Around 1000 B.C., King David is advanced in years and approaching death. He has brought the tribes of Israel into an amazing unity. As he will no longer be able to rule, a successor needs to be chosen. Who will it be?

As historical fiction Abi is an elaboration of the influence of Abishag -- the beautiful Shunammite woman the Bible says was brought to David to keep him warm.

Herb Dimock mingles intimacy, friendship, and politics in a way that makes this history as real to us as current events -- and as relevant.

A Bible story for anyone facing death or politics, nursing an elder or a hope for world peace, or just willing to let ancient history nurse modern life. Worthy of treatment in a movie.

EXERPT:

He fell back into a silent reverie, and his eyes clung to Abi's, as if to ask, do you really care? She was very eager to hear more and made it clear with her face and her eyes, which she filled with excited questioning, for here she was getting first hand, from the most famous personage in the country, his own experience.

"What was it that happened that day?" she begged.

David warmed to his story, and Abi almost feared that she had called forth too much.

"We were in the cave, far back, hiding, watching the entrance. Saul and his men stopped outside. Saul had to relieve himself. He came into the darkness, faced the entrance and squatted."

Abi's bed-ridden patient, who was supposed to be a sick old man, rose to his knees, threw back the blankets, and began to act-out, like a vital young warrior. She was torn between fascination and terror that she had let loose a wild man who could destroy himself.

"While Saul was there with his privacy, I crept forward and cut off the skirt of his robe with my sword."

He dramatized his action with a comic gleam in his eyes. "When Saul was through, he went outside and up the path with his men a hundred yards. Then I came out of the cave and called to him. 'My lord the King!' He turned to see me, and I said, 'Why do you listen to the men who say, Behold, David seeks your hurt? Lo, the Lord this day gave you into my hands in the cave, and I did not kill you. See, my father, see the skirt of your robe in in my hand!'"

David grabbed up a small pillow from the bed and waved it as he must have waved that skirt, and then fell back onto the bed, exhausted.

$15 U.S.    345 pg pb