"Caleb and Joshua's Jerusalem Adventure"

The conclusion of the sixth serialized installment from the short-fiction anthology, Living With Caligula.

“A proposition?” Joshua asked, cautiously eager.

“Never mind,” Caleb said, to the young man, then turned to his cousin. “Joshua, let's go.”

“Wait! Wait! Hear me out, at least!” the man pleaded.

Joshua rubbed his growling stomach. “Yes, Caleb. Let's hear him out, at least!”

Both the young man and Joshua looked at Caleb, expectantly.

He said nothing.

“It's really quite simple,” the young man explained, talking to Joshua while looking at Caleb. “See the fruit stand over there?” He nodded ahead of them.

Caleb and Joshua both looked up the street. A little further from them, a young Egyptian woman stood at a covered, wooden stall stacked with pyramids of pomegranates.

“I'll go,” the young man began. The boys turned their attention back to him. “And start haggling with the woman. That'll be the diversion. You boys then sneak up while I keep her busy and pinch as many pomegranates as you can–”

“Let's go, Joshua!” Caleb had heard enough. “I've heard enough.” He pulled his cousin by the arm.

Joshua resisted. “No! Wait, Caleb!” he insisted. Then he turned back to the young man. “And then what?”

“And then, nothing!” the man declared. “You slip away. Back up this alley, and I'll come meet you to collect my share of the take.”

“Your share?” Caleb asked, both skeptical and accusatory.

“What?” the young man objected. “You don't expect me to work for free, do you?” He grinned at Joshua. “I'm starving and I have no money, either!” He laughed, slapping Joshua on the shoulder. “What do you say? Where's the harm?” he cajoled, looking at Caleb.

“The harm,” Caleb replied, to both of them. “Is that it's wrong.”

“Not if we don't get caught!” the young man encouraged.

“Yes, Caleb. Where's the harm?” Joshua urged, also. “Let's! I'm hungry!”

“No!” Caleb pronounced. “It's wrong. It's only one of the oldest Laws, Joshua. 'Don't steal.' The Lord said what point is there to gain the whole world, even, if you have to lose your soul to do it? You want to lose your soul, Joshua? For a couple of pieces of fruit?”

Joshua, feeling appropriately chastened, remained silent.

“We were just robbed,” Caleb went on. “Did that feel good? You want to do that to somebody else?”

“I, er, take it that means,” the young man interjected. “You're firm in your refusal of a partnership in this endeavor?”

“Yes,” Caleb acknowledged, pulling Joshua by the shoulder away from the young man. “Sorry, 'partner,'” he added, then turned to leave.

“Sure, listen to your Lord,” the young man scoffed. “What does he care if I go hungry!”

Caleb threw the young man one, final parting glance, then walked away with Joshua in tow.

After a few moments, Joshua spoke up. “All right,” he confessed. “I admit. It would've been wrong.”

“Right,” Caleb said.

“So, now what?” Joshua asked, exasperated, as they continued up the crowded street.

“I don't know,” Caleb answered, slightly distressed himself, too.

“Hey! Look!” Joshua exclaimed, suddenly pointing at the ground a few steps ahead. He rushed forward, crouched down and retrieved something out of the dust. Ecstatic, he held up his find for Caleb to see. “Look! Can you believe this?”

Joshua held out his palm, and in it there was a shiny, bronze coin with Herod's wreath stamped into it. “Now we can eat!” he announced, triumphantly, standing back up and waving the coin at Caleb.

Caleb grinned. “Now we can eat. God is good!” he agreed. “See what happens when you obey God's laws?” He surveyed the street. “So what shall it be?”

“I don't care!” Joshua asserted. “The first thing we see! Let's go!” he exclaimed, grabbed Caleb by the arm and now he pulled his older cousin along.

Just as they turned to look where they were going–

“I beg your pardon!”

–they walked right into a blind man, tapping his way along with his cane in front of him; milky-white eyes, only one or two teeth in his mouth, his filthy, tattered cloak reeking of old sweat and urine.

“I'm sorry!” Joshua apologized. “I didn't see you there!”

“Neither did I!” the blind man responded. Then he laughed at his own joke. Then he fell into a coughing fit that sounded like it would choke him to death. “I'm sorry, young man,” he said, finally recovering and holding out his hand. “I haven't eaten since yesterday morning. Do you have any alms for a poor blind man?”

Joshua looked with alarm at the bronze coin, shiny and warm in his palm. He looked to Caleb with dismay. “Caleb!” he pleaded.

“Give him the coin,” Caleb sighed, in resignation.

Joshua clutched at his stomach. “But–”

“Give... him... the... coin,” Caleb repeated, looking at the man with empathy.

Joshua took the blind man's hand in his free hand, pressed the coin into his palm, then closed the beggar's bony fingers over it. “There you are, old man,” he said, somewhat wistfully. “Get yourself something to eat today,” he declared.

“God bless you, son!” the blind man clasped his hands before him, clutching his cane while cradling the coin in his palm. “God bless you!”

“Shalom, shalom,” Caleb wished, and stepped out of the way as the blind man resumed tapping his way through the crowd.

They watched him move on for a moment.

Then: “It was the right thing to do, Joshua,” Caleb said, smiling sadly. “I'm hungry, too. But that man was hungrier. That was a good thing you did.”

“Yes, it was a good thing he did!”

The cousins turned to the source of the voice. Just to the left of them, there was a young woman not much older than Caleb, with her scarlet tunic tied tightly around her firm breasts pushed prominently up, and hanging loosely on her hips, provocatively exposing her midriff. Tassels on the embroidered, three-quarter hem of her skirt. Toe rings and anklets. Painted toe and finger nails. Gold bangles and large, hoop earrings. Big, watery eyes. Full, red lips. Long, dark, wavy hair in tight curls down her back.

She leaned against a fig tree that spread out over the backs of a few stalls, supporting herself with one arm while the other hand rested on her hip. “You're a nice, young pair!”

Caleb and Joshua both instinctively blushed.

“And shy, too!” the young woman exclaimed, in delight. She jingled her way over to them. “That's so sweet! You probably still remember what your mother's milk tasted like, don't you?” she teased, her big watery eyes now narrowed slyly.

Caleb laughed.

Joshua scowled. “What do you want?”

“Ooh, my! A wolf, too! Not a little lamb, eh?” she approved. “How would you two... 'men' like some entertainment?”

“Entertainment?” Joshua asked, not comprehending.

The young woman stopped, stunned. Then she burst out laughing. “You really don't know, do you?”

“Why do you laugh at me?” Joshua protested, defensively.

“Tell him, country boy,” the young woman prompted, to Caleb. “Tell him what kind of entertainment a beautiful...” She ran her hands enticingly down her sides, then rubbed her hips. “...young woman can provide two young stallions like you.” She gazed lustfully into Caleb's eyes.

Caleb grew immediately uncomfortable. He cleared his throat nervously. Then his brow suddenly creased as he regained his composure. “No! Get out! Are you crazy?”

“Crazy for you!” she said, pressing herself up to Caleb, pushing her plump breasts against him.

For a brief moment, Caleb felt an arousal from the sensation of the warm bosoms pushing into him. Then he became alarmed. Then he became revolted. Then he pushed her away.

“No!” he said.

The young woman's expression went from lust to wrath in the blink of an eye. “You're afraid!” she taunted, offended at Caleb's rejection.

Caleb laughed.

That angered her even more. “You wouldn't even know what to do with a woman, boy!” she hurled at him, in insult.

Caleb stopped laughing. His eyes narrowed. “When God gives me a wife, I'll know what to do with her,” he answered.

The young woman stared, blinking at Caleb. Then she abruptly turned away from him and threw herself at Joshua. “Forget about him!” she sneered, wrapping her arms around the startled boy's neck. “Now, you... I like!” she proclaimed, with a throaty lust in her voice, up into Joshua's terrified face.

“Leave him alone!” Caleb warned, sharply, as he reached for the young woman to pull her away from his younger cousin.

“But, Caleb!” Joshua objected, halting Caleb. “She likes me!” he declared, now smiling eagerly at the young woman, his initial shock gone, overwhelmed by a young man's natural excitement.

Caleb sighed. “She's a prostitute, Joshua!” he stated, informing him.

“A what?”

The young woman pulled back and looked up at Joshua in disbelief.

Caleb exhaled forcefully and shook his head. “I'll explain later,” he said. “Come, we're going,” he ordered, resolutely, yanking Joshua away from the prostitute.

She exclaimed in indignation. “What?” she called, as they departed. “You think you're better than I?

Caleb stopped. He turned around, turning Joshua with him.

He looked at the prostitute, who stood, hands on hips, challenging him with a menacing glare.

He glared back at her. “No. I'm not better than you.” He turned with Joshua again, and the two of them walked away. “What kind of crazy day is this?” Caleb asked, looking up at the sky.

“Hey, Zealot!” They suddenly heard the prostitute call out loudly behind them. “You can come out now! He's as clean as a baby's bathwater!”

Caleb slowed his pace, not comprehending–

“Caleb!” a male voice called out, after him.

Caleb and Joshua stopped and turned.

“Joshua!” It was Simon the Zealot. He was coming toward them through the crowd from between two stalls.

Caleb and Joshua stood stunned, mouths agape. They heard him as he approached, the prostitute now at his side:

“Don't call me Zealot!” he rebuked her, quietly.

She laughed. “But you are a Zealot!”

“Not anymore, I'm not!” Simon the Zealot insisted, angrily. “Besides, you want somebody to recognize me here?” he nodded at a patrol of Roman soldiers marching up the street ahead of them.

“Oh,” the prostitute said. She dropped her eyes. “Sorry.”

They reached the cousins.

“Well, boys,” Simon the Zealot said, clapping his hands and rubbing them together vigorously. “Having a good time?” he asked, grinning, a mischievous twinkle in his eyes.

“Simon!” Caleb exclaimed, exasperated. “You wouldn't believe what–wait, how did you get here?–you wouldn't believe... First–”

“First, you resisted the temptation to break the Matzot,” Simon the Zealot completed, for him.

Caleb was nonplussed. “How–”

“Then you resisted the temptation to do violence,” Simon the Zealot continued.

“Caleb shook his head slowly in disbelief. “This is getting weird–”

“Next, even though you were down to a final coin, you gave it in charity,” Simon the Zealot related.

Despite the daze of the confusion through which Caleb was struggling to comprehend what was going on, he noted Simon the Zealot was smiling at him and nodding in approval.

“And, for your final act,” Simon the Zealot grinned, glancing at the prostitute next to him. “You resisted the lustful temptations of woman–”

“Hey!” The prostitute slapped Simon the Zealot on the shoulder with lighthearted indignation.

Simon the Zealot laughed.

“But... I don't understand,” Caleb stammered out, finally. “How did you get here? How do you know everything that happened to us? How did you know where to find us? What's going on?”

Simon the Zealot roared with laughter. The prostitute, startled, cringed.

“We set it all up!” Simon the Zealot exclaimed, and laughed some more. Now the prostitute laughed along with him.

Both Caleb and Joshua stood as if struck completely dumb.

“We set it all up!” Simon the Zealot repeated. “Look,” he said, and pointed across the street. “Look over by the pottery stand, there. Under the fig tree next to it.”

The two boys turned to look. There, they saw the man with the round hair who'd offered to buy them the leavened bread. He was seated on a fruit crate, drinking wine from a cup.

“That's Nikos, one of our Greek brothers,” Simon the Zealot informed. “He followed you into the market so we'd know where you'd be.”

Simon the Zealot put his fingers to his mouth and let out a piercing whistle. Across the street, Nikos looked up and noticed him. Simon the Zealot waved him over. Nikos drank his wine, stood up, handed the cup to a woman near him, and started crossing the street toward them.

“And over there,” Simon the Zealot said, turning to indicate further down their side of the street.

Caleb and Joshua peered behind Simon the Zealot and the prostitute, and to their further astonishment they saw the men who had robbed them in the alley, now approaching the group, grinning at them.

“Mishael and Azaraiah,” Simon the Zealot enumerated, further. “Brothers. From your parts, by the way. In Chorazin.”

The men reached the group. The man who had robbed Caleb reached under his cloak, pulled out Caleb's bag of money and handed it over to the befuddled young man, who accepted it while staring at it blankly. He then looked back up to Simon the Zealot, completely lost.

Suddenly, a sharp slap on the shoulder from behind startled Caleb, and he jumped as he turned around. Coming up next to him, it was the young man in the turban with the earrings, grinning widely. “Remember me?” he laughed.

Caleb turned to Simon the Zealot once more, wide eyes begging for comprehension.

“And this is Achan,” Simon the Zealot introduced the entrepreneur to the boys. The young man winked at Caleb.

Joshua suddenly burst forth. “So the blind man–”

“No,” Simon the Zealot interrupted. Then he chuckled. “No, the blind man was real. That wasn't our doing. That was God's work.” He smiled at Caleb mysteriously.

Caleb and Joshua were both still reeling.

“And finally,” Simon the Zealot concluded, putting an affectionate arm around the prostitute and pulling her close to him in cheerful appreciation. “This is Rivka,” he introduced the young woman to the cousins. “A daughter of one of our... benefactors,” he explained.

“You mean,” Caleb asked, as understanding slowly dawned on him, one ray of light at a time. “She's not a prostitute?” He looked from Simon the Zealot to Rivka.

Except for Caleb and Joshua, the whole group laughed.

“No,” Simon the Zealot reassured Caleb. “She's not a prostitute.”

“But...” Caleb was still confused. “I'm still confused. Do you mean, you all played this out? On us? Why?” he beseeched.

Simon the Zealot put a reassuring hand on Caleb's shoulder. “Calm down, son,” the older man smiled sympathetically at the younger one. “Following in the path of the Messiah isn't just a declaration we make, or something we only talk about. It's a way of life we have to choose and we have to live. To the best of our abilities and for the rest of our time here in this world. Every thought, feeling, word and action. Down to our very last breath. You came to us and said you believed and you were ready to follow. We just wanted to see if you really were. God is Spirit, and His worshipers must worship in Spirit and in truth. Many are invited, but few are chosen,” he finished, then closed his eyes and bowed his head slightly forward. He took his hand from Caleb's shoulder and opened his eyes again.

“Well?” Joshua asked, nodding his chin at Simon the Zealot.

“Well, what?” Simon the Zealot asked, feigning ignorance, grinning.

“Well,” Joshua repeated, impatiently. “Is he ready?”

Simon the Zealot looked from the impatient Joshua to the now anxious-looking Caleb. He paused dramatically. Then, finally:

“He's ready.”

“Thank you, Lord!” Caleb exclaimed, ecstatic. The rest of the group laughed. Joshua hugged his cousin with an arm around his shoulder.

“Welcome to the church,” Simon the Zealot said, putting his hand on Caleb's shoulder once more. “Come,” he invited. “Let's go baptize our new brother!” He pulled Caleb to him, put his arm around his shoulder, then with his free arm, motioned for Joshua to join them. Joshua came to Simon the Zealot and the man put his arm around his shoulder, too. The three of them turned around, and the whole group set off through the crowd back down the street.

“Is it going to hurt?” Caleb asked Simon the Zealot.

“Is what going to hurt?”

“Being baptized,” Caleb clarified.

Simon the Zealot laughed. “No. It's not going to hurt.”

“Can I follow the Messiah, too?” Joshua asked, suddenly excited at the thought.

Simon the Zealot laughed again. “That's up to you and God to decide,” he answered. “But, listen to what Caleb tells you, follow the Law and maybe one day soon, the Lord will call you as well.”

They walked silently for a few paces.

“Where are we going?” Joshua asked, once more.

“Back to the house where we met,” Simon the Zealot replied.

“Will there be food there?” Joshua pleaded.

Everybody laughed.

Caleb heard a series of metallic jingles, and when he looked beside him, Rivka had fallen in step next to him.

“So,” she said, eyeing him sidelong and failing to suppress a wide grin. “You're a fisherman...”

©2022 Gene Kaye