Chapter 3, Sheol—The day before, (#34, draft, excerpt cont.)

Next installment of my new historical novel: Peter and Paul.

There was only one hope. Tomorrow. Hope always lies in the future. The present is not acceptable. It is fraught with danger. If the present continues, Master’s teaching would fall on deaf ears. On the ears of the dead.

We must all wait another day, or really, another night.

Tomorrow the count will be over. The fiftieth day. Since the beginning of time, since the day Yahweh promised Moses that forty-nine days after they left Egypt they would be given the Law to live by, the Jews expected new revelation. Since those early days, generations have counted the days from the Feast of Passover, hoping for New Revelation. Tomorrow it will be over. The light will come upon them. The light of Torah.

And even as thousands gravitated towards the Temple, so did the one hundred and twenty believers, intermingling with others. In the midst of them, moving with the crowd, advanced the disciples led by Shimon, followed closely by his brother Andrew, who never allowed Shimon to stray too far. He really felt protective about Shimon, particularly since Yeshûa’s death. Shimon just wasn’t the same any more.

Andrew also kept his eye on James, son of Zabedee, who became known as James the Greater. He was much taller than the average Galilean, towering over the crowd surrounding him. Andrew repeatedly motioned him to keep his head down, only to receive a broad, ear-to-ear grin in response. James never accepted that anyone could possibly wish him any harm.

A few steps behind them came Jude also known as Thaddeus, who tried hard to restrain Simon the Zealot. Simon would rather fight the Pharisees then convert them to the New Teaching. When, on that fateful Yom Hah-Mee-Shee, that Thursday, after what became their last meal together, Yeshûa led them to the Garden of Gethsemane, Simon tried to cut Malchus’s other ear. He would have succeeded if it hadn’t been for Thaddeus restrained him. Even Shimon had to be restrained by the Master himself from attacking not so much the Roman soldiers, but the treacherous servant of the High Priest.

Thaddeus has been looking out for the young, explosive Simon ever since.

Approaching from another direction so as not to attract attention came John, brother of James, thus also son of Zebedee and Salome. He led Philip and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Didymus, yes, the Doubting Thomas.

Finally, as the self-appointed rear guard came James the Less, also known as the Just. He darted here and there, making sure that no savory character, such as the High Priest’s spies, would get near any of his friends.

They all walked slowly, mixed in with the crowd, so as not to be indentified. They all knew that danger was lurking, but the spies of the Pharasees couldn’t spot them in the darkening day. They all, the masses, looked pretty much the same. Just simple people. Simple, ordinary folks.

(to be continued)