Chapter 2

“ You were too, at that age, Deborah. “ Mary said equitably, in their shared camaraderie as women who had their own children. But her oldest daughter continued to frown and twisted her work shawl into a knot behind her shoulders. Zaavan ben Jehoiarib traveled the caravan routes between his vast holdings in Egypt to the cities of the Decapolis, even Damascus and far flung Sidon and Tyre on the Coast for seven months out of the year, leaving his home and family in Deborah’s capable hands. Asking only an accounting when he returned once a year. In addition to raising three small children, she owned two vineyards and kept half-a-dozen sheep and goats in a flock and she still managed to stay intimately involved as one of the leading women of the charitable Tzedakah Committee under rabbi Obadiah’s watchful care at home in Nazareth.

Deborah was the one he fell back on to run and organize the yearly drive for the “Maot Hittin”... The collections before Passover to supply the need with flour for unleavened bread. One of the most binding taxes in the community but also the most difficult to achieve diplomatically. He depended on her. That spoke so highly of her, and yet she doubted herself at every turn. This intimidating and busy lifestyle Deborah handled in her husband’s long absences with a soft voice and easy grace but it branded a permanent scowl line between her brows and it had stolen the lilting laughter that made her such a welcomed presence as a child despite her too vivid beauty. She couldn’t help but notice that Deborah was stiff with resentment. And she wasn’t sure why. The child’s presence?

Deborah responded, attempting to refute her mother’s attempt to usurp her hard won independence. As one of the chief designers for the modest wedding the last thing she expected was to be doing was bending over to sort the overripe fruit herself!

“ No, you’re right, Borah’. “ Mary agreed, patting her youngest daughter’s cheek as Ahava danced up, as agile as a desert gazelle; pleased to see the color and the confidence returned to the pretty child.

“ Each of my children is unique in his or her own way, just as your three daughters are, Dear Heart. “

Deborah listened sharply to see if her mother was mocking her? She knew her own faults, that she could hold a grudge for years, and she was never as willingly obedient as this rosy-cheeked darling of five overly indulgent brothers, unless she wanted her own way badly enough and that was the only way to achieve it. But that didn’t give her the family the right to use her easy-going nature!

The whirl of wings across the fallow pasture lands startled them all Mattatha leaped to her feet, ready to flee the attack of the zealots she’d feared since she saw her young Dod Simon arguing with the heavyset man with the scarred face just before they left Nazareth. Waiting long enough to see that no real harm would come of the momentary disturbance in the dark, Deborah had to force her two, frightened daughters to return to their sleeping mats where she could stand guard over them as the daylight grew brighter.

“ I’ll take these to the shed. “ She said primly, shouldering the sack of choice fruit.

Ahava bent in half to muffle her explosive laughter at the joy of being alive. If the willowy matron heard, she would assume she was being mocked and would pout throughout the remainder of the wedding. It was such a joy to be alive, at this time and this place! She whirled happily in place, too full of emotions to stand still. She heard the warm, familiar voice with a shock of recognition. Her heart almost leaping out of her ribcage with excitement. She looked over to her mother as Mary straightened with difficulty. Could it be? Her brother Jesus had been so adamant, so stern, so…quiet. She watched her mother’s face for a clue in understanding this new role she was now capable of reproducing. Her joy turned to ashes in her mouth. What if he was still angry with her, the way Deborah maintained her ire? Soon she would no longer be under her mother’s control. Was she ready? No! She stiffened, the pomegranates in her tunic spilling out haphazardly to the straw and the chaff on the ground. She sought confirmation from her mother’s face as lanterns highlighted five men in travel stained garments. Last minute arrivals for the wedding procession.

“ Jesus! “ Mary cried out in disbelief. Her eyes widened, aglow with pleasure. Clutching at the neck fold of her work tunic as if to hold herself upright. Her face softening as she reached to accept her youngest daughter’s arm for support. Ahava’s half-step kicked one of the hardened fruits against her mother’s shin, Mary’s lips parted in a smile before her daughter could apologize for the obvious accident.

“ Son! “ The word, part sigh, torn from Mary’s self control sounded like a benediction.

“ Ima! “ Jesus called joyfully. Half-running to meet her, he caught Mary in his arms and swung her in a circle several inches off the ground as they kissed and talked over each other. Ahava pulled back at the sight of the four strangers in rough clothing watching mother and son in obvious pleasure but manly embarrassment at such public displays of emotion. Sleepy eyed people began to stir with first light; gathering at purpled doorways like bunches of ripened dates, visible in clusters, whispering and nodding heads in agreement or disbelief between themselves.

Ahava gazed at the two men in frank admiration as Jesus and his twenty-eight year old cousin Jude Thaddeus embraced next. Similar in temperament, and the eldest son of sisters, Jesus was closer to his cousin than to his own half-brothers, who defined themselves in terms of their relationship to him, since their father Joseph’s shocking death. Jesus turned excitedly to introduce his younger cousin to his new followers.

Deborah’s voice spoke sharply from the emptiness behind her, causing the strong willed young girl to turn in defense of her meek older brother.

Her older sister’s voice was unrecognizable with anger, shocking Ahava into humbled silence. The morning air filled with the joy of sudden bird song as the day fully arrived. Snatching up her toddler from her nursemaid’s arms, Deborah forced her other two daughters to their feet, racing them toward the nearest building. Fourteen-month-old Rizpad screamed in terror, reaching over her mother’s shoulder for the comfort of her nursemaid as the heavyset woman ran behind, unable to keep up. Mattatha kept trying to turn around and look back, like Lot’s wife, recognizing her eldest uncle’s voice in the midst of the laughing men. But Deborah kept her free hand on her eldest daughter’s arm, pushing nine-year-old Naomi directly in front of her.

Mattatha’s startled gaze touched Ahava, demanding an explanation that wasn’t hers to give. She and Mary were standing by the new arrivals, oblivious to the terror chasing the frightened woman. The rapidly moving shadow was like one of the fierce, manned beasts that wandered the wilderness at will. But it was illogical to be seeing a lion! As her mind struggled to understand the strong illusion she stepped forward to distract the fierce beast and give her family time to escape. The creature seemed to hesitate then stopped and looked in her direction with a harsh glance that set her heart to trembling. Then it disappeared as quickly as it began.

As Ahava watched in her older sister’s direction, Mary saw the young girl’s eyes fill with sadness. She reached out and touched the back of her youngest child’s hand, startling her violently. Ahava turned immediately, thinking that her mother needed her assistance, in a newly awakened awareness of how her busy and uncomplainingly active mother was aging in secret. But as she turned and looked at the kind and questioning face so near hers, she felt a wall slam between them.

She took a step back instinctively, grateful that her mother was willing to allow her the separation. How could she explain the illusion without offending her sister when Mary told Deborah about it later, or Joses, suddenly so angry, heard that she was having ‘visions’ when he was already so deeply annoyed at their elder half-brother’s mental state. It would only make things more difficult for her, since she had to remain, unlike Simon or Judas who would leave to have their own families in a few short years. As deeply as she loved her mother, she felt the loss of her father so strongly in that single instant that she staggered back under the physical weight of the blow. She couldn’t even be sure that Joseph would have understood, for all of his tolerance of her gender inspired ‘foolishness’. Certainly she couldn’t explain how real the illusion appeared!

Then Mary looked away, watching in silence as the willowy matron guarded the doorway, as if from real danger. As her son’s friends gathered around the laughing men in shy regard, Mary fought the urge to leave her other children and seek out her eldest daughter. There had to be some explanation for Deborah’s strange behavior. She was usually so rotted, so grounded!

“ I’ll be right back, Child. “ She said uncertainly, leaving the shy thirteen- year-old alone with the men gathered around her oldest brother Jesus and the Roman centurion pledged to marry Job’s only daughter, Keren-happuch. Her mother’s tone seemed to suggest the distancing Ahava herself had felt at the arrival of sunlight on the festooned farm. Joshua told them as soon as they arrived at Job’s farm that he’d seen Jesus and invited his new friends as well to participate in tomorrow morning’s ceremony, but as clearly as they held her lovely and gentle brother in high esteem, they were still strangers to her and rather rough in their manners. Yet Mary’s tone had forbid her to follow and she wasn’t old enough to have to have a specific duty with which to retire gracefully. She should leave, but the sound of so many friendly and happy voices was a pull she couldn’t deny. Standing in place, she longed for the old smiles and the freedom before the unexpected start of her women’s flow set her apart in this strange place of neither child nor adult! She secretly feared the added responsibility of caring for a marriage-aged girl had been the final wedge that pushed him away from their home in Nazareth!

Seeing her eldest brother standing in the midst of grown men who thought him all that the ancient prophecies foretold, she began to wonder at the answers Dod Av’ri gave to Simon and Judas to still their tentative questioning about the possibility of their older brother being the long awaited Messiah as their parents believed, since he had been born in Bethlehem as the prophet Micah described [2]. Though he wasn’t related to them by blood, they called old scribe ‘Dod’ ‘Uncle’, because he had joined her mother and father in Bethlehem, with an oath to remain by her eldest half-brother until Jesus took his rightful throne in Jerusalem. Until eight weeks ago that had always been somewhere in the future. Then Jesus cleaned and sharpened the carpentry tools for the last time and gave the key to the seldom locked door to James, their father’s eldest son, and he left them to begin the journey promised by the angels at his birth nearly thirty years ago.

Though he married and raised a family, along with his ‘baby sister’ while he worked at her father’s side, Hilkiah took a keen interest in Mary’s younger sons after Joseph’s death. Taking her brother Joses aside to explore the depth of small words and phrases beyond Othoniel’s labored teaching, to where his feet would hardly touch the ground in his excitement as he tried to convey to his mother and sister some esoteric passages that the old scholar had opened to his questing mind. Seventeen-year-old Simon was too impatient to sit around and listen and ten year old Judas would only incur his middle brother’s wrath by questioning anything the kindly old scribe had taught, but as long as they lingered she could hear and learn the forbidden lessons she ached to know.

With the presence of Masrekah the matchmaker so near, the young virgin found her thoughts twisting in tortuous avenues she’d never bothered to explore before, and anything about men, other than her five brothers, or Noah, Dod Hilkiah’s son was uncharted waters that held a sudden fascination for her. Precisely because it was such an unknown, Ahava thought with a smile. If her brother did become king and they lived in the castle in Jerusalem, would Jesus allow her to be taught in private? As long as no one else knew? She ached with a physical passion to know even the simple chants and verses they threw around in careless disinterest because it wasn’t forbidden to them by their gender. She noticed one of the guests which Job ben Shelomith had invited was watching in their direction with the same look of questioning she felt in her own spirit and it made her heart skip a beat as she realized Jesus’ thoughts about himself would no longer be the property of their family and friends in Nazareth. He was publicly announcing what had only been said in whispers for the whole of her life, such as it was. It was obvious that he knew the new arrivals with her brother and just as obvious that he was deeply embarrassed by seeing them here.

The man was said to be a Jew, although even without his military uniform he was every inch a Roman soldier. Unlike the foreshortened man he was speaking too, Job’s son Sihon, his upper and lower body were in Grecian proportions but marred by the dips of wasted muscle from many encounters with fierce barbarians in the far north and west, the lines of scars, both healed and new from swords and whips. The difficulties of his life were etched against his body and yet his face had a gentleness that startled her. She looked away quickly, remembering Job’s greeting yesterday when he drew her near to him, apart from her mother’s protective shadow, and kissed her cheek, praising the girlish innocence and purity that were clearly of great important to him at his advanced age. What would he think of her if he knew a strange man had captured her thoughts even for this few minutes?

She noticed the eldest and clearly the natural leader of the small group walk over to the beardless man, offering to greet him in the familiar manner of causal acquaintances as one gives to polite strangers to show they have nothing to fear from your hands, or your intentions

“ I certainly didn’t expect to see you again, Centurion. “ He said in a hearty but confrontational tone.

The handsome, middle-aged soldier blushed so violently that the roots of his hair seemed to pale in comparison. He answered sufficiently to avoid being disrespectful, but he made no attempt to hold the men near as they saw friends emerging in the golden light of the rapidly rising sunlight. And she wondered anew at the differences between him and the lovely but sickly woman he had agreed to marry. She was almost glad that her brother and mother would be choosing for her, because she couldn’t see that Deborah’s friend was any happier in her choice than her older sister was once Deborah forced her parents to accept her choice of husbands, and life was simply too short to be yoked with someone you had to fear didn’t even like you, even if they were too polite to make a point of it! Then knowing that Mary would share Masrekah the matchmaker’s choices with her this afternoon, they seemed little reason to dwell on speculation, and she tossed the sharpened concern over her shoulder, giggling with the delight of being young and being alive as she raced toward the short statured woman from the Decapolis who had become such a dear friend in such a short time. One never had to guess if Peinnah liked you, her face broke into broad happy smiles, and her hand, smaller than the tall girl’s would reach out for her, to comfort and soothe her in this difficult transition toward womanhood now that she’d begun to have her woman’s flow.

Hilkiah and his son Noah had left with Jesus to seek out Cousin John at Aenon near Salim, but none of them expected them to be good for almost two months! Little Jerusha came back with their toddler, obviously missing him, but she was a shy and quiet soul by nature. Hilkiah watched the faces of the sleepy women as they approached, feeling his heart fly into his throat at the sight of his wife and his beloved sister. As he held Judith close to him and spoke of his love in low tones, wishing it were dark again, her smile increased and became dreamy. At the same instant he was hit in the small of the back by a fast moving object, and seeing the look of patient rebuke on Judith’s face he knew instantly that it was one of Mary’s two younger children! He sidestepped the happy clinging of arms demanding to be lifted up, then bent over to hug the excited girl hello, a little perplexed that he didn’t have to bend as far forward as he remembered. Did Mara or Noah grow so fast? Or was it only the last two who seemed in the greatest haste to grow up and flee the empty nest?

“ Dod! Dod! You missed my birthday on the twelfth! I’m not a little girl any more, I’m thirteen now you see! “

Ahava spoke with such pride, a truth self evident that he didn’t have the heart to rebuke her for her happy, careless greeting.

“ Didn’t you received your gift from your Dode [3] Judith? “ He pretended an exaggerated surprise, putting his fingers over the ‘o’ made by his mouth, so that both the woman and the girl laughed at him, as he intended.

“ Two gifts? You’ll spoil the child! “ Judith said primly as soon as the happy girl spun out of earshot.

“ It’s only a clip to hold back her hair, Judith. Just as I made for Mara and Salome` when they turned thirteen and began to care about such things. Besides, she’s the essence and the best of Joseph’s soul, my heart. How could we spoil her? She doubtless gave the first present to another who had none? Am I right? “

“ That was Mary’s child! You were just claiming to be speaking of Joseph’s child! “ She said in mild rebuke, from habit rather than from need. Linking her arms companionably in his, she laid her cheek against his shoulder, being forced to acknowledge her weariness and age in a soft sight that lead him to move his arm long enough to support her as they sought out an unoccupied stump, where his lap betrayed none of the unevenness of the dead tree where upon he sat to offer her comfort.

“ I am, now that I have you in my arms. “ He teased and by the sudden look of doubt and her withdrawal he knew he’d made a mistake. It was so seldom that she reached out of herself like that since the children were grown. Seizing her hand and kissing it gently, he brought her eyes back to his face where he could see into them again, to the depths of her soul, usually so guarded.

“ Tonight, if you aren’t too tired. I would love to confess all that I have seen and wonder at, as I do the good fortune that became mine when the Holy One, Blessed Be His Name, gave such a wondrous gift as you to a simple shepherd boy, My heart. “

She started to shut him out but seeing herself with his eyes, the way her hair had thinned and grayed, and her hands lost the plumpness of youth, she was too afraid to push him away too far.

“ Let it be as you say, adonai. “ She said with appropriate modesty, but unexpectedly she leaned forward and kissed him full on the mouth, lingering and hungry. As she pulled back he trembled, wishing they could have had a few more hours together in such rare vulnerability to one another’s needs.

“ Mary? “ Ahava heard her call in an unusually light and carefree tone. “ My husband is returned. “

“ I can see that! “ Mary agreed. “ I’m so pleased to have him home safely for both your sakes. “ She agreed, reaching out and giving her friend’s hands a quick press of acknowledgement. It cut Hilkiah to see how much Judith worried after him without ever telling him!

“ You and Deborah have everything well in hand for tomorrow’s wedding, don’t you? “ Judith tried to keep the sound of pleading out of her voice, but she missed her old man so much not knowing exactly when he would return.

“ I’ll send Beloved to get you, should the need arise. But only then. “ Mary promised wistfully. “ I know how it feels to miss someone so much and have them return. “

‘ Will I ever know to love someone half so well, great One? ‘ Ahava questioned the Heavenlies, never expecting a reply; nor waiting for one should it even have arrived.

The sound of labored breathing was the shy girl’s only warning of the stealthy approach of Masrekah the matchmaker. As the old shadkhan neared, leaned heavily against her walking stick. She strove to take all emotion from her face. As an experienced matchmaker, Masrekah prided herself on ‘knowing’ all of her clients, no matter how obscure. Even those of thirty years ago when she was a relative newcomer to this invaluable service. Ahava hadn’t noticed her mother’s return until the old matchmaker spoke to Mary in a tone reserved for old and dear friends you’ve learned to trust and to depend upon through trials. She whirled, shocked to see her mother, red cheeked and slightly out of breath. Instinctively she glanced over her shoulder at the packing shed but the doorway was empty. It hardly seemed time to have walked over there and back, unless she’d been daydreaming again the way Joses and Deborah accused her of doing! Her cheeks flamed scarlet while the older women made a show of not noticing, wrongly assuming they knew the reason for her blush.

“ My delight and my glory goes to the Most High, Mary, that your eldest son made it here safely. He always was my favorite. Even if he won’t unbend and use my service. How is a poor old widow like myself suppose to make a living if the young people today are so selfish? “

Ahava smiled as deeply as her mother at the gentle self-mockery in the old woman’s tone. As if you couldn’t look at her nice clothes, however travel stained, or the light coat of her donkey, lead by her niece Anna and not guess the truth of her prudent investments in all the years since her husband’s early and untimely death.

“ Shalom Aleikhem, Masrekah! Peace be on you and those of your house. “ Mary answered in deep joy, belatedly wiping the tears from her face before reaching out both hands to accept the outreached palms of the older woman. Looking at the empty doorway to the farm shed she promised herself to go as soon as she could without giving offense to her old friend. She stepped aside to allow her mother to include the bent old woman into their private circle at the edge of the men’s animated conversation.

‘ You have nothing to fear from her. ‘ She tried to reassure herself, seeing the genuine pleasure the two women took in each other’s company. But the old matchmaker held so much of her life in her hands. How could she not be a little afraid?

She was caught off guard by the unexpected measure of resentment at the way Deborah fled, as if their beloved brother was something unclean. There was so much changed about her sister that she hardly knew her any longer.

“ So… Our little flower has started to pollinate. There are no busy bees near the honey tree that I should be aware of, I trust? “

She didn’t realize she was the topic of their strange conversation in the early morning chill until she chanced to see the speculative look in the old woman’s eyes.

“ Not with five brothers and three cousins who’d be delighted to pull out their stinger if they tried! “ She answered tartly for herself.

Her mother blushed at her rude statement but Masrekah just laughed out loud, briefly catching the young men’s attention.

She said graciously, wiping away the tears of joy from her wrinkled cheeks. Her hand placing its chill authority on her flesh so that the shy ten-year old was obliged to obey.

“ No, Jesus! You’ll get your fingers stained! “ She said helplessly. Would he never learn to pay attention to what other people said behind his back? His large, calloused hand reached out and touched her cheek. Her eyes filled with tears at the unspeakable love in her oldest child’s face. The oldest man of his new group of companions, bearded fisherman named Simon spoke up, apparently glad for something more to do than just standing around.

“ With all of us helping it will take but a minute. What is it that we’re looking for, Old mother? “

Before Ahava and the slow moving old woman could reach the wooden bench set beside the doorway, the men had the juice bearing fruit separated from the animal fodder and the boxes of each were on their way to the storeroom being used as a kitchen for the poor couple about to marry. She would have liked to be alone to think through these new feelings and truths on her own terms, yet if she had to be beside someone, she couldn’t think of a better companion than the tired old woman. She had the same gifted silences Joseph used to wrap around himself when he’d wake her and Judas in the middle of the night and take them up to the roof to watch the stars.

Masrekah sat down with a small laugh, to honor having reached the dew-covered bench without being run over by one of the laughing men or the harried servants of Seraiah ben Baanch, the professional marriage planner donating his services to the groom as a wedding gift; to hide his unseemly dedication to the lovely and gracious Bernice bat Yitzhak.

It took Ahava a moment to listen closely when there was so much physical activity going on around her. She was waiting for an appropriate moment to escape but the old matchmaker seemed aware of this; she began speaking, assuming she was at the center of the young girl’s thoughts. What girl her age wasn’t anxious about her future husband and life?

“ I know this about you because I have known your mother from the first time she breathed in the heady air of our worldly sphere. “

Ahava found her interest drawn to the uncomfortable old woman against her will. Her mother’s married sisters, Miriam Salome` and Miriam Jacoba, no longer lived in Nazareth, but Ahava had grown up hearing stories about them to such an extent she felt as if she knew them. But this woman really did remember them! Excluding the annual pilgrimages to Jerusalem which she was sometimes now allowed to attend, this was her first trip further than the marketplace or the synagogue for purely personal reasons! She knew from her late night talks with her father on the roof while the other slept and from the rare times in the past when Zaavan still visited Nazareth that fewer priests lived her than in past times as age steadily reduced their number. Living so circumspectly within their own community she’d frankly been shocked by the number of soldiers of mighty Rome she’d seen in the streets.

The old matchmaker might be the key to getting many of her more pressing questions answered, without being mocked by James or Joses for her gender and unseemly interest in things beyond her sphere. Her father had welcomed such questions, teaching her the intricacies of mathematics in the measuring of woods and distances, a smattering of common Greek words, and even the path of the nighttime stars as they changed from season to season. Nevertheless she’d been awed by the number of tongues she heard spoken in the streets beyond the water cistern, the clothing and goods and customers in the shops. Nazareth was a major crossroads between the road to the sea and the main trade rout north. But knowing this with her head hadn’t prepared her for the reality. Roman soldiers seemed to outnumbered those brave enough to remain in the crowded store fronts as they joined their friends, their family and neighbors for the first of three annual trips required of all able-bodied Jewish men. For those unable to make the trip, or those ritually unclean during Abib, there was a secondary Passover celebration Pesah Shemi allowed in their homes a month later on the 14^th of Iyar.

‘ Imagine what the old matchmaker must have seen in sixty years of travel throughout Galilee and occasionally Judea itself? ‘ She asked herself in awe, trying to keep her thoughts from reflecting on her foolishly; even in her own eyes. It annoyed James so when she did it! She silently reflected on the number of farms and the large number of people working to prepare the fields she’d glimpsed on the half-day walk here. The beauty and number of sleeping vineyards and the massive orchards of pomegranate and olive trees had taken her breath away Seeing the new growth of Flax reeds in the marshy areas beside the streams made the thought of weaving the beaten fibers into an other worldly experience. The harsh sounds of Latin clashing verbally with the charismatic dialects of every day Greek with its specific and descriptive prose, to the merchants hiss of Aramaic where you could bury a man in a thousand strands of apparent praise. Thanks to helping her sister sell the sheep’s wool and the woven goods Deborah took pains in teaching her to create, Ahava already had a good sense for the ethical and less-than-ethical business practices of merchants, irregardless of nationality, tested on unwary buyers and sellers!

She knew from Zaavan ben Jehoiarib’s lengthy and tiresome speeches that they lived in the better half of the divided kingdom. For Galilee, he proudly boasted was a cultural crossroads because of the astonishing abundance of the crops it produced, From her future home, the world would be coming to her and her children! They fed not only this part of Israel but also Judea and a large part of the rest of the world, north and south. And had done so from the early years of conquest by King David. The Romans and the Herodians kept their abundance in granaries old in King Solomon’s time None of his talk had prepared her for the high mountain peaks, the broad valleys they passed. Or it’s vast date palm, fig and orchard of hard-shell nut tress. Keeping one great mountain range ever before them, larger than her imagination as she stood on the edge of the hill that defined their city. But if she tried saying all the things racing through her head she feared she’d only annoy the bent old woman, who surely had her own reasons for wanting to get them apart now that she was a potential client.

“ Child, I’d like to speak to you about Shahsak ben Meshelemiah youngest… boy… “ She stopped short, clutching at Ahava’s arm as the pain began at the base of her spine and stiffened the back of her neck and arm with incredible intensity,

A warm, male presence unexpected stood beside them, then crouched down beside her,

“ Mother, will you allow me to help you? “ Jesus asked kindly, taking the woman’s lax hand,

“ You won’t me let me help you at what I do. “ Masrekah teased though the increasing pain, but at his smile, she relented in her fear and nodded, releasing herself to the cold and the pain overwhelming her stubborn resistance to dying.

A warmth began to build from the place where his calloused palm pressed against hers. Then it spread and radiated out to her extremities, causing warmth and a tingle where her feet had been deadened for the last several months. She breathed in and out cautiously, but no pain tore at her,

“ Ima was asking for you, Beloved. I think Masrekah needs to rest. May I take her to rest somewhere while you go see what Mother needs? “

“ If you’d be so kind, Jesus? “ She said quickly, glad for the means of escape.

She returned the smile till she thought her heart would burst from pride. She’d been half-afraid that he was still angry at her, after the last argument he and Mary had, before James forced them all to rejoin the main group of pilgrims returning to Nazareth from the festival in Jerusalem, had been about the unexpectedly early need for a suitable husband now that she’d begun her woman’s flow.

“ I know. “ She agreed airily, missing the look that passed between the older man and woman, trying to hide her delight in his rare praise.

Masrekah whispered as Jesus helped her to her feet. Oddly she seemed to have more strength and more mobility that she had come up with this morning, so stiff from the long donkey ride from Naim.

“ As are you, Masrekah. “ He replied, speaking her name with such intimacy and love that she risked looking at him.

She whispered in awe. It was more than the part she played in his mother and father’s legal espousal, or her seeing him get his first haircut after he was weaned at three, or even the time she glimpsed him growing up among the other boys in Nazareth when her job as a matchmaker lead her back to that rebellious, largely Gentile town. It was suddenly so much more!

“ Yes, you do, Dear Heart. You always have. My Father in heaven chose to reveal it in answer to your prayers, and those of your husband. “

Masrekah had to fight for breath, but it wasn’t a struggle against pain but overwhelming joy as it flooded through her.

Ahava checked on the old woman as they waited out the remainder of the long afternoon, then she laid down beside her mother to sleep, wishing that it was already daylight Friday; she was sound asleep just as Mary and Masrekah began to talk in private about her oldest brother. She went to sleep with a smile. Of all her brothers, she loved Jesus best. Largely because he was the least bossy, the one most likely to stop and listen to childish patter, where from her or fourteen-month old Rizpad, his sister’s baby girl. But he couldn’t take the place of her father; she still missed Joseph, heart and soul.

This night pointed her excitedly toward the near future when she would be a bride and wife. And for the moment, the past gave way to the promised future of hope and joy.

At the point where the night sky went from charcoal black to a muted lack of color, a male intruder looked across the sleeping women under the Olive tree dominating the south view of Job ben Shelmiah’s rental property. Though normally calm, he found himself rude with impatience for their gender and angry at their low status as country folk. In Egypt he would have scorned such as these for house servants, and now he was moving among them like one even less than they, simply to comply with his beloved mistress’ request, as much as he loathed her decision to uproot them. Abiasaph the eunuch shook with distaste and resentment but the action only caused the cold, dark air to whirl under his warm cloak, with the bitterly hated Judean cold. There was no hope left of returning to Egypt. Leaving his mistress Bithynia bat Adbeel was simply unthinkable, even after the old master’s suspicious death in Memphis. That she had allowed the FOOL to ride out on her camels and appropriate her goods, even though she would take them back in her own good time and add his as he had thought to steal hers, was so unmanly that he raged all the deeper because he had no one else in the caravan to share his concern. Only the best seventy-two servants had been brought with them, the Fool had sold the others, but to the buyers of the mistress’ choosing, not his; as he was falsely allowed to believe. Her care for those who served her faithfully was genuine, and so was the quickness of her wrath if one of them betrayed her to a victim who would die any way. Having little contact with other women since his castration and sale to the Master at the age of eight, he was quick-witted and sly enough to know that Bithynia had the intelligence and drive of a man, and a hidden skill with a man’s body that made good sense ooze out with their life’s force!

“ ‘ Why struggle against that which is beyond your control? ‘ “ The old master had said to him, just three years after the perfumed slave girl became his legal and only wife. Yet she’d made him happy for another eighteen years and increased his fortunes till he died, conveniently, a rich and sated old man. The way he planned to do, if he could keep her from killing him for the sheer pleasure of it.

Since the old master wasn’t angry that neither of the two sons born in Egypt nor the child soon to be delivered were his own dried-up seed, it didn’t seem to him that the old man’s timely death came from his jealousy or age at the younger man who managed his vast fortune. He’d lost interest in that as well. It was more that she trusted him so much she killed him rather than risk at some point he might betray her, and this way he never could. Because he loved and trusted her so much, he thought to protect to protect himself against her vast knowledge of occult and Eastern means of death. He had, at one point, considered saving the old man’s life, for he was genuinely fond of Jesharelah. In all of the Jewish Community in Egypt, there was none more generous or observant than the old merchant. He would be sorely missed. But there was too high a risk that he would need the antidote himself.

The heavy set man moved between the ancient Olive trees staring at the damp lumps of female pulchritude, growing angrier by the moment. He resented the Fool playing the part of his ‘master’ to begin with, and now he’d bid him to come, like some lowly servant, to search out the country lump that was his largely ignored wife from any number of snoring mounds sleeping under the old grove. They were scarcely fit for the human sacrifice his people used to appease the nature gods in standing groves of trees like this! The dust on his leaves and the oil smell of last year’s rotten olives on the ground made him want to retch, to vent his rage. Like a butcher sorting through a bad lot for the least objectionable cow to slaughter, he searched for the woman the Fool had described. He longed to kick them simply to hear them squeal and jump away but he controlled himself with an effort and simply called as loudly as his voice would allow.

“ Deborah bat Joses! Which one of you is Deborah, the eldest daughter of Joses the carpenter, of Nazareth? “

He had the small pleasure of their jumps and screams but by now he simply wanted to take her back to her husband. Surely she was as gross and uninteresting as the lout she’d thrown three girl children by!

“ I am. “ A voice thick with sleep replied, but the sound of it stopped him in his tracks. He looked around in shock to see a woman standing up by herself. She had been a beauty in her youth, with clear skin and large, warm eyes, like a desert gazelle, and just as obviously she’d replaced the faded physical beauty with wisdom and cunning.

Her voice sounded like the Queen of the Nile, and even witty and unapproachable Cleopatra, with her extended front teeth and coarse, if abundant hair would have envied this delicate Galilean her Scarlet Lilly’s coloration! His breath caught in his throat as she approached, acting as if there were flat stones only between them. The sway of her hips as natural as a rutting deer. If the mistress hadn’t kept the Fool’s eyes busy with her own beauty, he would have found this woman a fit and able mate.

‘What’s done can’t be undone. ‘ He thought sourly, and explaining his purpose in rousing her, he waited impatiently for her to waken her sleeping salve girl, who had slept apart in the damp earth between the broad grave vines below the orchard. This queenliness was one thing the mistress lacked. Either Bithynia would have to murder her as a superior rival, not to be tolerated, or mate wits with her in an unholy alliance of power. For a moment he wished he hadn’t grown bored with the old gods. He could use a powerful super-natural force beyond a mere woman’s allure at this moment.

“ Lead on. “ Deborah urged, almost sounding bored, although her eyes sparkled.

By the growing light of true dawn, he led them forward, paying no attention to the long-legged, sleep girl stumbling along at her mistress’ side, trying to slip on her sandals without leaving the older woman’s side. Later he would regret that.

As soon as they neared the level field near the Great Road, Ahava’s heart leaped into her throat and she believed she was dreaming the whole thing. In front of her startled eyes were three house-sized tents lit from within, a throng of camel handlers and their aides hunched over small cook fires, while the level ground was littered with damp clumps of resting animals, their hooves and long legs tucked under them. Having learned to count swiftly while aiding her sister, Ahava counted the five groups again in disbelief. She knew with her head that thousands upon thousands of such finely bred animals existed, all the long limbed and shaggy beats that passed by Nazareth on the Great Trading Route weren’t the same six or twelve animals walking back and forth in a three furlong radius! But she couldn’t shake the superstitious awe of seeing so many animals in a common place, all belonging to one man! White Arabian horses and gray mules grazed near the hollow like so many stones, motionless against the mist as the dew rose up against the heat of the standing animals. With so many handlers they seemed a small city in-and-of themselves. Like one of father Abraham’s herds. Did these too belong to Zaavan? Or had he teamed up with another wise man like Jesharelah ben Shem, after his death?

The beardless man seemed to have no interest in the grins or the hisses that followed as the men and boys crouched by the small fires pointed out their toward the three large tents. A thick, expensive looking curtain enclosed the visible tops of the three tents. It swayed slightly as they walked past it, the morning breeze bringing odors of cook fires and roasting meats, making her mouth water with hunger. This had all been set in the dark, in a few hours while they slept? It almost seemed too vast, too settled. As if it had been here all along and it was they who were blinded by normal day’s events that they just hadn’t seen it before. Passing though a broad soiled passage between two layers of cloth they approached the center tent. Two armed guards stood at the entrance to the tent where they were being led. The soldiers on guard allowed their dislike for the arrogant man to show, pretending not to see him since he merely escorted women to their mistress; lodging. She couldn’t help but notice that he took a great deal of umbrage at a common enough insult. She hesitated and would have preferred to wait outside, but her sister’s death grip on her clothing didn’t allow her that luxury. Deborah straightened her back and walked between the leering men as if she’d done it for every day of her life.

Once inside the smoky appearing interior, she was standing in a single room larger than the synagogue at Nazareth; held up by three tent posts. It took her a moment to get her bearings. Her senses assaulted by a wave of color and sound. As she walked toward the source of the light her toe caught on the edge of one of the vast rugs laid over other rugs and she half-fell into her sister’s stiffened form; numbed by the spacious opulence and beauty surrounding her. Movement around her almost cut off her breath. If she didn’t know they were on a small farm just seven miles from her home in Nazareth she would think they had just entered some exotic Persian castle. She caught her breath in surprise as the women and servants moved about their duties without giving any sign that two new women had been added. There were already ten people in the room but it seemed empty it was so large, Multihued cloths hung along the walls and an over-powering odor of incense made her feel as they were somehow suspended in the clouds.

A large semicircle of high, plush pillows encircled the shockingly beautiful room. In the center reclined Deborah’s husband with two boys at his side. One appeared to be about seven, the other younger, perhaps four or five winters at the most. They were watching her and Deborah with the only real enthusiasm she’d seen so far. In the center of the Sandalwood scented room, was a low, broad table in front of Zaavan, who was fatter than she remembered; waiting for them with an appraising smile. Reaching over the table filled with platters of meat, fruits, cheeses and delicious smelling pastries cover with silvered nuts, he seemed content to wait for them to overcome their shock and approach him and the reclining beauty at his left side.

Two, burly male guards, well armed with spears and swords, stood behind him at the far wall guarding the entrance to the tunnel where strangely garbed men and women servants entered the strangely perfumed room. Walking across the layers of expensive carpet, they approached the central dais where the man and the heavily pregnant woman reclined, their elbows touching gracefully. She watched and saw all this with respectful and downcast eyes, since Deborah and not she was the cause for this summons. The two little boys played with brightly painted toys just below where their mother reclined. Ahava smiled in genuine pleasure as she neared them. Whatever else was new and different, children she understood and liked.

She knew she was being watched with equal interest by the stunning Egyptian woman, but she was too consumed with trying to absorb the depth and the content of her surroundings to give her full attention to what lay in store for her or Deborah, who had more to gain or lose by what they were experiencing around them at this moment. She breathed in and out through her mouth in short gasps, trying to take in the massive amounts of color vying with movement in terms she was more familiar, but nothing could stop the spreading chill over her extremities at the weight of the blasphemous but undeniably beauty drawing them in. From the painted wooden statues of a man with a Jackal’s head and gilded spear that she first assumed was living, to the images somehow impressed on the fabric lining the inner walls.

A small black man, shaped like Sihon ben Job, stood at the juncture of the reclining man and woman’s elbows, slowly fluttering a fan made of giant white, Ostrich feathers to keep the smoke colored air moving within the center of the tent; without making any of the hanging brass lamps sway or flicker in the welcomed air circulation. She couldn’t stop trembling as she breathed in and out through her slackened jaw. She had no idea that anyone else was like Job’s crippled but gifted son, much less to have been born with black sin! She slipped behind her sister so she could peek around and look more closely at the beaded and heavily made up woman on wide pillows only a little lower than those holding up the corpulent merchant. How could she be so wondrously self-confident and serene? Was the magnificent woman a queen?

Zaavan pushed himself to his feet with the same difficulty as a woman in her last month of pregnancy.

“ Heart of my hearts! “ He exclaimed, as if surprised to see his wife of many years standing there, as if genuinely delighted.

Deborah’s look suggested she would have preferred to cut out his living heart and cast it to his feet in a jealous rage.

“ I have missed you so much! “ He gathered her tenderly in his arms, despite her resistance, then held her, petting her with tender words and coy phrases till she relented and allowed him to press his henna stained lips against hers discretely. Giving her the illusion that she was still in control, although she followed his directions toward the deeply indented pillows.

“ I needs must introduce you to a lovely creature whose praise has often been on my lips, yet insufficient to tell all the good she has done for is, and yes, our daughters’ futures as well. “

He spoke so heartily that Ahava took one step backwards instinctively for every two her sister was led forward. This much silence from Deborah boded no good for any of them.

“ The now unfortunate widow of my former partner Jesharelah ben Shem who now unfortunately inclines his head in the bosom of Abraham in Paradise. Heart of my hearts, this is your new bondswoman Bithynia bat Adbeel, who has thrown herself on my tender mercies since she has no one to protect her or her two boys. “

Two serving women stepped up from their places, lifting the heavily pregnant woman under her arms, while her head hung down so low only the beads and jewels tying her waist length hair in place could be seen. They carried her to the feet of the woman in the soiled sleeping tunic as if to a great dignitary, then lowered the woman to the carpeted ground, face down in supplication before the shocked Nazarene. Deborah looked up, paled faced, seeking directions from her heavily sweating spouse, but he seemed pleased with himself at the display of servility from the extraordinarily proud woman.

‘ You see! ‘ He smugly implied, popping an entire sweetmeat into his mouth and raising an eyebrow in approval.

The woman sobbed in a cultured voice, as the two women returned to their place, holding the struggling children.

“ Have mercy on me and my children! I am your helpless slave! “ She begged, as if in fear for their lives. “ All that belonged to my husband should have belonged to his sons, but spare their lives I beg you! Take me as your slave and hostage until they become the men the Holy One intended them to become under their father’s care! “

Deborah hastened to help the other woman to her feet, motioning for Ahava’s help as the woman was very great with child and soon to be delivered. With a fierce look in her husband’s direction as Zaavan turned around, bored with the drama already, she attempted to straighten her but Bithynia kept her face turned away; going limb in the knees until Deborah took her place, gasping for breath, then the Egyptian woman sank to the toys on the lowest pillows, quickly joined by her sobbing sons.

Back near the entrance to the tent, Ahava let her legs slide out from under her, using the firmness of the wall to support her. Soon the man and the women seemed to have forgotten she was even there, which she didn’t mind. She needed time to gather her wits about her. Using the time to try and catalogue the variety and depth of colored items around her. The younger of the two boys walked over to her and curled up on her lap, his thumb pressed against his lower lip for comfort. She reached out and made him comfortable without sitting directly on her legs, as she often did for Rizpad. Children and animals simply seemed to be as comfortable with her as they were with her brother Jesus.

With a quick clap of his hand, Zaavan drew three additional serving women into the overheated tent, bearing full length tunics of the most extraordinary thin and brightly colored cloth, which they laid in layers at Deborah’s muddy feet. She gasped in shock, fingering the cloth with open mouthed awe and an obvious desire to possess the rare treasures; yet he cheerfully instructed her to pick one Deborah objected, as if the other jewel-like clothing might be offended because she choose among them.

“ I told the girl she had nothing to fear from you, Heart of my hearts! For I know your goodness and your kindness. I would have seen to it that she and her sons were cared for, but since the oldest is but a child, I though it better not to tarry those years away from your side, so I brought them here, under your protection, My Sweet. “

Deborah whirled happily in the new gown she’d chosen from the imperial collection. It made Ahava a little uncomfortable to see the way the woman had taken more interest in her sister’s nude figure than had her own husband, but she had no place to speak out such thoughts, so she kept them locked within. Still, she’d seen Deborah get the same expression when she was weighing between two ewes before purchasing them, and some of the beauty around her tarnished with its growing familiarity.

Thirteen-year old Mattatha and nine-year old Naomi shuffled to the doorway as fresh air blew in briefly beside and around them.

“ Ima! Is that you? Abba! “ Mattatha screamed, quickly taking in the new wealth laid carelessly at her mother’s feet. Naomi crossed her arms and frowned tightly, glancing down only once at Ahava and the young boy before dismissing them as unimportant. But when the outsized man called to them with tender words, both girls raced toward him in apparent joy at being reunited with him.

[1] Leap Years run in 19 year cycles, with 9 occurrences of a 2^nd Adar of 29 days.

[2] Micah 5:2

[3] ‘Dode’: Aunt [dough’de]

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