***
“What did you do?” Lily was looking at them angrily when they stopped spinning. Logan was holding Finne. Finne wordlessly handed a small stone to his big sister, as if this would somehow explain things. Lily pursed her lips. “We've got a visitor.”
Lucien ran after her. “Who is it?”
“Father Andrew. He came for dinner and to bless the yurts.”
“Can I have David's stone?” Logan held out his hand.
Lily raised her eyebrows but, saying nothing, she dropped the stone in his palm. Logan hastily put it in the ark box.
Time Machine
The children found Fr. Andrew playing tag (or something) with Molly, Brody, Rhett and Mags. Their mothers had made a pasta dish in honor of their Italian guest. Afterwards they took him for the tour. He raised a brow and looked at the Gonker children in confusion when their parents showed him the sqwap. But, making no comment, he gave the little creature a blessing.
“You know,” Father Andrew said, after he had completed the tour and all were comfortably stretched out in lawn chairs around the fire pit, “You people are living in a time machine.” Several of the children looked up sharply. “That is,” he continued smoothly, “a machine that tells time.” He explained how the configuration of a yurt was the same as a sundial. If one were to mark the spot on the wall or floor where the sun shone in through the skylight at eight AM and write down the date, it would be in the exact same spot next year at that time on the same date, and the following year, and the following unto infinity.
This was new information to their parents. They discussed the ramifications of their house being a calendar and compared it to Stonehenge and other things that went over the heads of the children. After a while Logan asked if he could speak to Fr. Andrew in private. His parents suggested the Gonker yurt. There was a moment of silence before Father began, “So, have you made use of my gift?”
Logan nodded.
“Is that where the sqwap came from?”
“We got him from Noah's ark.” Logan looked at the floor. “And yes, we know how serious this is.” His lip trembled. “We caused a species to be extinct, but,” he hastened to explain, “It was an accident.”
“It usually is.” Father sighed. “Are you sorry?”
Logan nodded.
“I absolve you. Just take good care of it now.” Father paused before asking, “Is there anything else?”
“Just a question. The boys and I went to see David and Goliath.” Logan shuddered. “I know David is a saint. But he killed a person…” his voice trailed off.
Father Andrew sighed. “David was quite a contrast. He killed many, committed horrible sins, also. But he was a model of repentance. Just remember,” he solemnly met Logan's eyes, “there is a time to fight.”
“But Jesus never fought.”
“This is true.” Father said nothing for a moment. “And it is always a last recourse. But there are saints who died defending others.” Neither said anything for awhile, but then Father got up. “It's about time I head back. Let's have one more quick game of tag.”
Green Eyes
“Your turn to pick up the sqwap poop,” Lily reminded Lucien when they got up the next morning.
Lucien didn't look up from the hand held video (his one toy) he was playing. “I did morning poop yesterday.”
“But remember…” Lillian put her hand between him and the game, “you traded for bathroom yurt cleanup last night.”
“Oh, yeah.” Lucien groaned and turned off his game. Really, they were going to have to do something about training the little critter.
“I'll hold him while you get the chicken coop first.”
“Hey,” Lucien exclaimed, “It's clean in here. Let's put him outside to do his business.”
Lily carried the little blue furball outside. “Logan and I were talking about the saints book before you guys got up. Have you noticed that they all have green eyes?”
“Mmm hmm.” Lucien bent over to pick up the sqwap droppings with a baggie. “Jesus' eyes were green, too.”
“Kind of, less though. They had a little bit of the other colors, too. But you're thinking what we were thinking. All of the people in the saints book that could see us and talk to us were ancestors of Jesus. They had the same bloodline. I checked in the Bible in our yurt.”
“Do you think the other Old Testament heroes, the ones not in Jesus' bloodline, could see us?” He took the sqwap from Lily and cuddled him.
“I'm kind of afraid to test it.” Lily bit her lip. “What if we got stuck?”
“We'd have to find one of Jesus' ancestors, I guess.”
“How would we know that?”
“Green eyes…?”
“Maybe. Anyway, Dad said he was taking you guys into town to visit Aunt Jamie's boys. So the girls and I are planning to go somewhere without you.” At his look she quickly added, “It's only fair.”
“Where are you going?”
“I was thinking about visiting the Annunciation. We know Jesus' mother had His bloodline.”
He could hardly argue since the boys had arbitrarily gone to the story of David and Goliath the previous day.
“Fine. So, anyway, I just thought I'd tell you before we did it.” She gave him a pointed look. “I didn't want to be sneaky.”
“I'm sorry we were sneaky.” Lucien looked like he meant it, too. “But you wouldn't have wanted to go.”
“Probably not.”
“Probably…?”
“Depends on how cute David was.” Lily grinned.
Mary
“I want to see an angel, goodie!” Molly hopped up and down. Lily had been unable to get permission for Mags. One of their mother's friends from her Babywearing Group had come to visit and she had a little girl the same age as Magdalene.
“Let's not let Mary see us, though. I don't want to change anything,” Lily's face was anxious. “It's too important.” This was an understatement. If the children had accidentally gotten rid of a species, imagine an error which caused Jesus never to be born. Conception was a delicate thing. Lily knew this from listening in on the ladies who came to talk to her mother.
Molly's eyes were really big. “I'll be Sneaky,” she said, “It's my best thing.”
So they found a spot in the story a bit before the event and Lily read. “Quick, hide!” Lily pulled her sister behind a shrub and they waited by the well until they saw Mary coming up the path. They recognized her from their previous journey to the birth in Bethlehem. At this time, nine months earlier, they knew, she had lived in Nazareth and had only been betrothed. Just after she had filled her jug and was preparing to hoist it on her head, Joseph swooped in and took the vessel from her.
“How's the most beautiful girl in Galilee, today?”
Mary smiled but looked confused with the compliment. “Joseph,” she said.
“I have some news for you…” he paused to add suspense.”Guess who is almost done building our new home? Two more Sabbaths and we can be together.” Then, at her under enthused reaction,”You are anxious to be my wife…?”
“Joseph,” she met his eyes earnestly. “There is no better man than you…” Why was she finding this so difficult?
But Joseph was oblivious to the unspoken feelings beneath her words. He scooped her up and twirled in a circle. Then he cheerfully headed down the path to the house where Mary lived with her parents. Lily and Molly waited in the little garden behind their house. They listened to the sounds of evening insects and little creatures scurrying and they watched the sun creep nearer the horizon. Finally Mary came alone to the garden and sat, her eyes raised to Heaven. “Why does no one understand that I have already promised myself to You?” she said to the sky. “What man could possibly make me happy the way you do?”
It was then that the sky split and the most enormous winged person dropped within feet of her. “Hail, she who has been perfected in Grace.” the Angel said in a rumbling but melodious voice. “The Lord is with you.”
>
To say Mary looked confused was an understatement. To say the two Gonker girls were anything but mesmerized would have been a complete lie.
“Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. Behold! You will conceive and bear a Son, and you shall name Him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called Son of the Most High and the Lord God will give Him the throne of David, His father… and of His kingdom there will be no end.”
“How will this be?” Mary seemed not unbelieving, but puzzled.
“The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore the child to be born will be called the Son of God. And behold, Elizabeth, your kinswoman, has also conceived a son in her old age, and this is the sixth month for her who was called barren. For nothing will be impossible with God.”
Mary bowed her head, strangely calm now. “Behold the handmaiden of the Lord,” she said. “Be it done to me according to your word.” Suddenly from the heavens descended an opaque cloud. When the cloud lifted the angel was gone, Mary's face was radiant. Then she perceived Lily and Molly sitting still as stones in the bush. She opened her arms to them because they looked frightened. Saying nothing, she embraced them. And they were sent home.
Lily looked at Molly and Molly looked with amazement at the blue grey feather in her hand. The air still seemed tingly, like at any moment the sky might split and drop an angel again. “Do you think she knew we wey they the whole time?” Molly asked, after they had put the feather in the ark box.
Lily shook her head. “It was almost like she was a completely different person after the angel. She went from seeming like a girl to a mother in only a few minutes.”
“That was a happy one, but I still feel scayed.” Molly was shivering.
“That angel was crazy big.” Lily sifted through their more recent treasures: twig from the oak of Mamre, pebble from David… (They had eaten the figs they brought home from Abraham's feast, and the Sqwap wouldn't stay in the box (not that they tried.) The angel feather seemed almost too precious to be real.
St Jude
Logan's cousins were visiting. Uncle Paul, Aunt Jamie, Abel, Noah, and baby Jude. At first they were all playing happily. Then, somehow, Lucien persuaded Abel to change the game they had all been playing together for a contest to determine who was world champion of Lucien’s video game and the game was exclusive. They wouldn't let Logan have a turn at all.
First Logan screamed, then he tried to steal the toy from his brother, which shocked his parents. He was sent off to think about his behavior, and he was still steaming mad. When he sauntered off to the rec tent by himself, he wasn't at first planning on going anywhere in the church book. But then he got bored and he thought he might read a few bios. Next thing he knew he was on the page about how St. Jude, baby Jude's namesake, had brought the burial Shroud of Jesus to Edessa. St. Jude was his grandmother's favorite saint and the bio said that Jude was a cousin of Jesus. Jesus had cousins, and one of them was named Jude-- just like Logan! That sounded like a cool adventure. To be truthful, part of him wanted to get Lucien back by excluding his brother from an outing. Let him see how it felt. The next thing he knew he was reading out loud…
And then he was there. In the middle of the desert on the back of a two-hump camel, sitting behind St. Jude. “Whoa!” Jude almost fell off. “Where did you come from?”
Logan chewed on his lip. “The future. I didn't mean to scare you.”
The Shroud
St. Jude breathed out. “That's okay. I should have known I might get a turn. Gonkers… right? We have legends about you guys.” He squinted his greenish eyes at Logan dubiously. “Have you ever ridden a camel before?” When Logan shook his head he tugged his beard, seemingly deep in thought. “Just hold on tight. You're not so heavy in your ghost state. I'm in the middle of a journey of more than two Sabbaths. I can't afford to sit and talk until nightfall, although I'd be happy to visit as we ride. Just why have you come to see me?”
“The cloth,” said Logan. “I've always wanted to see the burial cloth of Jesus. We call it the Shroud of Turin, and there are 'Shroudies', people like my grandma, who read everything they can find about it.”
“Well, it's special to me, because it belonged to Jesus, but what could be so interesting to people of the future about a piece of cloth?”
“The image, for starters,” Logan said. “If you look closely you can see the image of Jesus burned into the cloth at the moment he was resurrected.”
This caused Jude to stop the camel, dig out the cloth and look at it. “I can't see anything,” he said after a minute.
“I know it sounds weird but that's because you're too close.” Logan walked backwards ten paces. “There,” he said. “You can see the image from here.”
Jude joined him. “Oh, I do see it!” He shook his head in wonder. “Now how do you think that happened?”
Logan picked up a pebble and began tossing and catching it with one hand. “They don't know for sure. But a lot of people have spent years studying it. And this piece of cloth has been able to tell people of the future lots of things, like how Jesus was buried, and where, and that he actually died. Some people even say it can prove His resurrection.”
“They don't have to prove that to me,” Jude said, chewing on a leaf. “I saw Him alive after the crucifixion plenty of times.”
“So,” Logan said, “I was wondering why you gave it away to Edessa, if it was so special.”
“For Jews something which has touched a dead man is taboo.”
“But not for you?”
“It belonged to Jesus… and Jesus wasn't dead. Anyway,” he got up and started arranging his pack, “that's why it was best for us to hand it off to people who don't have that rule. Someone here might destroy it. Say,” he offered Logan his water jug, “are you thirsty?”
Logan realized he was-- really was-- but unfortunately he was unable to drink. His hand passed right through the container. “Maybe I should go now…” Logan was starting to feel a bit faint.
“How do we do that?”
“Just touch me, I guess.”
St. Jude touched his arm, then his head, then his leg. Nothing happened.
“Oh, man…” Logan began to quiver. “It always worked before.” But now Jesus had risen from the dead. He realized, somehow, this had changed the rules.
“Don't worry,” Jude said. “We'll figure it out. It's probably not time yet. Here,” he cut a tiny snip from the edge of the Shroud and gave it to Logan. “A memento.” Then he boosted him onto the camel hump.
Trapped
They traveled for hours, at least that's how it felt to Logan. At nightfall they were still in the middle of nowhere, and he was feeling too weak to hang on to the camel anymore. If they hadn't stopped he would have fallen off.
“Don't worry,” St. Jude put his arm around Logan. “I have prayed and I know all will be well.” Jude gently set Logan on a rock. “There is a special prayer we reenact before breaking bread, those of us who follow Jesus… Perhaps if I do this, as He asked, you will be healed.” Then Jude took a chunk of bread and a jug from his pack and set them on another rock and turning his face to the sky, he prayed, “Baruch atah Adonai Melech Ha'olam.”
“Blessed be God forever,” Logan answered weakly. “Father Andrew says that prayer.”
Jude lifted the bread and jug. “This is my Body, which will be given for you. This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which will be shed for you and for all. Do this in memory of Me.”
Then Jude lifted what once was a chunk of bread and jug of wine. “Behold the Lamb of God. Blessed are those who are called to the supper of the Lamb.”
“Lord,” Logan said haltingly, “I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof… But only say the word… and my soul shall be…”
“Healed,” Jude finished for Logan. Then Jude ate the bread and handed the jug to Logan. When he drank he found himself spinning. He landed with a thud in his body in the rec tent, and
immediately passed out from thirst.