Two from Galilee by Holmes Marjorie

Author:Holmes, Marjorie [Holmes, Marjorie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

* * *

X

Contents - Prev / Next

Hannah plunged into the work of preparing Mary for the journey. It seemed to her that by drowning herself in action she could somehow deny it, this madness that had come upon her child. The thing now was to get Mary out of the village, away from Joseph, away from prying eyes and busy tongues. In case. Just ... in case. . . .

Not, truly, that there was cause for alarm. Hannah had reached a state where in sheer self-protection she was forced to reject the evidence that another part of herself, her pragmatic, common sense self, had witnessed. God would not do it to them! To her, maybe—she was only too bitterly aware of her grievous faults. But not to her husband Joachim. He had been punished enough. Wasn't it enough that their first son was twisted and doomed to walk in darkness? But not Joachim's daughter. Not Mary, their firstborn.

Mary was just overwrought with waiting, that was it. Hannah had had many dealings with midwives, often sat with them sucking a lusty pleasure from their tales. She knew that weird things happened to women sometimes when passion is denied. There was a girl who'd fancied herself pregnant by one of the high priests, and lo, her belly swelled, she had actual labor pains, and not until they showed her the newborn son of a neighbor did her straining subside.

Oh, but Hannah was tired, unutterably weary with worry. She felt as if she had been carrying a bag of heavy stones up a mountain and now, somehow, she must drop it to rest before taking up again whatever burden lay in store.

Let Mary visit her Aunt Elizabeth for a while. Let Elizabeth shelter her and counsel her and nurse her, if need be, back to sanity. Elizabeth was older and wiser despite the fact that she'd never borne a child. Let her learn what it was like to worry about one; children were not an unmixed blessing!

Hannah had always felt close to her beautiful older sister, and when the priest Zachariah carried her off to Jerusalem she had begged to go along. Mingled with her awed respect for Elizabeth was a trace of envy for the more graceful life she led. Yet always there had been the consolation that it was Hannah's narrow loins that had found favor, and not Elizabeth's, in the sight of God.

Well now—Hannah's mouth tightened—how much favor she had actually found remained to be seen. In any case, Elizabeth would offer shelter for the poor confused Mary for a time, and a period of respite for the rest of them.

Meanwhile, Joachim set about finding a way to get Mary safely to Ain-Karem. It was a four days' journey at best—eight days away from the ripening crops if he were to go along. When he thought of all that could happen to them in his absence he shuddered. Marauders and thieves were so common that many men kept watch at night.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.