Young Samaritan (eBook)

2
Family

The sun’s mid-morning rays pierced through the tiny open space above Joshua’s bed, causing him to stir. Still clinging to the last vestiges of a dream, Joshua heard his mother’s soft voice. “I miss him too.” Slowly opening his eyes, he squinted into the face of his mother seated next to him on the bed.

“I’m sorry, mother, I didn’t mean what I said about you.”

“I know you didn’t, dear boy. Your father was such a wonderful man and he loved us all so much, but I worry the most about you.” Gently combing Joshua’s hair with her fingers, she said, “Father would want us all to stay strong as a family and he would look to you for that strength. Not a day goes by that I don’t think about how hard this is on you, Joshua, but even in this sadness, we must carry on. I believe that is what your father is saying to us now.”

Rising up from his thin bedding, Joshua told his mother, “I know father would never have wanted Langer in this family, yet he is here and everyone in the village seems to accept this. It just feels so wrong. He is so cruel, mother.”

“He is a frightened and weak man, Joshua. We will talk about this again and I will tell you the whole story. But now you have work to do. And one more thing, my dear son: I will never ever let any harm come to you from that man. With every bone in my body I make that promise to you.” With a firm kiss on Joshua’s forehead, his mother rose from the sleeping pallet with a firm order to get to work.

•••

After a long drink of fresh goat milk, Joshua headed out the door in search of the three goats that had slipped out in the night. As he hiked up the hill in the heat of the day with his walking staff and a coil of rope, he felt confident he would soon capture the wayward goats, as they seldom ventured much further than the very spot where Joshua lay gazing into the night sky not so long ago. After the confident and reassuring words of his mother, he felt ready to take on the day’s challenges even if that meant another encounter with Langer. Sure enough, just fifty or so paces ahead were his escapees standing side by side chewing on clumps of tall grass that spiked around the scattered rocks. They looked unperturbed as each made soft noises and allowed Joshua to gently tie the three of them together before feeding them each a juicy fig and leading the easy-going runaways back down the hill. As the small barn and tiny goat pen came into view, Joshua again reminded himself to not let Langer spoil his sunny mood no matter what happened.

The other twelve goats welcomed their wayward companions with a steady chorus of baas as Joshua opened the gate to usher them in. He immediately spotted the small hole under the side fence where the breakout occurred and smiled to himself, knowing the rest of the herd had not shared the same need for adventure last night. Joshua immediately went to work filling in the gap and driving a stake into the narrow space. While completing this task, he felt a shadow cover the brightness of the midday sun over his head.

“I see it didn’t take long for you to go crying to your mother, baby boy,” wheezed Langer. Joshua kept working and did not turn to face him. “Look at me when I talk to you, boy!”

“Leave him alone!” cried Talia.

“Don’t talk to our brother like that. You’re not his father and you never will be,” shouted Tamar. The twins stood their ground behind Langer, each holding a basket of fresh eggs for market.

Slowly turning around, Langer bent down to face the girls. “Can’t you see I’m trying to make a man out of the boy?” barked Langer before walking away.

“Why should he ever listen to you?” shouted Talia. “You’re just a mean man that doesn’t belong here,” added Tamar as Langer disappeared into the barn.

Turning to face the twins, Joshua vowed to kick Langer in the crotch the next time he tried to push him around. Their brother’s words drew laughter from the twins as they each gave Joshua a tight hug before running off with their filled egg baskets.

Joshua spent the rest of the day shoveling goat waste scattered about the pen and inside the barn to be used later to fertilize the grape vines, fig trees, and vegetable garden. Many seasons ago, Joshua’s father taught him everything about caring for the goats, from how to earn their trust when it came to milking chores, the importance of shoveling their dung, to always keeping their straw fresh and never forgetting to fill their water trough. The goat chores were now second nature to Joshua, but today he terribly missed the times when his father would walk by the pen and call out to him, “Those goats look better under your care than they ever did with me, son.”

The thought of his father gone forever was so hard for Joshua to accept. Especially at times like this when the day’s chores were done and he vividly remembered the two of them walking side by side back home with the setting sun crowning the Samaria foothills. As Joshua made his way to the house alone, he forced himself to recall the words of his mother at his bedside. Even in this sadness we must carry on. I know that is what your father is saying to us now.

Stepping inside, Joshua took in the aroma of turnip and potato stew simmering in the large clay pot over the fire. “Joshua’s home,” cried Leah as she sat at the big table watching her mother prepare the evening meal. Soon Talia and Tamar bounded out of their chamber all smiles, clothed in their favorite bright blue tunics, which accentuated their pitch-black hair and dark emerald eyes. Joshua’s mother and little sister Leah shared the same ebony hair, striking eyes, and glowing white skin as the twins. If Joshua didn’t know any better, he would swear he came from a different family, but the vivid memory of his father’s long curls of hair, brown as the Samaria soil, was just like his. Their matching deep olive skin tone and brown eyes left little doubt to any villager passing by that they indeed were father and son.

Taking their usual places around the table, Joshua’s mother ladled out steaming bowls of stew to all the girls before placing the largest serving in front of Joshua. The bread prepared that morning was quickly divided among all the family as a large clay pitcher of goats’ milk was passed around the table. Before lifting a spoon, their mother called for a moment of silence to honor the memory of their father and to offer thanks to the one God who guided them through times of joy and times of sorrow into a future that only Yahweh knew. Every night that their mother spoke these words before the meal, Joshua harbored bitter thoughts of how this God could take his father away from him at a time when he needed him the most.

As he allowed his mind to dwell on the unfairness of things and why his mother prayed to such a powerless God, Joshua’s attention was diverted to the twins who appeared to be conspiring with one another. Finally, Tamar spoke up while suppressing a smile, “Joshua said he’s going to kick Langer in the crotch!”

“My goodness, Joshua, is that true?” inquired his mother as she too held back a smile.

“I sure am!” declared Joshua. “I’m going to kick him so hard there that he’ll fall flat to the ground and won’t get up for days, even while the chickens peck his ugly face!”

After a momentary pause, little Leah started to giggle and soon the twins joined in. Even their mother couldn’t hold back. Looking around the table at the hilarity of it all, Joshua himself had to laugh at his own expense. It was, after all, a very amusing thought that this thin boy they loved so much would be so bold as to kick the man they despised so hard that he would fall to the ground in agony.

As the evening meal clean-up chores were nearly completed, Joshua’s mother called him aside. “I think tonight may be a good time for you and I to have that talk about Langer and why he’s here. I owe you that explanation and much more about our family.”

After a quiet moment between the two, his mother ushered her young son out the door to make his nightly rounds checking on the goats and Lulu, their beloved donkey, and the many chickens huddling in the barn.

“If you happen to see Langer, just tell him I will leave his plate of food by the steps leading up to the roof, like always, but don’t linger and please don’t listen to anything he says. Do you understand me, Joshua?”

“Yes,” Joshua softly replied and headed out the door.

As he quickly circled the family property, Joshua looked forward to tonight’s talk with his mother. Did his family have secrets, he wondered. Were there fierce battles fought defending his family’s land? What happened to everyone? Why did he only know of his mother’s brother who lived alone on the far side of the village? These were some of the many thoughts spinning in Joshua’s head when he spied Langer sitting on the bare ground, braced against a barn wall. He seemed barely awake, although he occasionally lifted a large leather pouch to his lips. Slowly walking past Langer’s crumpled figure, Joshua heard his chilling words faintly from behind. “Your time is coming, boy.”

Joshua walked on, but...