Jeremy Robinson - The Didymus Contingency

“I did see it.”

Tom’s breath caught in his lungs.

“Before I came here I went to Zambia. I saw her. I saw the men who killed her. They almost killed me too. I risked changing the future once already just so I could understand what motivated you to come here and try something as insane as this.”

Tom was shaken to the core. “You saw her? Alive?”

“Yes.”

Tom grew somber and said, “Then you understand why I’m here.”

David tossed the question around in his mind, remembering the vibrant woman he saw in Zambia and imagined her being gunned down feet from Tom’s arms. “Yes,” David said, not believing he had said the word.

Neither could Tom. “What did you say?”

“I understand.”

A smile snuck on to Tom’s face.

“Come, friends,” the rugged man said again, “Join us for the night!”

Tom and David stared at each other for a moment having a silent argument with their eyes. David softened. “It’s really quite amazing, being here… It would be a shame to go home without a firsthand cultural experience.”

“You won’t regret this,” Tom said.

“We go home in the morning.” David said sternly.

Tom smiled in response. The two headed back to the table full of strangers from another time and place. The rugged man handed them both drinks. “Welcome, friends.”

Tom and David clunked their clay cups together and drank. David gagged and spit his drink out in a thick spray. “What is this?” David asked.

“Wine, of course,” chuckled the rugged man.

“I’m sorry, I don’t drink wine,” David explained. “Could I have some water?”

The entire table of men burst out laughing. “My friend, the water here will do much worse to you I’m afraid.”

David raised his eyebrows with understanding and looked into his cup of wine.

“I have a feeling he’s telling the truth,” Tom said.

David took a sip and swallowed it down while clenching his eyes and crinkling his nose.

“It’s a miracle!” said Tom to the rugged man. “I’ve been trying to get him to do that for years!”

The rugged man laughed and said, “It’s a shame he’s only now becoming a man at his age!”

The entire table exploded with laughter again. Tom seemed to be enjoying all this thoroughly. These were his kind of men and this was his kind of place.

David smiled involuntarily, brought on by all the laughing around him. He took another drink and swallowed it down with a little less effort. Maybe this entire mishap would end without a tragic event and perhaps even with a fond memory? Hopefully Tom wouldn’t get drunk again and transport himself to the Triassic Period. Of course, David thought, there Tom couldn’t do any real damage; here the next two thousand years were at stake.

Bethany, Israel

When Tom and David met that morning, their conversation was brief and to the point. Tom still wasn’t leaving and David still demanded that they leave right away, only this time Tom noticed the argument didn’t last as long. After David cooled down, Tom convinced him that they should go for a walk with their new friend, the rugged man, and see their homeland the way it used to be. They would just be tagging along, doing nothing of consequence, Tom explained. After demanding that they remain distant observers-he didn’t even want to know their names-David conceded and the two headed out with the rugged man and his friends.

Twenty minutes later, Tom wished he had never convinced David to go. The new clothing David brought from the future was uncomfortable, itchy and too hot for the weather. More than that, it was identical to David’s outfit. David explained they were going for authenticity, not fashion sense. He had never planned to stay this long and if they looked funny wearing the same clothes, so be it. But Tom knew it was only a matter of time before their witty new friends poked fun at them, and time just ran out.

The rugged man approached Tom and David from behind and slapped his heavy hands on each of their shoulders. “Beautiful day for traveling, eh?” the man asked.

“Uh-Yes, yes it is,” David said, still wary of who he thought was a strangely over friendly man, in any time period.

“I was wondering…” continued the man.

Here it comes, thought Tom.

“It’s nice, during these times, to see two men like you being true friends. As though you are brothers,” the man said.

Tom wondered if their clothing had been overlooked.

“Brothers who wear the same clothes!” The man burst out with laughter.

The other men walking with them, some from the night before, others new, laughed heartily. The rugged man shook Tom and David playfully and said, “I’m sorry my friends, but it could not be helped. You brought it upon yourselves.”

“No kidding,” Tom said under his breath.

After a moment of silence, the rugged man spoke again, though his voice had become sincere and quiet. “Tell me, why have you two traveled so far? What is it you have come to find?”

Before David had time to shoot a glance at Tom, Tom had answered the question. “Jesus,” Tom said. “We came to find Jesus.”

“Ignore him please. He doesn’t want to find Jesus,” David said forcefully.

“That’s too bad,” said the rugged man.

David couldn’t resist. “Why?”

“Because we’re on our way to see him now.”

David’s face fell flat.

The rugged man pointed to a tall hill in the distance and said, “That’s the Mount of Olives. Jesus will be there soon.”

David looked like he had just been slapped in the face. “The…the Mount of…oh my…”

“What?” Tom asked, not understanding why this Mount of Olives held any significance with David.

“The Mount of Olives is where-” David broke off his sentence, realizing the rugged man was still listening. He grabbed Tom and pulled him out of earshot of the rugged man.

David whispered, “The Mount of Olives is where Jesus calls the twelve-”

“C’mon David, it won’t hurt just to get a look at the guy,” interrupted Tom.

“I know what you’re trying to do, stringing me along from one event to the next until you’ve proved your all important point. We’re not going any further and that’s final!”

“We won’t talk to him. We’ll catch a peek and leave. I promise. Besides, we’ve already covered the fact that you physically can’t stop me. Unless you plan on resorting to violence, that is.”

Before Tom could finish laughing at his own joke, David had wound up. David flung his fist square into Tom’s jaw. Whack! Tom was barely fazed by the blow. He rubbed his chin lightly.

Tom chuckled. “Well, that was a noble try.”

David was huffing and puffing, ready for a retaliation that never came.

“I didn’t know they gave boxing lessons in the geriatric ward,” Tom said.

A small smile crept onto David’s face, half from the joke and half from relief that he didn’t have to fight a battle he knew he’d lose. “I had to try.”

Tom put his arm around David and the two walked back to the rugged man, who was clearly amused about what he had just witnessed. “You are the strangest friends I have yet to encounter,” he said to both of them and then said to Tom, “I told you that drink made him a man…though he still hits like a boy!”

David laughed out loud for the first time since coming back in time. This stranger, who had made them his friends, was a lot like Tom-even his sense of humor was like Tom’s, and David found that refreshing. “You said we’re going to the Mount of Olives, to see Jesus?”

The rugged man nodded in agreement.