An Echo in the Darkness(34)

Clenching her hands, Hadassah remembered the pain she had felt when she had revived after being mauled by the lion. Alexander had worked on her as gently as possible, but the pain had still been excruciating.

Suddenly Alexander yanked the curtain aside and ordered Hadassah into the booth. “See if you can do something with them,” he said, his face strained and pale. “One would think I was performing vivisection,” he muttered under his breath.

She moved around him to get near the shrieking child. Tears poured down the mother’s white face, and she clutched her daughter, every bit as terrified of Alexander as the child. “Why don’t you get something to eat, my lord?” Hadassah suggested mildly and turned him toward the curtain.

As soon as he was gone, the child’s sonorous screams eased to gulping sobs. Hadassah set two stools near the hot brazier. She indicated the woman could sit on the one while she lowered herself painfully to the other. It had been a long day, and her leg ached so badly each movement sent pain shooting up to her hip and down to her knee. Yet, she was certain her pain was far less than the poor child was suffering. Something had to be done. But what?

Alexander was too eager with his knife.

She remembered suddenly how her mother had treated a boil on a neighbor’s hand. Perhaps the same method would work here, now.

Please, Lord, let this work for your glory.

First, the child had to be calm and cooperative. Hadassah rose again, asking the woman questions about her family, while she poured fresh water into a basin and set it on the hard ground in front of Ephicharis’ feet. The child looked down at it suspiciously and then hid her face in her mother’s breasts. Hadassah kept speaking softly, encouraging the mother to answer. As Ephicharis talked, she relaxed. And as she relaxed, the child relaxed with her, turning to sit on one knee and stare at Hadassah adding salt crystals to the steaming water in the pot on the brazier.

“Why don’t you take the bandage off her foot?” Hadassah said. “She’ll be more comfortable. I’ll put a little hot water in the basin, and she can soak the foot. It’ll ease her pain.”

The child moaned when the mother did as Hadassah said. “Put your foot in the water, Helena. That’s it, my love. I know it hurts. I know. That’s why we’ve come to the physician. So he can make your foot better.”

“Would you like me to tell you a story?” Hadassah asked, and at the child’s shy nod, she told of a young couple traveling to a distant town to register for taxes. The lady was expecting a baby, and when it came time for the child to be born, there was no place for them in the inn. In desperation, the mother and father found shelter in a cave where cows and donkeys and other animals were kept—and there the little baby was born.

“When the baby was born, Joseph and Mary wrapped him in swaddling cloths and placed him in a manger.”

“Was he cold?” little Helena asked. “I get cold sometimes.”

The mother stroked the fair hair back from the child’s face and kissed her cheek.

“The cloths and hay kept him warm,” Hadassah said. She poured some water from the basin, then added more hot water and set the pot back on the brazier. “It was spring, and so the shepherds had taken the sheep out on the hillsides. That night, up in the dark sky, they saw a beautiful new star. A star that shone more brightly than all others. And then a wondrous thing happened.” She told them about the angels sent by God to tell the shepherds about the baby and, when Helena asked, explained what angels were. “The shepherds came to see the baby and bow down to him as their Messiah, which means ‘the anointed one of God.‘”

“What happened then?” Helena said, eager for more.

“Well, the new family stayed in Bethlehem for quite a while. Joseph was a good carpenter, and so he was able to work and support his family. Some months later, some men came from another country to see the child who had been born under the new star. They recognized that this child was very special, that he was more than just a man.”

“Was he a god?” Helena said, eyes wide.

“He was God come down to live among us, and the men from the far country brought him gifts: gold because he was a King, frankincense because he was the High Priest for all men, and myrrh because he would die for the sins of the world.”

“The baby was going to die?” the child said in disappointment.

“Shhh, Helena. Listen to the story . . . ,” the mother said, caught up in it herself.

Hadassah added more hot water to the basin. “There was a wicked king who knew the child would grow up and be a King, and so he looked for him in order to kill him.” She set the pot back on the brazier. “The men from the far countries knew of this king’s plans and warned Joseph and Mary. They didn’t know what to do and waited for the Lord to tell them. An angel appeared to Joseph and told him to take the mother and child to Egypt where he would be safe.”