Temple Boys by Jamie Buxton

Temple Boys by Jamie Buxton

Author:Jamie Buxton
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781626720374
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press


32

Flea looked at Crouch blankly. He had opened his mouth to say sorry when a quavering voice spoke.

“I was right. I was sure I could hear something up here. I knew I was right.”

“We’re just beggars. We’re lost. We haven’t done anything wrong,” Crouch squeaked.

“And I’ve got a knife.” Flea tried to sound menacing.

“Oh dear,” the voice said. “Miriam, they’re scared. Bring a light so they can see me. That should reassure them.”

A small oil lamp was passed up from below. Its light showed a very old man with long white hair and a white beard. “Two little angels fallen on our roof. Our prayers have been answered. Come quick.” The light played in the hollows and wrinkles of his face.

“How do we know we’ll be safe?” Flea said.

“Dear child, you don’t. But there’s no safety up here and the mob’s closing in. Even my deaf old ears can hear them. I beg you, come in.”

And before Flea could think of anything else, Crouch was crawling across the roof to the trapdoor and climbing down.

Flea followed him into a small square room. In one corner a fire burned in a simple clay oven. A roll of bedding was laid out in another. There was a rush mat in the middle of the floor and a few pots and plates stacked along the wall.

“Welcome,” the man said. “We heard you … arrive … just as we were saying our prayers. We have no interest in following the mob. The night before the Great Feast is a time for prayer and kindness.”

“We were praying for guests,” the woman said. “Our prayers have been answered.” She was a tiny concentration of sweetness and wrinkles. On her forehead and chin were tattooed small crosses the color of the sky at the end of a dusty summer’s day. “Sit, please. They are here.”

“Open up by the authority of the Temple,” a voice called out. The banging on the door made Flea wince.

“We have to run,” he hissed. Panic made him feel sick.

“Have faith. The Temple has no authority here,” the old woman said, with a smile. “Husband, send them away.”

The old man climbed down the stairs to the lower room. Over the flustered clucking of chickens they heard him calling out to wait and be patient as he unbarred the door.

“We’re looking for two children. Lawbreakers. Blasphemers. Have you—”

“Children?” the old man said. He sounded honestly confused.

“They come from a street gang. Been involved in terrorist activity. Have you seen anyone like that?”

“Nothing like that, but these old eyes…”

“Alone, are you?”

“I live with my wife.”

“Well, be careful. These are dangerous times.”

“Oh I know,” the old man said. “I know.”

He was smiling when he returned to the room. “Well, I didn’t lie, did I?”

“No, indeed you didn’t.” The old woman returned the smile. “You did very well.”

“When he said, ‘Have you seen anyone like that’ … the truth is, I have seen the thing itself, so nothing like it.”

“You’d split hairs with the barber,” the old woman said.



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