Upper Jerusalem
-
Zaavan knew he should be offended by the older man’s daring use of such sharpened wisdom against him in public,
it meant he’d lost the man’s respect still more, but his pain and his needs impeded any mental clarity and he
simply began to weep at the things he saw dissolving around him, earning still more enmity from the expensively clothed man.
With no one else to turn too, he sought out the semi-private house Rueben ben Heznon kept for public meetings. Rueben had
made it clear he was no longer a welcomed guest, but he had no place else to go.
“ There will be a cost, but one you can well afford to pay. “ The
thin, delicate man comforted him, when he expected to be relived as the old priest had done to him in the street, but his
clothing reeked of oils and scents too close to Evi’s and whatever pride he had left drove Zaavan to his feet, briefly
taking control of the situation without understanding it. It was as though he had tucked the tablecloth into his outer belt
and when he stood, several things were upset and pulled along with it, but the other man’s voice became so compelling
and kind and the apologies so sincere sounding he hesitated. If he left now, he’d be alone, or worse he’d have
to return to that house with all the scowling servants who served Bithynia despite her long absence, and not he!
When he stood abruptly, a male servant discretely offered him assistance with a urinal, and then washed his hands with
a pleasant scented oil, drying the fingers completely with a few simple twists from long years of practice. It gave him an
excuse for standing, but when he looked over at his unwilling host, Rueben was actually smiling at him, inviting his companionship.
Then he couldn’t remember why he stood up in the first place, so he sat back down again, fighting the urge to cry.
But when a worried servant rushed in and whispered something in his ear, Rueben leaped to his feet and began to pace
nervously, pulling on his ear lobe and muttering something under his breath that Zaavan couldn’t understand. He understood
a little Latin and Yeshu Hannosri was close enough to the Hebrew Y’shua that he guessed it was indeed something
about his brother-in-law, Jesus of Nazareth, that incited his abnormally clam host into such a physical display.
He remained seated, as it appeared Rueben had forgotten he was even there, careful to keep his face composed and his
voice silent that he might appear wise. When the plump perfumed man woke and came downstairs, the verbal
exchanges became like a war between equally matched kings, both unwilling to back to back down and admit defeat. At a pause
in one of the scathing arguments, Raamah paused dramatically and looked at him in the face, obviously expecting an answer
to words he’d given no attention beyond the amount of pain they caused his increasing headache. But whatever he answered
seemed to delight the exited man, and he summons a servant, allowing cooling air to enter the overheated room.
It was so dark outside and the birds and the dogs were so silent, he knew it was night, and he had to leave. The next
time he might not be so lucky and he couldn’t bear another sulk. Rueben used them too effectively against him whenever
he tried to restore the camaraderie that had been theirs in the beginning. It seemed to him, even in his stupor-like state
as he stared into the dancing points of light as he held out his arms for the priest’s servant to complete the replacement
of his outer garments, that he was fast using up any importance to the men who meant so much in his new life, and he didn’t
see any way that he could regain them. He could hear his own breath, sucked in between rounded lips as the pain of his headache
made even the dim light painful to bear.
“ He is reported to have said, ‘ By what measure you mete out, it will be
given back unto you.’ I fear that sentiment, noble lord, knowing my parsimony. For so long I was
poor... “ His voice trailed off, with his thoughts.
“ Have you become one of his followers too? “
Evi had raged, just beyond his ability to envision the reason behind the shapes and the rage. Zaavan’s clogged
mind unable to think of an epithet strong enough to deny it; at least none that the elderly physician would allow to be uttered
in his presence, and he had been pushed out into the moonless street like a beggar!
He startled violently as three figures seemed to move from the shadows and coalesce into material form and he fell
to his knees, too frightened to even plead for his life, for there was such a sense of doom writing in his soul that the night
airs seemed to stink of it. The taller of the three men, as masculine and shapely as any of the former gladiators Rueben denied
him access too for lack of their price, leaned forward and tenderly helped the blubbering man to his feet, embracing him and
protecting him until the worse of his fears had passed, if not the awe in the animal cunning and strength in the man’s
very being. His eyes were oddly shaped by the lanterns they passed under, narrowed to a slit like a vipers’ and his
voice carried an assurance that only the very powerful dare to employ. He was accustomed to getting his own way, yet he coaxed
and teased at Zaavan’s nerves till he ended up unaccountably asking him to stay the night.
The moment he entered, the house began to fill with a heady perfume and the servants, usually surly and rude, seemed
to melt into joyful obedience to the soft voiced stranger. The two men with him, became twelve, moving through the bottom
two levels of the house, leaving luxury wherever they touched, the plain looking sacks seeming never to empty of further glittering
t4reasure beyond his wildest imaginations. he would be sorry to see it all gathered when his guest had to leave on the morrow!
Once they had eaten and were alone in his room, the men servants have disappeared as strangely as they arrived, Zaavan
found himself comfortably ensconced in the man’s tender embrace without really knowing how he got there. Though he’d
been afraid at first, the seduction had been successful and his lover unimaginably skillful and too delicate to ask anything
in return except the enjoyment of watching his frank pleasure.
“
I know not your name, Great One. “
Zaavan protested
sleepily as the stranger withdrew his touch, pulling back gently on the clothing he wished to put back on as Zaavan yawned
in sleepy content.
“ I am called many things. I was once called ‘Abdeel’ 2 Now among other things I am called Abaddon.
“
“ But your name means destruction? “
Satan
smiled.
“ Precisely. Destruction to our
enemies. You have succeeded at every small task I gave you, now I am prepared to do even more for you. Which
one of your enemies would you like to see destroyed? “
Zaavan tried to
think quickly, clearly, he must have understood the dark prince!
He
weighed and quickly eliminated Raamah ben Tola in favor of Rueben and Evi. But rather than be offended Abaddon merely laughed
softly, in content, and stroked his cheek until his body began to quiver despite its hard use earlier in the evening.
“ That will take a little time, but it’s within our doing. Pick someone smaller so that
I might prove myself as you have proved yourself worthy to my needs. “
Zaavan
flushed in pleasure.
“ Benjamin ben Adonijah! He’s been a boil on my backside since Raamah started to chose
from my herds and flocks first! “
“ How? Zealots knife or bullock’s hooves? “
“ Hooves! On the chest! So he’ll be in pain longer before he dies. “
“ Done. By this time next week, you will be the sole provider of animals to the man you’ve
been selling them too. “
“ Great One? “ Zaavan called softly
as he saw his strange guest was ready to leave. “ Will I see you again? “
Satan’s smile had nothing to do with pleasure, and though strangely intoxicated, Zaavan’s blood thinned
and cooled at the sight of it.
“ Continue to please me as you have, and you will never leave my side. “
The naked man on the bed began to sob softly, the rounded folds of fat moving unwillingly as the form within attempted
to turn sideways to reach for the fallen cover, as the night suddenly seemed cold with the abrupt absence of false dawn.
Jerusalem
Elul brought cooling weather to Mount Moria and the
stenches of ripe olives being pressed for their oil, for daily use and use in Temple worship. It was an odd odor that lingered
late into the night as they slept on the roof. The noise of the silver trumpets announcing the morning sacrifice
completed what the cries and groans of the vendor’s beasts of burden being allowed into the city at first light began,
waking Deborah bat Joses, even though her bedroom was well above the littered paving stones and mud of the central street.
When her eldest daughter first came into Zaavan’s house, Deborah’s first thought was a keen anticipation of enjoying
Mattatha company now that they were both mature women, settled in their lives as appointed by the Devine and Holy One,
Blessed be His name. With Ashur leaving to return to Antioch to bring his wife and family here to live next spring, she anticipated
a new beginning in her life. Not only was their first born son well and hearty, growing like a weed, but even the colic-ridden
second boy Jimnah seemed to be sleeping through the night, and since her daughter’s only son was sickly, she felt it
would help to maintain the slender edge of respect her eldest daughter’s beauty permitted her. But the instant she saw
the look of sullen rebellion on her daughter’s face, her heart sunk to her deepest parts in terror. She knew ‘that
look’ too well. She tried to pull on her eldest daughter’s shoulders to get her out of the room before she could
see the husk of her father’s shell seated in the middle of the room, for there was no telling what evil might spew out
of him when he was is one of these moods, but too clearly the young woman had been rehearsing her side of the conflict with
her older husband, whatever that might be, and she had fled back to her father’s house to achieve her own whims—never
guessing the monster Zaavan had become in her enforced absence! Did she thing she was the one who sent her away?
But spinning round where her mother’s fingers couldn’t hold her, she threw herself sobbing at the feet
of the man leaned against the multihued cushions which the smoke of the hashish pipe curled around his chins and perfumed
hair. The next best thing Deborah could hope to do was to leave the room before the emotions exploded and he ordered the sobbing
woman pulled out of the room by her hair! Instead his voice trapped her, more powerful and alert than she
had been lead to believe, and though he called the sobbing woman by Bithynia’s name, he continued to pat her on the
shoulder in paternal concern. Deborah turned back reluctantly to sit and put on a false smile that slipped away the moment
she saw the older man in flowing robes who followed at a brisk step behind the emotional figure now draped across her father’s
water filled ankles. It seemed to take till dawn but the news was finally revealed as the woman slept, curled on her side
on two of the smaller pillows, an expensive robe draped over her shoulders, so studded with precious jewels that it made her
face seem all the more innocent and unlined in comparison to its opulence.
“
The child she bears now is another man’s not mine. “ The old sheik
said sadly, as if discussing a prize mare who’d broke away and mated with an inferior stallion in the heat of foal lust.
“ Say no more! Your honor will be avenged by morning! “
“ Stay your hand, for all the goodness to show to me, Zaavan. “
The old desert falcon suggested tenderly as Zaavan struggled to set his flesh in motion and sit upright. His look toward
the sleeping woman should have consumed her on the spot!
“ The
youth is the eldest son of a man we both wish to maintain as a friend and client, Judah ben Shahsak. “
Even Deborah gasped. Why would a man of that wealth and estate risk everything for another man’s wife? Especially
a man who could crush his whole family without a second thought on the matter.
“
It’s love. Youthful lust, does it matter? We see them as being possessed by a demon of lust, they
see themselves a matched pair of doves and we are the ravening hyenas denying them what is rightfully theirs. I’m too
old to argue with them, and too rich to keep a woman in my tent against her will, my dear friends. “
Jah’zerah urged gently, as if he had already forgiven her and looked to them to do likewise, since emotions were
too abundant already.
Zaavan started to sputter and deny it, but Deborah silenced him with several hard, well placed words and he was so
shocked at hearing her common sense approach that he fell silent, more than willing to allow her to deal with this indelicate
issue since it seemed to please the old desert hawk as much as it did her. Was there no end to the surprises these country
women were able to spring on him?
“ He is to be allowed to wed her, in return for concessions that will enrich us both,
as much as she will doubtless enrich his life! “ It was said with contempt
for all the gentle tone. Clearly the old sheik had had time to get over his initial rage and repugnance before he returned
her here to the hilltop mansion.
“ I don’t seek wealth, old friend, only a safe ending to this terrible problem. You
are my concern, what you do to such a female is beyond any interest to me! “
Zaavan protested, but they could both see his mind greedily anticipating what he could demand of the braggart now that
his chief son had been found placing himself and his family’s reputation in places it had no business being in!
“ I’m too satisfied with the love of my youth at my side, to
be saddled with a female who thinks herself in love with sinew and bone between the ears, for what man in right mind would
have put himself in such jeopardy? Would that the bud were more as the rose that bore it, and less like
the thorns that exists in any flesh. “
Deborah
blushed at the obvious flattery, and though Zaavan beamed over at her benevolently, she was unsure how he would feel about
it once the drugs wore off. Would he blame her and the boy? It was another burning brand laid against the scant comfort her
heart had been able to find since Michael Yisreal’s birth! But she faced it head-on lest he guess how much she feared
it, and him!
“ The children will stay with me. Of course. “ He
added, to Deborah’s obvious disappointment.
Deborah kept her eyes downcast. Again her life was being decided by another man without regard for her feelings, but
she couldn’t ask to go with him, Zaavan wouldn’t allow it, even though no legal force bound her here, and the
old man would not allow a usurper to take even a fraction of the inheritance due to the rightful heir, her grandson Morrie!
Her only choice was to remain here and keep Mattatha and her bastard as far from the house as she could. When she looked up
she found both men watching her face and she blushed, for they showed a distinct awareness of her intent as surely as she
had spoken the words.
“ You will be compensated for your loss, Ima. And it may be that in a household with as firm
a structure as Jerusha keeps on her husband and seven sons, the girl will finally be broken to halter at least. This isn’t
something you could have done, don’t blame yourself! Some spirits are bold wild and need to be tamed by an unkind hand
for their own good. I don’t think you capable of the cruelty that she is. you must protect your own son!
“
Deborah’s face altered rapidly as the truth sank in.
“
I have found again the woman I allowed to be striped away from my love in my youth, so it pleases me to allow these
two young lovers to unite, as Tyra and I were forbidden to do by my father. We’ll speak no more about it as having been
anything of our doing, but theirs alone. And allow the Holy One, Blessed be His Name, to extract the just and fair
punishment which we cannot bear to do in our tender love for youth’s indiscretions. I leave you now. Jerusha’s
man will be here at first light to claim her from your loving arms, I hope I haven’t placed too large a burden on you
to have to give her up, but remember, it’s for her own good, so that the baby she bears and the love in her heart can
be placed with the man she choose. Times are changing, the young don’t feel as strongly about duty and honor
as we did. “
He raised
and lowered his shoulders with an elegant sight, and only Zaavan seemed to believe him, almost weak with relief that no decision
had been demanded of him in what appeared to be an equitable resolution of the shocking matter. Rueben would be pleased with
him, no doubt.
“ Where are you going?
What will you do? “ Deborah asked instinctively as the old man turned
him back on them so sharply she sensed he had no intention of returning, at any time, for any reason!
“ As soon as I return I shall gather my son, my daughter, and the woman I love in my
arms and carry them to our desert home, that we may finally enjoy what has been denied us all these years! “
“ You’re in pain? “
“
It will pass. She struck me sharply, but even youth has its limitations. “
Unexpectedly he leaned forward and pressed his lips dryly against her mouth.
“
Take care for your son, and for yourself. You deserve so much more! “
Zaavan’s uneven snore wrapped around them and his clothing stained yellow near the folds of his expensive linens,
but the old man’s face just hardened, and she knew in her heart of hearts that he’d the stories too. She’d
been as willful as her own daughter in demanding him as the man she would have to husband, and no other. And she what it had
gotten her!
“ Shalom Aleikhem, Jah’zerah ben Ehi. “ She
said in acknowledgement of farewell.
“ Aleikhem Shalom, Deborah
bat Joses. “ He acknowledged sadly and broke from the instinctive grasp
of her fingertips, and stepped into the cold darkness between false dawn and birth of true light.
As soon as the mountain cold struck him, a pain gripped his chest so hard he had to lean on the arm of his largest
manservant.
“ Get me home! “ He pleaded,
and the white haired figure called the other two men awake in a loud voice. They were in sight of the rental house when a
capped and furtive figure ran out at them holding s mall sharp object and a flat stone in his outstretched hand. Thinking
him a beggar mad with hunger, the manservant tried to push him away but Ishmael only began to cry in that familiar high-pitched
voice. Even Jah’zerah hesitated.
“ See Master, see! I was wrong to cry so often for my freedom! I am more a slave in my freedom
than I ever was in your gracious care, master! “ The eunuch sobbed, trying to
kiss the old man’s hand.
“ Where is the Nazarene? The girl I sent you to train up? “
“ He left, fled the country. He will surely go to Rome to plead his case. Of what use to us
is a man who would bow his knee and kiss the lips of cold Caesar? “
“ Do you know this for a fact? “ The Desert Hawk demanded over the
burning pain constricting his chest. “ Did you see it with your own eyes? “
“ He’s already there, I’m certain! Look how he befriended that Roman!
“
“ You’re jealous! I asked Tyra to teach my children to believe in Him because you refused,
and now you spew lies to cover your deceits and inadequacies? “ He tried to shove the soft faced
youth away but the tore clot in his chest tore loose with the motion and the remainder began to circulate within his veins
alternating searing pain with shocking bouts of numbness when the whole world seemed to go suddenly quiet and dark.
“ You shamed me, Ishmael! Before the House of David and in my own eyes! I sent you to instruct
the youngest daughter of the house, a worthy girl, who could have done much good; but no, no! You shamed me instead!
“
Sobbing fiercely, the youthful scholar fell to his knees in abject submission, waving the stone and awl over his head
and begging in vain to be allowed to return to service to the house, his voice almost unintelligible from the drool that ran
down the sides of his mouth. When no answer came to deny him he risked opening his eyes but the old man was standing rigid,
eyes fixed, so taken by a pain he could only move up and down in one place, then falling backwards, like a brick or a stone
into the arms of one of his armed escorts.
There was no rhyme
nor rhythm to the strange events taking place in front of his bewildered eyes as Lady Tyra ran from the near-by house, her
long silver hair loose and uncombed. Throwing herself to her knees at the side of the convulsing figure she tried in vain
to pout liquid between the clinched teeth, but it was too late. Rough hands struck the awl and stone away before he could
use them against his own flesh and claim the protection of his abandoned master’s house.
“ There is no honor in you! Flee before I have you killed and your body used as a fire to
consume your shame! “
Strong voices echoed in the distance, a quadroon of Roman soldiers beginning their early day routine before the city
streets filled up and became impassible, but in his wretched state he thought them servants coming to fulfill the grieving
woman’s harsh sentence against him, and dropping the stone on his foot, he limped away as quickly as he could!
“ I’m so cold Tyra, so cold! No, don’t move me. Let me rest here in your love...the
children...Morrie...take them...far...teach them the true GOD, and Him only! “
“ I will, I will! You know I will! “
“
Oh Tyra, what have I done to us? Why did I spend so much time with them when I had so little time left to be with you?
“
His eyelids fluttered and a strangling noise came from his throat, denying his breath and he went rigid, locked in
her embrace. Her tears dampened his shirt, exposed by the fallen cloak.
“
I don’t know. “ She said at last, “
I don’t know. “ Having to lean on the wailing men to get to her feet. Her head spun
alarmingly but it passed, and as she saw the tinge of pink and silver line the uppermost bricks of the lower street she wailed
a death dirge that left the five soldiers staring at her in slack mouth awe.
Uncharacteristically,
they folded back in on themselves, speaking in low reverent tones, and turned back the same way they came
On their
way from Capernaum, Ahava was pricked with a guilty start the instant she was awake enough to remember that today was Wednesday
of the month, leading up to the preparations for Yom ha-Kippurim and Sukkot and she’d already promised herself
that she was going to start setting this day aside to help others, and failed since she was so excited about staying with
Jerusha after the birth of her baby, a little sister for Joel. Her only companion for the moment was the sullen Roman who
was so short tempered around her she’d come to the conclusion that he didn’t like her, by the buried
religious traditions against touching ‘unclean’ women. As she drew in a deep breath and gladly exchanged the crease
of a new frown for a smile at her beloved pet’s expense Nimrod raced up with mud balls clinging to the short hair on
his belly, she tried to vain to push him away and make her ‘no, Nimrod, no’ to have some measure
of authority. The Roman’s single sharp command caused the small, lithe dog to immediately seek out a quiet spot at the
far end of the glowing embers where escape would be quickest, if the ill-tempered brute actually charged at him as
the tone of his voice implied! Keeping his head bent as he licked and bit at the quick drying mud along his heaving flank.
She would have apologized, or at the very least rebuked the Centurion, if she hadn’t heard the betraying sobs
in her own voice, and when he abjectly apologized to her, she froze. ‘There wasn’t anything in the litany of acceptable
feminine behavior that her older sister had ever drilled into her head to cover an awkward situation like this! ‘
She thought to herself in dismay, so she simply said ‘Thank you’, which had nothing at all to do with what
he’d said to her, and then she sat down abruptly, squeezing her hands so tightly that it brought a second round of tears
to her tightly squinted eyes. His rough soldier’s oath only unnerved her more! To try and cleansed her mind of the need
for tears she tried to rehearse the birth dates she’d already met, and the ones she had to attend to in the next two
weeks, despite the physical differences keeping them apart. Judas Iscariot had delivered the embroidered tunic to Hulah for
her as a special betrothal gift, as a measure of their growing dependence on one another as believers in her brother. It caused
her cheeks to touch with color at the thought, even thought the surly Roman kept his backside between her and the growing
fire as he dropped dried twigs on the eager flame. Her attention was captured so completely that she had no idea there was
anyone behind her until rough arms went around her waist. Her gaze was immediately drawn to the started ‘yip’
of terror of the speckled dog, who now oddly suspended with it’s long limbs in mid-air! A huge, foul smelling man with
broken teeth was grinning at them, his knife poised to slit Nimrod’s throat with a single, hard gesture, effectively
ending her world! Ahava acted before she thought, screaming in pain as the recently sharpened blade nicked a bone in her ankle
as she ‘ran’ up the second man’s disgusting rags and kicked vainly at the swollen wrist holding the blade
at the edge of the strangely inert dog’s neck! Blood and hot air spewed out on her legs as a calloused hand seized her
free ankle and pulled downward, allowing the curved blade in the other hand to complete its powerful arc, removing the bobbing
head from the fountain of bright red blood.
She hid her eyes and muffled her screams as she
fell, certain that life was over! Feet stepped on her twice as she curled in as small a form as she could, holding the gasping
dog under her chest to protect him as much as possible as he instinctively gulped in great droughts of air. By the time her
head was cleared, it was over, two sets of feet raw away at right angles to one another, and two mounds of lice, blood and
feces lay fallen in the grotesque form that death left them, shedding dignity and life’s blood with each passing second
of returned reality. She started to scream. And even after the warm, bloodied hand tried to stop her, she screamed till the
lack of air caused her to mercifully pass out.
When she came too there were two large mounds of leaves and branches at the end of the boulder where the years of rain
had carved out a narrow gully from the edge of bedrock, but she didn’t look too closely, and when the Roman seized her
roughly, his hands were clean and bound and the he was simply using the scented water to cleanse her. When he tried to get
his hands free, she clung all the harder, until he set down the wooden bowl with trembling fingers that refused to obey his
mind’s commands, and he pulled her into his lap, rocking her and sheltering her as best as his own shattered defenses
had to offer.
“ Ho, the camp! Girl? Man? Are you alright? “
Machba`nel tried to stand and thrust the girl behind him for her protection but footsteps came running up from the
faint water trail and his eyes glazed with helplessness. She would die from them because he couldn’t stay away from
her!
“ Hold! It’s me, Roman! Eleazar! Euroclydon! “
Black spots danced in front of the soldier’s eyes as he repeated the name numbly, grateful to see concern and
passion in the faces of the seven strange number who stepped out of the drizzle “ We
met the day I was baptized at the Jordan by the Baptizer. “
Machba`nel tried
to raise his hand to scratch at an itch on his forehead but the flesh he looked at seemed alien to him, as if it belonged
to someone else. Strong arms caught up under the arms and allowed him to settle backwards with only a small jolt.
“ We met just a little before then, my friend. “ He
said at last in gratitude, sipping at the metal cup of tea the prophet’s youngest sister offered to him shyly. Her smile
reassured him that the small, lean dog, though currently absent, was in fine health and probably getting his rump wet at the
entrance to one burrow while his intended victim was deep asleep in another chamber near-by!
The former murderer and thief blushed slightly and looked down the fire which had become a genuine source of light
as midday darkened with the gathering of a genuine downpour outside their stone shelter.
“ That was really someone else, adonai. “
“
We won’t mention it again. I owe you my life. “
“
You own me nothing. I learned to believe by watching you, Eleazar. “
“
Then you believe? “ The rough spoken man said in genuine delight.
Machba`nel’s jaw dropped open as he heard his very words repeated in front of four strangers. But at that second,
two men stepped out of the steady rain. As Jesus of Nazareth pushed back the damp hood from his face, a thrill ran through
the seated men. Though He wasn’t a hand-some man, nor one given to flourishes which implied strength or cunning in the
rough and hurly world they shared as assassin and soldier, there was an unmistakable air of authority about the common, smiling
man and the strength of His delight in seeing them, drove away the fragile barricades of self and doubt as if they were of
more greater weight than a spider’s web against a crashing tree trunk!
Machba`nel prepared to settle in one of the lesser seats across the fire from the new arrivals, as the shy eleven year
old rolled two additional stones unto the flame bed for warmth, kneeling to strip the damp, muddy sandals from her cousin
and brother’s feet to chafe them with few lamb’s wool and get some circulation back into them. Jude Thaddeus pulled
away from her touch, knowing too well the family secret of her early menses last year and not wanting to risk her thoughtlessness
in considering whether she might be bleeding or not, but not even a touch on the shoulder or a questioning look from his cousin
Jesus could make the handsome youth surround in this one thing. His beloved Mirirum’s had often touched his feet with
finely scented oils and pumice stone to help to remove the painfully cracked callous that plagued his father’s side
of the family, but that was too intimate a knowledge to share, having to mention her death again when he’d only begun
to accept it, even after two and half years!
When Machba`nel saw the gesture, a new anger burned in his heart at the younger man, for the girl’s safe, but
outnumbered seven to one, he was too wise to allow his feelings to show. The rain stopped at midnight, but already having
experienced one attack from the zealots, he wasn’t eager to ride out alone in the strong moonlight. He would miss these
times, he would miss the tall, shy girl more than breath itself, but he had no right to be here, he told himself sternly,
and knowing that she and her beloved little pet had almost died simply being seen alone with him, he couldn’t risk putting
in that kind of danger again! Hearing the man’s slow and steady footsteps, indicating deep and contemplative thought,
the middle-aged warrior was ready to see the lean, neatly trimmed face in the moonlight, if not the strength of the smile.
“ Walk with me, Isaac? “
Jesus ben Joses asked, waiting for the older man’s response.
“
You know I don’t like anyone calling me by that old name, Majesty. “ He
dared to rebuke the serene face near enough to his to smell the tang of fresh mint still clinging to the younger man’s
tongue as Jesus smiled and ran a pierce of clean rag over his mouth.
“ It’s who you are. Aren’t there already enough divisions in your
life, Marcus? “
“ Too many, Majesty. “ The old warrior
agreed, nodding his head in time with thoughts he seemed to be sharing, even without having to speak them out loud.
“ I wanted to thank you for saving Ahava’s life.
“
Machba`nel smiled for the first time since early that morning.
“
I’m sure she said something about thanking me for saving her dog. I don’t think she’d want us to
be thinking about her so intimately! Not that I do...I don’t...think of her...that intimately...I.. “
He was blushing a bright, hot red as he felt the younger man’s come to rest on his wrist, and the laughter reach
in to fill places left empty and hungry for too long.
“
When the time comes, her mother and I have a man selected for her who will cherish her youth, her purity and encourage
her joy and growth in life. As I know you do already. Had her father Joseph lived it would have fallen to him. Please, let’s
continue. “ He urged gracefully and Machba`nel found himself eager
to please him, as he hadn’t done since he was young boy and realized he could earn Lady Tyra’s smile in he really
worked at his studied. “ The man you are now is wrong for her. I hope
you aren’t offended to hear that? “
“
No! “ The Roman answered without thinking it through first, as he normally
did in the company of cunning men. “ Shocked at your directness, but relieved by your answer, Majesty.
I have a new wife in Jerusalem, and while I confess it was a marriage that suited both of us in life rather than in
the flesh, it is one I look forward to sharing for as long as possible. I’m sure you wouldn’t want a man like
me in your household, any how. Majesty. “ He said humbly, looking away until he felt the press of
strong fingers on his forearm, demanding his returned attention. “
Jesus’
smiled deepened.
“ I’d be honored at having a member of my family loved with
the depth of purity and devotion that you offer my mother and her youngest child. I’m going away soon, and it is a weight
from my shoulders to know they have so many people near to support and love them. “
“ You’re going away? “ Machba`nel
repeated in puzzlement. “ But I thought ...then, when, Master? “
“ Soon. The time will move quicker now that
the future shape is coming into view. “
There was such
a pervasive sadness to the taller man’s voice that Machba`nel had to quicken his step to see if he could get half-a
stride ahead and look back, but the young man’s face betrayed none of the pain he’d heard in His voice.
“ You’ll return, of course! ....The sacrificial Messiah has to come first, before you
can set up your rule? It
wasn’t John after all! He said it wasn’t. He said he wasn’t Messiah, but we wanted him to be. “
“ There is a divine order to all things, yes, Isaac. But please.
Don’t attempt to take the few things you’ve learned or guessed and try to spread them across a heavenly panorama.
Allow them to unfold, and then use the new insight to better understand those things which are yet to come. “
“ All I know is, that you’re deeply troubled. And if I could die, on this spot, in this
instant, to release you from that. I would! “
Jesus came to a
rest against the rain slickened boulder taller than both of them, the shimmering image of the moon in a pool of water collected
in the irregular shaped pocket of rock where a gnat gave up its will to struggle and laid its wings and abdomen flat against
the water. Lifting it out gently, Jesus waited for the tiny creature to resume breathing through its extended belly, yet remaining
linked to the man leaned silently on the other side of the weather smoothed rock.
“ I know you would. “ He
said simply, drying the last of the side of his hand on the dimly outlined cloak. The sound of their footsteps caused the
sleeping insects to hum aloud in joyous praise of creation The moon seemed to turn her face toward them in her slow rise toward
the darkest corner of the sky where she would discretely disappear before the arrival of the bridegroom the sun, waiting for
him there at the furthest edges of the soldier’s imagination.
“
And that’s the reason for your pain! “
A
smile turned up both corners of the bearded rabbi’s face but His eyes remained as deep and still as Machba`nel conceived
the Center of the Universe.
“ You were always perceptive, Child. “
Jesus replied at last, leaning His weight on the man’s arm as their steps deliberately lead them further away
from the sleeping men, the girl, and the dog.
“ She’d never have forgiven me if we’d let anything happen to Nimrod, Majesty.
“ He said, with uncharacteristic bravado toward a superior, reward by Jesus laugh.
“ I know! “
Jesus agreed, with the lifting laugh. And then they began to talk of things that mattered deeply to the wearier soul
and Machba`nel found there was nothing he could hold back, or wanted too.
The sting
of her loss still rankled in him, even knowing he had no right to allow his emotions to grow under the guise of paternal solicitude!
He needed to be near to hear the resilience afforded by her laughter and youthful assurance, what could he hope to
offer her in return? And it weighed on his mind that the young woman he so cherished was in danger simply by nearing to him.
- *
Machba`nel waited at the edge of the milling group as it naturally took shape, hoping to speak with the Master. When
he saw the man and the woman remaining at the side of the road allowing the others to pass, he quickly averted his eyes in
discomfort. It was Jesus and the older woman, the Magdalene, and he didn’t wish to intrude on their rare moment of privacy,
but when Mary noticed him, her face broke into deep smiled and she reached out her hand to him in friendly intimacy. He took
it quickly, allowing the hunched figures top shuffle past him in the growing sunlight over the well-traveled path.
Jesus fell into step beside him, and for a moment, the soldier had a light hearted feeling of being without past, and
only the vaguest, loveliest thought passing about the future. It was enough that they walked, his arm linked in that of the
charming, smiling woman as the voices of the olive harvesters gathering to their first break in the long hours since dawn
allowed them to distinguish the hue of the ripened fruit. Children’s voices from the grove nearest to the river seemed
to draw his heart in the most special way as they exchanged the wicker baskets for a leather ball made of scraps and dreams,
echoing in high pitched joy as they pushed and jostled one another, forming their own rules as they went along, knowing that
the adults were too tired to care to attempt to intervene. They had their own kind of rough justice and a highly evolved sense
of right and wrong, as perceived by the majority of the group. There was a shared sense of
camaraderie between Jesus and the well-endowed widow that seemed to open to welcome him within it, unlike some of the others
who resented his joining them, even when they were near to the Master.
“
We have benefited greatly from your kindness and that of your father Xavier. I wanted to thank you personally, Marcus.
I hope that you don’t mind. “
“ The
reward of your company is greater repayment than my meager gift was valued, Magdalene. “
Mary blushed so violently he was almost sorry he yielded to his moment of high playfulness, but her chill hand struck
his lightly in thank you and though she kept her eyes demurely downcast as he and Jesus talked together, he could tell that
she’d been pleased by the careless but sincere complement. She was such a complex woman, having plumbed the depths of
sorrow and mental torture, yet so consistently kind to everyone but herself that he went out of his way to find small things
he thought she might enjoy, and her pleasure now eased some of the loneliness locked within him.
But all too soon word reached into the silent community, and those who hadn’t already begun the journey up to
Jerusalem gathered along His way, demanding time of Him when their own time was shortened by each timely and compassionate
stop. By the time the reached Capernaum, the few people left broke apart, and they each headed a different direction at the
city’s entrance.
While the main caravan was eager to return home to their families, she and the smaller intimate group around the Master
going northwest for a few days, to visit and visit with the Magdalene’s late husband’s family on the Coast; to
the land once claimed by the Philistines and the sea peoples Watching the smaller number of people who crowded the camp claiming
to belong to her brother’s world view, and the confidence with which His closest disciples and friends moved within
it, Ahava nonetheless had a compelling sense that all too soon this special time among the people would be ended with the
coming of spring after the cherished winter holidays, and she started looking forward to each new sight or smell with a bittersweet
acknowledgment that now that she had passed her pivotal birthday, even nominal childhood were fleeing from her like darkness
before the light! Within the camp she was expected to share equal responsibilities with the other woman
for those unable to provide for their own needs. And she did so, gladly, secretly earning the nickname of a happy little bird
implied by the familiar diminutive of her name, ‘Havala’, by the warble of her spontaneous laughter. Having given
the house to Hilkiah’s sister and her family, the massive lakeside house seemed changed in a dozen small ways, and she
was grateful that Matthew and Mary Magdalene, as well as Joanna and her family were choosing to stay in the sheltered valley
above the town, for once the people knew Jesus was near, they would gather the sick and the needy and they might not be able
to remain with the lovely widow as she traveled north to the coast to see her children and their families. While she emphasized
with the sick, she watched the drawn and sorrowing look gather on her eldest brother’s face for he had the heart to
turn no one aside who needed Him, no matter how much He needed the rest himself.
. As
the group with Mary and Joanna before the light was fully risen over the cobalt blue mountains to the east, Ahava was torn
between staying with her mother and aunts, and remaining at her brother’s side. There was something in being near to
Him that made the days seem warmer, her purpose clearer, and she loved the idea that she could teach other women the very
things she’d taken for granted learning at Mary’s knee. How to sweep, how to weave, how to approach the GOD who
held them in the loving cusp of His hands between battles in life. She lingered overlong at the edge of
the road where it dipped down toward the blue and fragrant water. The heat had yet to bear down on them as it would later
in the day and even though she felt odd at remaining when the last of their group had already begun the difficult journey,
a part of her so rooted to this place of safety and beauty that it almost felt as if she’d grown roots, like the tree
trunk where Nimrod was nosily rooting, and she couldn’t make her feet move! From the top of the hill that would lead
them away from the home they’d made on the flat but fertile link between the low rising hills to her right and the distant
thin blue line of mountains to her left, Ahava breathed deep of the fragrance of the grass and the trees, and the sheep. Taking
in the huge blue depth of the ‘waters below the waters’ 4 and drawing as much of the azure, cloudless expanse as she could bear too hold
in her heart! Something had ended here, Naomi and Hulah were accompanying Cephas now, as much a nomad as they are any Ishmaelite,
or even the Patriarch Abraham before he knew for certain all that El Gebor, the Mighty GOD had in store for him! Even
as she glimpsed the soldiers in rough formation gathering for a public display of training and might, the freedom she knew
in her heart made it feel as though her brother’s reign of love had already begun! They were waiting for anything! They
were already living it!
Leaving Nimrod to sniff in the corner of the late blooming white tree, she tiptoed into the brilliance of the midmorning
sun, as the empty curves and sheer size of the view of the lake caught her eye and the edge of her heart. The water nearest
her was a blue as a lapis azure stone! The three layers of white clouds, thin near the water and then again near the
heights at resting place where the stars would lean their elbows tonight, wrapped themselves with the glory of the fading
day and swirling like a dancer who knows the music will soon end but the song of creation will go on forever. It was as if
the Creator Himself had heard her questions, and condescended, albeit graciously, to answer her, in a way even the pain in
her heart couldn’t dim! Even the sounds of the insects and birds stirred by the fading passions of the day and the brief
interlude of sacred dim before the majestic glories of the dark were revealed over the untouched vista of the lake denied
the presence of man except that they gathered in clans and families A line of six white and black birds skimmed the lower
edges of the lake where it allowed the backs of the fishing fleet to rest idly against its restless energy but she saw its
source, the act of creation which brought it into being, and felt a oneness with the land, the clustered buildings, the plowed
fields to her right and just below her.
A sense of love swept up to her shoulders and she heard the quiet
approach behind her but because Nimrod simply turned and looked she dismissed it as someone she knew. She didn’t want
to be forced out of this moment just yet, because her next step would be as a woman, and she wanted to linger as the happy
and unawares girl who’d excitedly followed her mother and brothers this far north! A songbird threw his powerful voice
against them in dismay and the slight haze of early morning fled at last, as did her wish to be alone. There was a great deal
waiting for Isaac once he was unbound and released from the sticks of wood as the sacrifice at his own father’s hand!
5 For the first time she thought she might understand, how he felt. A sacrifice
wasn’t allowed to struggle! It had to be calm when its throat was slit. Had he? He was younger and stronger than his
father, Abraham been ninety-nine years old when he was conceived, Sarah ninety! 6
These were suddenly less ‘images’ to her than real people, flesh and blood, as she was! She hunkered down in place,
hoping to make herself too small to draw the passer-by’s attention, and as she did so, she came under the shadow of
the small tree, and she could smell the earth from the new burrow being dug even before she could see it. But the sound of
the footfalls paused, then turned aside, and she reached her left arm and put it around the speckled dog who had now risen
to his feet, trying to watch the person’s approach behind them. His tail was wagging, in nervousness or greeting she
couldn’t tell, and she vainly wished them away.
The knees that protruded from
under the short Greek style tunic shocked her.She wasn’t used to see body parts exposed by clothing. The area above
and below bristled with individual, black hairs. And there were permanent cuts and pits from deep infection marring the foreleg
like thinness of the leg nearest her. The lack of body odor and the high-laced metal tipped sandals completed the identification
even before he spoke with a faint accent.
“ My name if, you choose to remember young princess, is Giovanni. And I could be executed
simply for speaking to you. “
She looked up at him immediately,
the quiet of the early morning and the vivid landscape completely abandoned.
“
I remember. “
“ Living as a slave all my life, I can’t presume….you have such a gentle
smile. You look like your mother and brother. I’m pleased to have met you both. “
“ But why do you risk such
a thing on my behalf? I am a female, the least among the least. “
“
The best person to make a spy. “ He said with a laugh, looking away
as he too crouched in the half-seated position, pleased that she’d answered him in Latin, though the words they used
were simply enough.
The speckled dog approached him grimly, stiffed legged, but he just held his hand out, knuckles curved under so the
surly beast knew he had nothing to fear from him.
“ Because I have a wife and four children of my own, including a girl near to your age,
but I prefer to live here than there. “
“
Where is your home? Your family? “
“
In the heart of the slums of Rome. “ He answered, without pretense
or apology. “ Do you wonder why I have stayed you when the others have gone? “
“ I stayed myself, adonai. You had nothing to do with it. “
He laughed, baring his teeth as he looked at her, readjusting his opinion of the simple country girl. No
wonder he was head-over-heels in love with her! A body promised that like wedded to a mind any man would envy, he sighed deeply
and looked away.
“ Is your brother going to Rome to beg Caesar to allow him to rule as his predecessor
did? “
He had to take a moment to explain and define the word for her, and define that it was Herod Agrippa of whom he spoke,
the (grand)son of Herod the Builder. But once she understood his meaning, her laugh was soft and contemptuous, and he stood
up as well, rankled by her arrogance. Then she did something that shocked him to the core of his being. She laid her small
hand against his arm and apologized. Pulling on it gently till he bent his face near and allowed her flashing teeth and petal
soft lips near.
“ Apologies accepted, Princess. “ He said
gruffly, looking away to give her an excuse to break free of him, for oddly, in that moment, he could not break away from
the sense of love and connection that flowed through them. It was the same strange feeling he’d had when that man had
entered his room and bid him stand. And when he had, smiled and disappeared.
“
To what purpose has he saved us, my lady? “ He shouted when
she realized she and the dog would no longer dawdle.
“ You’ll
have to ask him that! “ A child’s voice answered happily, as she scampered
toward the dust rising up from the ancient caravan road.
“ I’d
like to have an answer to that myself. “
Giovanni whirled,
gladius drawn and presented to the fore before he even saw the man who spoke. It was Xavier. He returned the worn but
efficient sword to its scabbard, looking back at the running dot as it disappeared into the near horizon.
“ Have you ever wondered? “
“
A better question might be, have I taken the time to dwell on anything else since I found the strength returned to
my limbs and but no joy returned to my life? “
The older warrior
nodded, his hands clasp in front of him like a statute of a Roman Senator, his face in repose yet with that guarded look one
would expect of a philosopher who knows his words are as far above the understanding of his listeners as a fine oration would
be to a mute ox dragging a wooden plow through the earth, yet he knew this man to be neither one of these, but a restless
spirit, a warrior. Able to seize an opportunity or a moment of weakness better than others, but too poor to be a general,
or someday Caesar.
“ I would like an answer before I die, Giovanni. "
He said in a cool, military authority. The scarred warrior saluted and fell silent as the man turned and walked away
as lightly as he’d approached.
“ As soon as I have one, you’ll be the second one to know. “
He answered softly, knowing that his love and respect for the Centurion was too great for him to have ever betrayed
his true feelings like that.
The homeowner returned to his nest and shrilly protested till the motionless human finally yielded to his threats and
walked down the incline toward the sun-baked buildings clustered together below.
-
Neither man was willing to show their relief when Machba`nel appeared at Shelomith’s house, but the middle aged
soldier sensed the reduction in tension, and it helped to ease his own uncertainty. More so because it was an all male establishment
with his mother and sister still in Jerusalem.
“ You knew the Nazarene
has fled for Rome, didn’t you son? We worried for nothing. Which one do you want to be, red or green?
“ He suggested as soon as the low tables were pulled away from the pulvina
where they reclined. Even the Lake seemed to be holding its breath and the birds stood in silent clumps at the
base of motionless trees in the private garden. Shelomith had left strict instructions on how they and the servants should
conduct themselves in her absence, but the two men paid little more heed to it than the child who played with the black and
white stones at their feet while her mother ‘rested’ in the broad Moorish house across the heat defined lane.
“ Is this another rumor you’ve been fed by my brother-in-law? “
“ Only if you’re married to Giovanni’s daughter and not your mothers. Sit down,
sit down, they left hours ago. Why the pained face? Isn’t this better than civil war? “ I don’t
blame him of course, it makes sense. In a fight, Rome would win, if they had to crucify every man woman and child in this
godforsaken land and bring in all new ones! “
“ He can hear you, you know, Abba. “ Machba`nel
said at last, when he had his feelings under enough control to speak.
“
The Nazarene? I doubt it. “ He’d meant it as an off hand joke, a
return to the casualness and ease that had been theirs before Machba`nel did the one thing he was unable to do: capture Barabbas.He
had no other purpose in life now, and he hated the feeling of impotence almost as much as the gnawing pain that never went
away and never stopped prickling at him in his most intimate moments.
“
And how is your wife? “ Xavier asked in a causal voice simply to prolong
the conversation and in the pause that followed he noticed his lack of inflection hadn’t warned the younger soldier
that the conversation was to be so quickly returned to him. When looked up from the wooden game board he realized by the lengthy
pause that it was his turn to speak as well as his to play.
“
Yoram’s fine! “ He said proudly. He was beginning to think of the
seven year old as his own, encouraged by the boy’s ready acceptance of him as the missing role model he craved since
his father’s acute loss.
“ I asked.
‘How is your wife?’ “ Though the words were said gently, they were
a rebuke. He hadn’t been able to penetrate this far under his adopted sons fierce garment of pride for many years, not
since Machba`nel realized he would never marry his mother as Shemi protested so ardently at the first. His anger at growing
old and less mobile while this man remained at his prime made the old warrior twist the blade once it found a soft spot, so
he smiled without speaking, or looking away from the younger man's face.
Machba`nel’s eyelashes fluttered rapidly in shock as he looked inward, then his hand seized the game piece as
he made a bold move almost surely guarantying him victory. Unlike his adopted father, he was a gracious winner.
“ She’s fine I’m sure. She hasn’t said anything to the contrary that I can
remember. “
He as puzzled by Xavier’s
deft unexpected move that won the bitterly contested game as he was by the slight smile that curved the Centurion’s
generous lips upward only briefly. Both succeed beyond the old man’s wildest expectations. Sometimes to win, is to lose.
“ I suppose you could earn extra ‘points’ with our imperial son-in-law if you
could tell him exactly where the Nazarene was housed in Rome just as his spies are merely telling him the Nazarene has fled
the country. “
“ Are you asking me to go, or telling me? “
“
Why, Marcus. You’re the Great One now, you decide! “
Uriel
fussed at the heat of the hands that picked her up until she saw it was her beloved Uncle, then she began to spew out the
childish nonsense a child uses for languages. The knot that gathered in the pit of the lonely old man’s
stomach when he found himself alone in the heat and the stillness of contempt for him as he was now, almost crushed him. But
his pride refused to die, and it wouldn’t allow him to do so either.
“
I’m going to the garrison to use the training grounds, coming with me, Giovanni? You can bring your ward Raymond.
I’ll need a sparing partner. “
“ Remember
what I told you! His pride is all that he has left. He was a man among men before you were even a wrinkle in your mother’s
belly! Hear me Raymond, I mean it! “
“ Yes, sir. “ Raymond agreed unwillingly but for
his mentor’s sake only.
Galilee
-
Keeping the newly risen sun to their
back and then at their right shoulder as Jesus led them north along the road above Joppa and Caesarea, they followed along
the sea coast at Tyre. The Magdalene privately voiced the hope that perhaps they would have the time for her to continue north,
to Sidon, since she still had family there, on her mother’s side. For the close-knit group who remained with him when
all the others fled, seeking excitement elsewhere, the sense of urgency and expectation had increased. The men who came to
challenge Jesus publicly were less and less local shtadlan’s defending their local friends and neighbors from
a radical new teaching as they were young to middle aged men well versed in the texts Matthew was continuing to teach her
in private. Men willing to endure the hardship and uncertainty of travel to confront the dusty figure from Galilee with some
profound eccentricity of the ancient words which they believed would be beyond the grasp of a simply man, taught only by a
local rabbi, Obadiah ben Jeezer, who’d been forced to return to the once proud town of priests and scholars, now dominated
by Gentiles and the Roman army, and thus prove him as a fraud in his claim to divinity and infallibility. Expecting to return
to Jerusalem covered with glory, not simply the dust of their journey and the sting of their defeat.
The cooler weather added a sense of adventure as they walked familiar paths. Each step carried her nearer a sense of
destiny and purpose as she watched the faith and the abilities grow of the men Jesus had chosen to be nearest his heart. Even
as He held them accountable to a greater degree than those around them, it served only to strengthen them, and as she and
Hulah became as close as sisters, Cephas slowly replaced the images of Joseph until what he was became the memory she held
of her loving father when he was as near. And the New Moon celebration brought them to rest in a settled
camp at the edge of the Great Sea. In eleven more days they would have to be in Jerusalem in Judea for the celebration of
the Passover and the start of the religious new year, and that journey would take at least a week, but as they sat around
the campfires to laugh, to talk, and to share, that necessity, even that world seemed as distant as the moon over their heads.
Her first glimpse of the great salt sea however, pushing the edge of the world so far beyond her that it disappeared
on the horizon, caused her knees to be too weak to hold her and all thoughts from her mind as if she were made entire of goat’s
milk! Although Uncle Hilkiah had come to the coastline decades ago in search of her mother and father who had gone to Alexandria
to save Jesus’ life as an infant, she had never seen so large an expanse of water, and it overwhelmed her. Lake Gennersart
had left her breathless. The sight of this cobalt blue expanse stretching and defining the horizon left her speechless!
There were so many different kinds of ships resting on the ridged back of the water, and the smells of the sea and
the promises it carried uphill were excitingly different from anything she’d ever known in her life! She hunkered down,
making herself even smaller in comparison to the flat horizon, clinging to the sweaty strong of fried animal hide tied to
Nimrod’s collar as if her every life depended on their not being separated!
Even
Judas Iscariot and Matthew, the former tax collector, at their side to protect their purses from the merchants and their excitement
from thieves and pickpockets, there was a delicious feeling of danger added to the smoky air. The familiar odors of bodies,
camel dung, and dried fish were somewhere transmuted by their exotic locale and for the first time she truly regretted that
Ishmael had lost hope and returned to Jerusalem to await the desert sheik’s next return. He would have loved this excitement,
this use of color, and perhaps even understood more of the shrill sing-song wails of the merchants used to try and draw people
into their cramped spider hole of merchandise on either side of the crowded, busy street! At one side street she recoiled
instinctively from the heavy smell of fresh urine, for the shallow trenches here were filled and the lack of sun between the
buildings allowed the smell of decay. A baby cried from a second story window nearby but every sound she tried to relate to
her own experience fractured into a dozen new sensations and awareness of color and movement, overwhelming her mind and her
startled eyes.
At the next street, the smell of dried dates and lambs wool greeted her, however briefly, then two more turns and they
were on the edge of a great marketplace with canopied stalls filled with precious bundles of vegetables, strings of dried
meat and great heaps of dried fruit, all overseen by squat people in drag clothing who didn’t come alive until they
saw a coin in your hand worthy of their precious goods. A group of three ragged street boys clustered around one. One felt
for her purse, another for her breast, but it was obvious by their smirks of enjoyment that they were only being so crude
because they wanted her to know where their hands had been! Once again, the strange look of Nimrod’s green eye
and one blue eye protected her quicker than the flick of a serpent’s tongue and they were gone, cursing in words she
understood, if only the tone of the screech used to push her and the ‘cursed thing’ away.
Matthew looked annoyed, thinking they would have targeted him for his rich men’s clothes that he refused to surrender
to their nomadic life, but Judas the Treasurer seemed to be smiling at her expense, and Ahava fought the all too familiar
rise of anger toward the handsome, and solicitous man.
“ Let’s
get the food and get back with the others! “ He said, managing to make it
sound like an insult to the younger woman’s ears but smiling urbanely and taking the older woman’s hand in his
own, peering deeply into the shadowed depths of her usually pale eyes.
The Magdalene
appeared momentarily flustered, and as she looked down up to her companion, she looked happy at the rare attention. Ahava
bit back her annoyance for the woman’s sake.
“ My husband’s shop was near here. I recognize his descriptions. There! That one!
“
Judas seemed genuinely reluctant to have to leave them but under the weight of the simultaneous, joyful and unexpected
greetings he choose to accompany Matthew to his rich friend’s house since it was obvious at a glance that the man stubbornly
maintained his Jewish identity outwardly.
“ This is as beautiful as I remember I gave it to my oldest daughter as a gift for her
wedding night. “ The Magdalene said wistfully as she pulled up the delicate stopped
from the polished myrtle wood container, passing it under the girl’s nose.
It
was shocking rare. As mellow and delicate as the wood and the dried leaves were pungent! Ahava nodded to show she’d
like to purchase one the size the proprietor’s wife was showing them, but after she took the money, watching it being
counted out so painfully, she substituted one twice the size, smiling to herself as she imagined the simple girl’s surprise
and delight when she went to wrap the gift for her oldest brother’s birth date gift. It was little enough to repay Miriam
for all her kindnesses!
