rabbi and a Cantor. Mind you, I never got to go to any such place, but I did ask my dad once and that is what he told me. That?s pretty much all we need to know."
