Two Women of Galilee by Mary Rourke

Author:Mary Rourke
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: MIRA Books
Published: 2006-10-15T00:00:00+00:00

When law and order had been restored in the city and the curfew was finally lifted, I received an invitation from the tetrarch’s palace. The golden scarab imprinted on it belonged to Herodias.

“The ladies of the court,” it read, “a private viewing…a new acquisition,” and so on. “Five in the afternoon,” the day was noted. Her quarters, there would be no escaping it. Chuza knew nothing about it when I asked him.

“She wants to show the women her new pet,” I said. “I can just hear her.” I imitated her guttural accent, “Ladies, pleeeze. My pan-ther was cap-churet for me een Eendia.”

“Careful,” Chuza said.

“You can kees his nose, eef you like.”

My husband wagged his head to disapprove of my performance.

I dressed simply that afternoon to avoid out doing my hostess, which would be difficult. Her tattooed ankles and hennaed palms were beyond my limits. And her hair—far be it from me to advise her against wearing it as she did. It hung over her forehead like a black curtain, in the style of Cleopatra.

Servants and valets fell over one another to receive us at the palace. I passed through Herodias’s new garden. Cactus, shaped like men’s body parts. It had been long, happy months since I last saw Herodias’s apartment with its marble-pebbled walls and red swags at the doorways.

Unsuspecting, I paused at a wall painting near a purple couch. It took me a moment to recognize the scene. A band of straggle-haired nymphs skulked through the woods under the morning stars. Coming upon a camp of men who lay asleep on the ground, they tiptoed closer.

From there, I had to look more carefully to be sure of what I was seeing. Tormentors, they preyed on the unsuspecting men for their own amusement.

I drew back, as stunned by the lewd scene as if I had come upon it in real life.

Herodias kept us waiting and entered with servants trailing behind her. Four of them carried a large, dome-shaped object covered by a black sheet that they placed on a table near the center of the room. We moved closer as she motioned us to toward her. Herodias was not good at public speeches. I plastered a smile on my lips.

“Ladies, hear me,” she began, waving us in. “I have something you will want to see.”

Her voice was a thick gurgle. I held my smile despite her long, awkward pause.

“That is so,” she continued, pointing toward the mystery cargo. “I have wanted to own this prize.” Another strained pause, then she turned and snapped her fingers at a servant, who stepped forward and lifted the veil. She folded her hands across the huge lapis belt buckle on her stomach.

I saw a box made of iron that resembled a latticed prison door. Herodias unhooked a latch.

“Can everyone see?” she asked. “Ladies, look here, please.” The door swung open. I was close to it and had a clear view. A human head hung inside the box, the tongue thrusting from a gaping mouth.

I dropped my cup.

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