Ilia Grinberg - Mother of Jesus

“I will kill them,” came the voice of the young man.

“There is nothing to eavesdrop on,” Anna screamed at him. “This is, firstly, and secondly, where are you go, boy ?” she threw up her hands. “They are adult men, bandits. They have a weapon. They will slaughter you like a ram and do not blink an eye. And nothing you can not do with them. That they will kill you, not you them. Moreover, for them, it seems, this is a usual thing.”

“Nothing,” he said, showing his knife bought at the last market in Nazareth. “I also have weapons, and our shepherds taught me how to fight ... They must die.”

“Don't be a fool. And not a word to anyone, I understood” Anna was breathing out without moving her lips apart. “Especially the owner ... Hey, listen to me, boy. Do not go there.”

Clenching his teeth, John put in his travel bag a small fur with water, a couple of lozenges and, without answering anything to the hostess, jumped out of the gate.

“Mother, stop him,” Maria shouted. “They are real robbers. The one I saw, the donkey on the lead led laden. They, probably, already killed someone and robbed! This is understandable.”

“Listen to me, my girl,” Anna whispered in her daughter's ear, pressing Maria to her chest. “I will not catch up with this young idiot. He, of course, is a pity, but he himself chose his fate. Soon you will calm down and realize that you and I have many more problems that need to be urgently addressed than the pursuit of this passionate dunce. Look at the shadow of the post, remember, father taught you to determine the time from it? See? Lunch is coming soon, and he, if in the city, never misses it. Do you want him to see you in all his glory and find out what happened? Maybe we can still hide everything from him. We washed you, changed the dress. Now I will tie up your cheek so that he does not notice a bruise. You lie down and tell him when he comes that the tooth is sick ... Or maybe it is better to leave before his arrival? Then we say that went to the witch. That would be luck. He will return in the evening, it will be dark already. In the morning, leave early again. And for the day we think of something.”

Anna spoke and spoke without stopping. It seemed that the incident completely knocked her out of the rut. However, this was not the case. She really could not control her tongue, but surprisingly, her head was clear and she understood very well what she was doing. Despite the fact that she was shaking all over, she quickly tied her daughter's cheek with a clean piece of fabric, and looked at her with satisfaction:

“Well, that's it, let's go. Boy, let's go,” she called to the donkey, which the household used for household needs. In the mane of an animal, old but still strong, gray hair was already visible, but it remained a boy from the very times when Joachim brought a foal into the yard, which had damaged his leg. “Poor Boy,” the donkey Anna then regretted tying up his leg. Having recovered, he settled down in the household, so for life and remained a boy.

The woman helped Maria to sit on the animal, and they drove through the gate.

“Daana,” Anna cried, approaching the neighbour's gate.

The wicket was opened immediately, and from there looked about forty years old woman in a simple dress and a basket in his hands. Anna was once again surprised that the neighbor always responds to the call almost immediately. She has long had the impression that Daana, the wife of a neighbor, the potter Gideon, doesn’t do anything at home, but only sits at the gate to react in time to any significant event on their street.

“But I got ready go to the baker, I don’t want to mess around with the dough today. You know, my Gideon bread eats in such quantities as if there is no other food. Something happened?” immediately rattled lover gossip.

“Maria's tooth ached, they went to the healer, to Delilah. I thought you would be at home, you would not go anywhere, but tell him where we are, so as he doesn't lose us. Well, since you leave, then I will come to Ephraimia, I will ask her.”

“Yeah, she will go to Euphremia! What came up with. She can't remember her name in the evening, she always forgets everything. And you are going to trust her so important. Joachim, as usual should come to dinner? So soon. So I will wait. Nothing linger for long. I will help you like a neighbor. I will give him everything as you said. Do not worry” continued Daana without pause. “And what about our girl with a tooth?” the curious woman literally sang in a sugar voice, having stolen up to Maria, and already stretching her hand to the bandage.

“Thank you, dear neighbor” Anna replied to her, squeezing between the potter’s wife and daughter and at the same time hitting the boy with a whip. “That helped out! If you need anything, come in, I will be happy to help.”

“Well, well, well,” murmured Daana, watching her neighbor and daughter with a close look. “Tooth sicks, you say. So ill that husband did not wait, ran to the healer. So ill, that sick on a donkey was lucky. And what is it that our patient with a tooth on his cheek does not hold? And not even oyknula once. Oh, Anna, something you are dark, honey. Well, oh well, I did not take those out of the clear. - And glad that I found a new interesting activity for myself, I closed the gate behind me, immediately clinging to the gap, seeing Anna and her daughter moving away with a curious glance.

For the convenience of monitoring the street, Daana pulled a bench to the gate and settled on it, fanning herself with a fan that her husband presented to her by buying a merchant-Greek at a big fair in Nazareth. Summer promised to be hot this year, so before Pesach, it was really hot for lunch. When Daana was almost roasted and was about to move from the gate to the shade of the shed, she saw a neighbor approaching the house in a cart pulled by a donkey. Joachim was already in years, and it was hard for him to walk long distances. So two years ago, he decided on big expenses, having bought a half-wheel-half-trolley at the fair in Jerusalem, worked out by a Roman-style master. In front of her was a bench for two people, a carter and a passenger, and behind them was a wooden board with sides, where it was very convenient to carry any cargo, even in bags, even in bulk. Having paid for the purchased wagon, he immediately realized that he had made a blunder, not taking his donkey with him, but arriving in the city on a familiar wagon. I had to buy another, absolutely unnecessary for the farm donkey But his inconsistency came out plus. The same owner of the wagon sold him a strong animal, accustomed to the job of a carter, and showed how to harness him. The harness was also not local design. So on the one hand, Joachim was pleased then with his purchase. On the other hand, I remember how much it cost him, for a long time he almost gnashed his teeth with annoyance.

Daana opened the gate and leaned her back against the post, waiting for the neighbor to descend to the ground. She had long planned her conversation with him. She figured out what to say and what to save for later.

“Hello neighbor” she greeted with an eloquent voice.

“And you shouldn’t be ill, neighbor” Joachim replied, turning his head toward Daana and waiting for the continuation. It was clear that she met him on the street for a reason.

Without waiting for a question, she was a little upset, as the taciturn neighbor spoiled the beginning of her deliberate conversation. She sighed and asked:

“Are you hurry for lunch?

“Yes, it is necessary to eat, but there is still a lot to do today.” Joachim hardly stopped, almost talking about the evening meeting with partners in the wool trade. "And how she always acts on me," he thought with displeasure. “It seems he doesn’t do anything like that, but my tongue is starting my revenge?”