Miracle at Golgotha - Augustus (best short books to read TXT) 📗

Dimas and Gestas slow their pace and glance back at him and the centurion. Then, he saw his father drop the garments and come charging back toward him. He wasn’t sure whether his father had changed his mind or had simply lost it. He was about to yell at him to return to his duties when he heard a heavy thud behind him. He turned in time to see the centurion’s knees buckle and give way.
Barabbas stood over the centurion’s crumpled body with a cabbage-sized stone in his hands. He spit on the soldier and muttered, “I don’t need your permission for anything!”
The centurion groaned and tried to sit up but fell onto on his side.
“He’s still alive, Kill him!” shouted Gestas who stood with his load of garments still in his arms.
The sound of numerous voices could be heard heading in their direction. Titus saw his father draw a dagger from his waist belt and approach the man on the ground. Titus was sure this was the centurion from the African contingent. “Wait! Father let me do this.” He reached for the dagger. “I can stall the Romans, if they see me. You have to take those vestments and leave, now!”
Barabbas took the dagger from Dimas and handed to Titus. “Here. You have a choice. Either a quick slash to the throat or two jabs to the heart, and make it quick.” He turned and pulled on Dimas’ elbow. “Come, it’s his turn to learn the trade. You can’t do it for him.”
Dimas had a look that appeared strange to Titus. It seemed as if his father was ready to cry. He waited till the two men gathered the garments and scurried around the far corner of the nearest building.
Titus knelt on one knee and put the dagger next to the centurion’s throat. “Are you Marcus Donatus?” he whispered into the man’s ear.
“Yes, I am,” he answered, scrunching his face in obvious pain.
“Listen to me well, Marcus Donatus. I am Titus of Galilee and I have the power to end your life in my hands. Do you understand?”
The centurion groaned. “Yes, yes, of course.”
“Good. Now, I have a request. Grant me this request and you shall live.” Titus pushed the dagger just enough to draw blood from the smallest vein he could find. “Cross me and you’ll die, understand?”
At first, the black centurion remained silent, then he grunted. “Fine. What is it you wish from me?”
“I want you to be on duty at the Jewish Temple tomorrow at sundown,” said Titus.
“Then what?”
“Then, I will give you further instructions.” Titus heard the voices of several men getting closer. “For now, pretend you are unconscious and I will disappear.”
“Do what?” asked Donatus.
Titus could not wait. He reached for the stone that Barabbas had used and struck the man with just enough force to knock him unconscious. His hands were trembling and his knees felt weak but he managed to gather his senses and run as fast as he could. He turned the corner around which he’d seen the men vanish but there was no one there, only an empty street on a cool spring dawn.

Chapter 9

When he arrived home, Titus was surprised that the men were not there. He surveyed the area as he caught his breath from running. He looked at his mother.
“The men and father, where are they?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know where they are. They haven’t come back yet.”
“They left before me. I was sure they’d return here.”
His mother came close to him and cupped her hand gently over his cheek. “Return from where? Are you alright? Titus, your face is as pale as if you’ve just seen Satan himself.”
“Oh, mother, I shouldn’t tell you this but. . .” He didn’t want to jeopardize his father’s plans. He knew their thievery always worked best in secrecy and in the shadows.
Titus dropped to his knees, hugged his mother’s dress around her legs and began to weep. His mother hugged him back then helped him to a standing position. She took him by the shoulders.
“It’s alright, son. You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.”
Titus shook his head. “No, I can’t keep a secret like this from you. I haven’t seen the devil tonight, mother, but I acted like him.”
“Dear Lord, what are you saying? What happened? What did you do, that could be so terrible?”
Titus wiped the tears from his eyes and looked around to make sure no one else was near enough to hear. “I hurt a man, Mother. I don’t think I killed him but I knocked him unconscious.”
“I see, I see,” said his mother. “It’s perfectly natural to feel scared after something like that.” She paused as if measuring her words then she asked, “What made you do that, Titus?”
He did not answer.
She pressed on. “I’m sure it was necessary to protect yourself, right?”
Titus avoided the question and pulled out the dagger and showed it to her. “I used this to cut his throat.”
“Oh, my!” she exclaimed, stepping back from the dagger as if it was evil incarnate itself. “But you said you ‘knocked’ out a man. Why did you cut him, too?”
Two things happened at once. First, Titus fell into a tongue-tied state of confusion as to how to answer his mother and second, his father’s voice bellowed from behind him.
“There he is, our fake Jew. Well done, Titus. There’s hope for you yet,” said his father pounding his back in congratulations. Alongside him were Gestas and Barabbas. All of them were empty-handed.
“Where’s the garments?” asked Titus. His father and the men gave him a strange grin.
“We hid them,” answered Dimas. “Don’t worry. The Romans won’t find them.”
Titus knew Gestas and Barabbas lived in the streets, so they had no place of their own to hide such precious loot. “Did you bury it somewhere?”
The three men broke into hearty laughter.
“No, no,” said Dimas. “That would have been too much work.” He paused as Titus glanced at his mother, who simply shook her head.
Titus wasn’t sure whether she was indicating that the men had not brought her the stolen goods or was simply giving evidence of her condemnation of their conduct.
Dimas pointed to the ground in front of Titus, as if the garments were piled before him. “We hid them in plain sight. I’m confident the Romans won’t go looking for them there, much less the Jews.”
Titus’ mind raced trying to figure out where the garments might be hidden. These men were vagabonds and ruffians, so hiding the items indoors was unlikely. By his estimation, Titus guessed they stashed the loot in a cave somewhere in the hills around Jerusalem. The look of puzzlement must have been obvious in his face. Gestas took a step toward him.
“If you had to pick a place, Titus, that would make you shudder, where would that be? Figure that out and you’ll know where we left those robes.”
A place to make him shudder? Titus cocked his head and looked back and forth between Gestas and Barabbas. He studied their sweaty faces. How could he fathom what these men considered disdainful? Titus began to think out loud.
“If I was a Roman, I hate to be in a lion pit, fighting for my life. If I was a Jew, I’d shudder the thought of any place ungodly or sinful.”
Barabbas piped in. “Ah! But you are neither Roman nor Jew. So where does that leave you?”
Titus thought for a moment. “That leaves me outside all that is Roman or Jewish. That leaves me outside of Jerusalem, beyond the city walls.” It suddenly dawned on him that the only people outside the city were country peasants like his family and, of course, the lepers. His eyes grew large as Titus turned to his father. “You left the Jewish garments with the lepers?”
“Why not?” said Dimas. “The Romans won’t dare go there.”

Chapter 10

After Leah fed the men and Titus some stew she’d cooked with pieces of the roast from the day before, she asked Titus to come inside their home. He lowered his head as he passed by the men and tried not to look them in the eyes. He felt more than a little embarrassed being told what to do by a woman in front of the men. After all, he’d just participated in a robbery that was supposed to have been his entry into manhood. It wasn’t so much his mother’s orders that bothered him as much as the taunting he was sure to receive when he rejoined the men later that evening.
His mother sat on a small wool rug and Titus lowered himself to a cross-legged position in front of her. She leaned forward and took his hands in hers. He felt her warmth and wondered how she could have such a delicate touch after all the physical work she performed every day. Her hands were fissured like the desert lands he’d seen when they traveled from Galilee to Jerusalem.
“Titus, what you did to that man earlier today, I know you meant him no harm. It’s not like you to hurt anyone. Still, you did cause someone pain and now,”
“But mother . . .”
“Wait,” she said raising her finger in the air. Then in a gentle, but firm voice she added, “Let me finish. Then you can speak your mind.”
Titus looked away and let out a sigh. “I’m sorry.”
“Do you remember our studies with Rabbi Moshe, the ones where we spoke of caring for our neighbors, our friends and even our enemies? Do you remember those?”
“Yes, I do.”
“And do you know the reason why the Rabbi says we should love one another?”
He was looking at his smudged knees when he shot a quick glance up. She was staring right into his eyes.
“Because we’re all brothers and sisters in God’s eyes?”