Marta’s children ran to her, eager to play with their little cousin. Laughing, she put Caleb down. Most of the children in the village ran about naked and dirty. Other than to make sure they didn’t wander off too far, the mothers left them to roam and play at will. Caleb delighted in their exuberant company, as did she. What a blessed change from the gathering of angry men in the longhouse.
“Elsa! Derek!” Marta called from where she worked at her loom just outside the doorway of her longhouse. “Come away from Rizpah and stop bothering her.”
“They’re no bother, Marta,” Rizpah said, smiling.
Marta ignored her. “Derek! Come here!”
Rizpah’s smile faded as the children walked glumly back to their mother. Others were called away until she stood alone in the street, Caleb bobbing up and down and chattering excitedly. Marta spoke to her children briefly and nodded toward the woods. They argued, but were quickly silenced and sent on their way. Elsa looked back at Rizpah, her expression poignant.
“Go, Elsa!”
Caleb wanted to go with them. “Sa! Sa! Sa!” he said, toddling after his older cousin. Crying, Elsa started to run. Caleb fell. Pushing himself up, he cried. “Sa . . . Sa . . .”
Hurt, Rizpah knelt down and set him aright. Brushing off his linen tunic, she kissed him. Straightening, Rizpah lifted Caleb and looked across at Marta. How could she do this?
Pressing her face into Caleb’s neck, she prayed. “God, take my anger away,” she murmured, fighting back tears. Raising her head, she saw Marta was sitting with her head down, her hands still in her lap.
Her anger toward her sister-in-law evaporated. Marta wasn’t cruel. She was afraid. When she looked up again, Rizpah smiled at her gently to show she held no ill will against her. She remembered what it was like to live in darkness and be afraid.
“We’ll go for a walk and visit Theophilus,” she murmured to Caleb and started down the street again.
“Theo . . . Theo . . .”
“Yes, Theo.” She set him down and took his hand, pacing her steps to his much smaller ones.
Theophilus’ grubenhaus was almost finished. A small fire was burning in the open area in front of it, but their friend was nowhere around. Curious, she stepped down into the sunken hut to see inside. He had done more digging since the last time she came to see the house. The hollow was five feet deep and ten by twelve feet in size. In the far corner was a pallet of straw and two thick, woolen blankets. Nearby was his gear, neatly stacked.
A simple timber structure was erected over the sunken room, the superstructure comprised of a gabled framework of slanting poles tied to a ridge pole that was held aloft on six uprights. The walls were made of rough-hewn planks, the roof was covered with thatch, the floor was beaten clay.
The grubenhaus smelled of clean, rich earth. It was cool inside now, but she knew in the winter with a small fire burning, it would be comfortably warm.
“What do you think?” Theophilus said from the doorway above and behind her. Startled, she glanced back at him. He rested one arm against the lintel and leaned down, smiling at her.
“It feels more inviting than Varus’ longhouse.” She immediately regretted her remark. She hadn’t meant to criticize.
As she came outside into the sunshine, Theophilus took Caleb from her and lifted him in the air, jiggling him and getting him to laugh. She smiled as she watched him play with her son. Atretes was so busy arguing with his kinsmen, he had no time for Caleb.
She noticed the dressed rabbit Theophilus had spitted and set over the fire.
“A good, fat one,” Theophilus remarked. “Stay and share a meal with me.”
“I’d love to stay, but share with Caleb. I’m not very hungry.”
He assessed her face and saw she was deeply troubled. “Things aren’t going well?”
“Well enough under the circumstances, I suppose,” she said evasively and saw his look. “He’s sharing the gospel. In fact, he’s shouting it to the very rafters. And Varus and the others shout right back about the power of Tiwaz.” She sat down and rubbed her temples. “He’s not listening to them. They’re not listening to him. No one’s listening to anyone or anything.”
“God works through people in spite of their shortcomings, beloved, and often through them.” He put Caleb down and gave him a pat on the behind.
She looked up at him bleakly. “I want to believe that, Theophilus, but when I watch Atretes and listen, I can’t see the difference between him and all the others, except that I love him. I wish he would bridle his tongue.”
Caleb sat down beside her and played with the grass. She ran her hand tenderly over his dark hair as she went on. “Varus and the others are stubborn and proud and fierce beyond all reckoning. So is Atretes. There are times when he looks ready to grab Varus by the throat and throttle him if he won’t believe in Jesus as Lord.”