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Chapter 3

Chapter 3

The angel will tellof what happened to ie All he'll say is that they are dead and that I have to write el stories - of how Gabriel disappeared once for sixty years and they found hi in the body of a man named Miles Davis, or how Raphael snuck out of heaven to visit Satan and returned with so called a cell phone (Evidently everyone has them in hell now) He watches the television and when they show an earthquake or a tornado he'll say, "I destroyed a city with one of those once Mine was better" I ael prattle, but aboutbut what I saw And when the televisionhies the channel before I can learn anything

He never sleeps He just watches me, watches the television, and eats He never leaves the room

Today, while searching for extra towels, I opened one of the drawers and there, beneath a plastic bag meant for laundry, I found a book: Holy Bible, it said on the cover Thank the Lord I did not take the book froel There are chapters there that were in no Bible I know I saw the names of Matthew and John, I saw Romans and Galatians - this is a book of my time

"What are you doing?" the angel asked

I covered the Bible and closed the drawer "Looking for towels I need to bathe"

"You bathed yesterday"

"Cleanliness is important to my people"

"I know that What, you think I don't know that?"

"You're not exactly the brightest halo in the bunch"

"Then bathe And stand away from the television"

"Why don't you go get me some towels?"

"I'll call down to the desk"

And he did If I ael to leave the room

It cae of Nazareth, that Esther, the mother of one of the priests of the Temple, died of bad air The Levite priests, or Sadducees, were rich from the tributes we paid to the Tees The families of Nazareth made the journey to the next hill for the funeral, and for the first tiie as alked along the road

"So," she said without looking at us, "have you two been playing with any snakes lately?"

"We've been waiting for the lion to lay doith the lamb," Joshua said "That's the next part of the prophecy"

"What prophecy?"

"Never mind," I said "Snakes are for boys We are alin work after the Feast of Tabernacles In Sepphoris" I was trying to sound worldly Maggie seemed unimpressed

"And you will learn to be a carpenter?" she asked Joshua

"I will do the work of my father, eventually, yes"

"And you?" she asked me

"I' a professional e or two, take the rest of the week off"

"His father is a stoneing, my father had offered to take Joshua on as an apprentice if Joseph approved

"Or a shepherd," I added quickly "Being a shepherd seems easy I ith Kaliel last week to tend his flock The Law says that twoI can spot an abomination from fifty paces"

Maggie smiled "And did you prevent any abominations?"

"Oh yes, I kept all of the abominations at bay while Kaliel played with his favorite sheep behind the bushes"

"Biff," Joshua said gravely, "that was the abomination you were supposed to prevent"

"It was?"

"Yes"

"Whoops Oh well, I think I would es, Maggie? I'es"

"I think that when I grow up," Maggie announced, "I shall go back to Magdala and become a fisherman on the Sea of Galilee"

I laughed, "Don't be silly, you are a girl You can't be a fisherman"

"Yes I can"

"No, you can't You have to marry and have sons Are you betrothed, by the way?"

Joshua said: "Coie, and I will make you a fisher of men"

"What the hell does that ie asked

I grabbed Joshua by the back of his robe and began to drag hiets it from hisa dirge"

I began i

"La-la-la Oh, we are really, really sad that your mom is dead Too bad you're a Sadducee and don't believe in an afterlife and yourto be worht want to reconsider, huh? Fa-la-la-la-la-la-wacka-wacka" (It sounded great in Aramaic Really)

"You two are silly"

"Gotta go Mourning to do See you"

"A fisher of women?" Josh said

"Fa-la-la-la, don't feel bad - she was old and had no teeth left, la-la-la Come on, people, you know the words!"

Later, I said, "Josh, you can't keep saying creepy things like that 'Fisher of men,' you want the Pharisees to stone you? Is that what you want?"

"I'ie is our friend, she wouldn't say anything"

"You're going to scare her away"

"No I won't She's going to be with us, Biff"

"Are you going to marry her?"

"I don't even know if I'm allowed to marry at all, Biff Look"

We were topping the hill into Japhia, and we could see the crowd ofto a red crest that stood out above the crowd - the hel to the Levite priest, as arrayed in white and gold, his white beard reaching past his belt As we e we could see twenty or thirty other soldiers watching the crowd

"Why are they here?"

"They don't like it e gather," Joshua said, pausing to study the centurion commander "They are here to see that we don't revolt"

"Why is the priest talking to him?"

"The Sadducee wants to assure the Roman of his influence over us It wouldn't do to have a massacre on the day of his mother's funeral"

"So he's watching out for us"

"He's watching out for himself Only for himself"

"You shouldn't say that about a priest of the Temple, Joshua" It was the first tiainst the Sadducees, and it frightened me

"Today, I think this priest will learn who the Tes to"

"I hate it when you talk like that, Josh Maybe we should go home"

"Do you remember the dead meadowlark we found?"

"I have a really bad feeling about this"

Joshua grinned atyour dirge, Biff I think Maggie was i"

"Really? You think so?"

"Nope"

There was a crowd of five hundred outside the tomb In the front, the men had draped striped shawls over their heads and rocked as they prayed The wo of the hired lih the crowd When I turned again, Joshua had wormed his way to the front of the men, where the Sadducee stood beside the corpse of his deadfrom a scroll of the Torah

The worant oils I could smell sandalwood and jasmine amid the acrid sweat of the mourners as I made my way to the front and stood by Joshua He looked past the priest and was staring at the corpse, his eyes narrowed in concentration He was tre as if taken by a chill wind

The priest finished his reading and began to sing, joined by the voices of hired singers who had made the journey all the way from the Temple in Jerusalem

"It's good to be rich, huh?" I whispered to Joshua, elbowing hinored me and balled up his fists at his sides A vein stood out on his forehead as he burned his gaze on the corpse

And she moved

Just a twitch at first The jerk of her hand under the linen shroud I think I was the only one who noticed "No, Joshua, don't," I said

I looked for the Roroups of five at different points around the peri on the hafts of their short swords

The corpse twitched again and raised her arasp in the crowd and a boy screa away and the wo Joshua fell to his knees and pressed his fists to his te on

The corpse sat up

The singers stopped and finally the priest turned to look behind his off of the slab and looked as if she was trying to stand The priest stu at the air before his eyes as if it so this horrible vision

Joshua was rocking on his knees, tears strea down his cheeks The corpse stood, and still covered by the shroud, turned as if she was looking around I could see that several of the Romans had drawn their swords I looked around and found the conals to his men to stay calm When I looked back I realized that Joshua and I had been deserted by the mourners and we stood out in the empty space

"Stop it, now, Josh," I whispered in his ear, but he continued to rock and concentrate on the corpse, who took her first step

The crowd see corpse, but ere too isolated, too alone noith the dead, and I kneould only be seconds before they noticed Joshua rocking in the dirt I threw ed hiroup ofas they backed away

"Is he all right?" I heard atbeside me

"Help et him away"

Maggie took one of Joshua's ared hi staff, and he kept his gaze trained on the corpse

The dead wo away, brandishing the scroll like a sword, his eyes as big as saucers

Finally the woman fell in the dirt, twitched, then lay still Joshua went limp in our arms

"Let's get hiie She nodded and helpedhis troops

"Is he dead?" the centurion asked

Joshua was blinking as if he'd just been awakened from a deep sleep "We're never sure, sir," I said

The centurion threw his head back and laughed His scale ar of his shoulders He was older than the other soldiers, gray-haired, but obviously lean and strong, and totally unconcerned with the histrionics of the crowd "Good answer, boy What is your name?"

"Biff, sir Levi bar Alphaeus, who is called Biff, sir Of Nazareth"

"Well, Biff, I am Gaius Justus Gallicus, under-commander of Sepphoris, and I think that you Jews should make sure your dead are dead before you bury them"

"Yes sir," I said

"You, girl You are a pretty little thing What is your name?"

I could see that Maggie was shaken by the attention of the Rodala, sir" She wiped at Joshua's broith the edge of her shawl as she spoke

"You will break someone's heart someday, eh, little one?"

Maggie didn't answer But I must have shown soain "Or perhaps she already has, eh, Biff?"

"It is our way, sir That's s bury our women when they are still alive It cuts down on the heartbreak"

The Roman took off his hel sweat at et your friend into the shade It's too hot out here for a sick boy Go on"

Maggie and I helped Joshua to his feet and began to lead hione only a few steps, Joshua stopped and looked back over his shoulder at the Roman "Will you slay my people if we follow our God?" he shouted

I cuffed him on the back of the head "Joshua, are you insane?"

Justus narrowed his gaze at Joshua and the smile went out of his eyes "Whatever they tell you, boy, Rome has only two rules: pay your taxes and don't rebel Follow those and you'll stay alive"

Maggie yanked Joshua around and set him out of the sun" Then she turned back to Joshua "Is there so you tould like to tell me?"

"It's not me," I said "It's him"

The next day we el for the first time Mary and Joseph said that Joshua had left the house at dawn and they hadn't seen hi, looking for Joshua and hoping to run into Maggie The square was alive with talk of the walking dead woman, but neither of my friends was to be found At noon my mother recruited me to watch my little brothers while she went to ith the other wo of sweat and sine, her feet purple fro in the winepress Cut loose, I ran all over the hilltop, checking in our favorite places to play, and finally found Joshua on his knees in an olive grove, rocking back and forth as he prayed He was soaked in sweat and I was afraid he e, I never felt that sort of concern for , Joshua filled me with divinely inspired worry

I watched, and waited, and when he stopped his rocking and sat back to rest, I faked a cough to let hi

"Maybe you should stick with lizards for a while longer"