Historical Setting, 562 C.E. Gaul
“Papa, I’m okay. I’m feeling stronger already.”
Eve is pushing back the cover and pulling herself to sitting on the edge of the bed platform.
“I can send Ezra for the burial. I can stay here with you.”
I feel an urgency to send Ezra on.
“Papa, Colleta should go too. I’m okay now. I can stay with the children if you want to go with them.”
“Why would you think Colleta and the baby should go for a long ride in this winter’s wind? This is surely a task for Ezra and I.”
“No Papa, I was too late to save the mother but a sweet baby boy is swaddled and in the arms of that father who has no idea what to do next.”
Dear God, thank you and keep us useful in your rescue. Amen.
“Do you pray silently, Papa, because you know I don’t want to hear it?”
“My prayer was that we could be God’s hands in this time of need.”
“God surely needs more than hands today. I don’t really suppose you are offering to be God’s paps. Bring little Margey with you when you bring Daniel and Celeste. Colleta will be a help to the new father and then they may also wish to pay a visit to her own parents and sisters since her family’s home is nearby.”
I understand the urgency. “How will a new baby live this day with no mother?”
“Well, Papa, please know I didn’t leave them helpless. The father knows to give him small drops of water. And he also knows, but it would not be good for a new baby to get too much of a liking for sucking mead from his father’s fingertips. That new father will surely have to borrow a fresh cow or maybe a goat — a nanny with its kid – that will quickly turn his grief around.”
The warmth melts the ice on the thatch and water is dripping down through the roof.
(Continues Tuesday, January 7, 2020)
Lazarus Ink 