Abraham-men

It's weird. After Arnold disappeared, I didn't feel the need to write anything, to explain what happened at all. But now that I'm back in a group, back doing something other than nothing, I feel this need to write.

Peri tried to tell me this was something called 'the Compulsion,' but I don't know. Maybe it's just human nature -- we seek out others to tell our stories. I thought my story ended with Ahab- sorry, Arnold, but now it's begun again.

So Peri showed me this blog and I immediately asked why it was called "Abraham's Men."

"It's just something Tom called us," Peri said. "I don't know what it means."

"I do," I said. "Back in Tudor England, there were these beggars and vagabonds who pretended be from the Abraham ward of Bethlehem hospital. They did it to gain sympathy, I think. They were called Abraham-men or Abram-men. In fact, there was a character in King Lear who called himself an Abraham-man. Although, really, he went by a different pseudonym, too."

"And what was that?" Peri asked.

"Tom O'Bedlam," I said.