His father was quiet for a while. Yodhi began to doze. Just before he drifted to sleep, he heard his father say, "We'll take that trip to Cairo. I have some vacation time and there's that trust money the old man gave us when Jimmy was born. Besides, your cousin Ilsa said to come any time…"
Jimmy, also called James, was his brother. They hadn't met yet.
~*~*~
Part Two
The plane ride was terribly uncomfortable. His little ears continuously popped. He slept some of the time - as much as he could - but he was wide awake when they landed. The airport was big, bright and noisy. Yodhi didn't see much more than a sea of dark eyes and dark hair. They were met by a man calling his mother, "Amara, my beauty!" He was Zack, her cousin's husband. Amara's laughter followed Zack's greeting because of the troubled looks Joe gave her.
There was food, good warm milk, and smells aplenty to boggle the baby's senses. He saw his father's fingers on the handle of the baby carrier as they moved him around. Beyond that, he saw mostly blue sky.
A long ride had him sleeping on and off. It was hot and he fussed a little until his mother shaded him with a blanket to keep the sun off his head. She gently misted his skin with water from a spritz bottle waved a visitor's pamphlet to cool him because there was no air conditioning in the car. He slept a lot after that. He ate hungrily whenever he woke up enough for his mother to feed him.
He awoke with a start when they arrived at their destination: Zack and Ilsa's house. Ilsa was his mother's cousin. Though her name was Ilsa, everyone called her Lizzy. Her husband, Zack said, "Look who I brought!" Yodhi heard the ladies chattering, surely hugging one another, so excited to see each other. Then his mother began to cry. Joe scooped him up and held him close while Lizzy comforted Amara until Lizzy, so happy to have them there, insisted his father hand him over.
As he was passed from one to the other, his father said with a tender mix of humility and pride, "My beloved son, Yodhi."
"You are a beautiful baby, little Yodhi. What gorgeous eyes he has, Joe."
"He has Amara's eyes," his father said, smiling as he pulled their luggage from the trunk of the cab. "See?"
Lizzy looked at the baby, then up at his mother. "Amara. Amara-me, look at me. Stop your crying now, it will be all right. Let me see your eyes?"
She did and Yodhi turned his head to see his beautiful mother, too. He smiled at her and she couldn't help but smile back.
"They're all red," his mother protested to Lizzy while stroking his cheek. "And don’t call me Amara-me. You know that drives me crazy. Just call me 'Maree, like always."
"All right, my dear 'Maree. And your eyes are very beautiful, just like your son's. Come. Come inside and meet John. You want to meet your cousin, don't you, Yodhi? He's is eager to meet you!"
"Thank you, Lizzy." Amara said, sniffling. "Thank you so much."
"Do not think about it for a moment," her cousin said as she looked down at the baby. She had lovely dark eyes and a bright smile. "There is no better place for you to be."
"They wanted his blood…" His mother hiccupped and then pressed her hand to her mouth.
"Shhh, 'Maree. I know. They will not get it here. It is not for them to take, you know? Not for them to take."
She was right. Yodhi gurgled up at her. They could not take it. It was for him to give.
~*~*~
They settled into life in Cairo and he grew. His parents helped him to learn to walk and to talk. They stayed with their cousins in their small house because houses were especially hard to buy and Joe found work in a wood shop there. In the evenings, Joe made furniture to sell in a shop he and Lizzy's husband built behind the house. They were not wealthy as his father had been before, but they were happy.
When Yodhi was two years old, on a Tuesday, he was sitting in the main room of the house playing with his brother, Jimmy. Amara's cell phone rang.
"Go get the phone for mama, Yodhi," his brother told him.
He got up to go get. He knew how to say a lot of things and his father had taught him "hello" and "Here's Mommy" especially for the cell phone.
His mother was already holding the phone when he toddled to her and her face was pale. The phone slipped from her fingers to clatter on the floor. As he bent to reach for it, she scooped him up and ran with him, screaming his father's name.
"Joe! JOE!"
He clung to his mother's arms and saw the cousins gather as Joe pushed open the back screen door. "What is it? What's the matter?"
"It's him. It's Dr. King! He knows where we are!"
"What? Amara, calm down. He couldn't possibly know. What makes you think so?"
"Nurse Daily! Nurse Daily just called me on my cell phone. She says he knows where we are and he's coming to get Yodhi!"
His father's brows furrowed and there was a grim look in his eye. He turned to Zack, gripping his arm. "We need to leave here."
"If you leave and run, he will find you again. We can fight him, Joe. You don't have to give up."
Joe shook his head. "I won't risk 'Maree and the boy. I won't." He gripped his wife's arms and asked her, voice intent, "Tell me everything she said."
"Nurse Daily is here in Cairo. She says," his mother said, tears running down her face as she held Yodhi so tight he could barely breathe, "he's here. She says they came here not long after we did because of fewer restrictions. She said she would have warned us sooner but she didn't know we were here. When she found out yesterday, she got my number from his office. He already had it!"
"Then why isn't he here already? Lizzy, start packing our things."
"Right away, Joe. Jimmy, you help me," his aunt told his brother.
"He didn't know we were here until the day before yesterday. He's been looking, she said, even having people trying to find us. It is only a miracle that they didn't find us before this."
"Why is she still working for him?" his father demanded, as though Amara knew.
"She's afraid. She believes he has power, Joe. Dr. Weis refused to join him, and has gone another way with his own research; but Nurse Daily felt she had to do as Dr. King said. He could have ruined her life, made it impossible for her to work again in healthcare anywhere." His father understood, by the look on his face, and did not like it at all. His mother was trembling and her husband held her close. "Joe, there's more."
"What is it, 'Maree?" he whispered.
"She said he's been trying repeatedly to synthesize Yodhi's blood from the samples he took using other babies. She said in his reckless insanity to find a cure for the ills of the world, he's killed more than twenty other infants!
"Oh, dear God in heaven," Joe pleaded. Together, they cried for the babies, prayed for the families. Yodhi cried, too. He understood his mother's grief with wisdom beyond his years and he touched her cheek to comfort her. She could hardly smile at him, but she loved him. Oh, how she loved him!
Before morning, they were in Zack's car. James was sleeping in the seat beside Yodhi, but he was wide awake, in his mother's lap, listening. His cousin John was next to James in Lizzy's lap and Yodhi could feel him watching him, closely. He reached across his brother and took John's hand.
"Okay?" John asked him.
"Okay," he said.
John nodded and fell asleep holding his hand.
He did not close his eyes as they drove. Zack talked a lot when he was nervous and he talked to Joe now. "We'll be out of Cairo by noon. We'll drive to Alexandria."
"That will take some time."
"About three or four hours, maybe more. Maybe not…"
"You drive carefully, Zack. If King has the means to do what he's done, he may have the means to buy off the police."
"I will, Joe. Try to rest."
"I can't rest!"
"Shhh," his mother whispered. "The boys are asleep."
They drove for a long time. Yodhi dozed. The sun lit up the inside of the car and the sky was a brilliant blue. His mother continually stroked his curly hair so it was hard to s
tay awake. He heard cousin Zack mutter something.
"What?" Joe said his voice full of something rarely heard in his speech - fear.
"Someone is following us. A big white van. No windows on the sides. When we move, it moves."
"Lose it, Zack."
"I thought you did not want me to speed?"
"Zack!"
As soon as the car accelerated, the white van did too. Amara did her best not to cry. She and Lizzy held hands when the van came up beside them and swerved toward their car.
"The airport exit! Take it, Zack. Now!"
Other cars were headed that way, but cousin Zack did amazing things with the steering wheel and got them into the correct lane to exit toward the Alexandria International Airport.
"Faster!" his father commanded.
"Joe!" His mother cried with panic, her hand gripping the headrest of Joe's seat.
"Don't worry, Amara!" Zack spun the wheel and the van swerved toward another car. There was a screech of tires and a CRUNCH of metal. Lizzy let out a little scream which woke John and made him cry. James slept through it all.
Zack got them to the airport. It was a nervous time waiting for their tickets. Joe held onto the single suitcase which held their clothing, what jewelry Amara had to sell and any other things of value they owned. Amara turned to her cousin, Lizzy.
"Where are you going?" Lizzy asked, anxious to know.
"We can't tell you. It isn't safe if you know. But don't worry. We'll see you again."
"I know, I know, but oh 'Maree!" They hugged tightly. Yodhi toddled to Lizzy and hugged her leg. She scooped him up. "I will miss you, beautiful boy!"
"Boys aren't beautiful," Zack scolded her. "They're handsome. You tell her, Yodhi. They are handsome!"
"Handsum," he said and smiled. The adults all laughed even while they cried. His brother James grabbed his foot and held on.
When finally they were ready to pass through security, Zack pressed money into Joe's hand.
"I can't take this…" his father said. Yodhi watched his father with warmth in his belly. What a good man he was!
"You will need it. It is all I can do for you and my Amara. You take it."
"Zack -"
"Thank you, Zack," his pretty mother said as she kissed Zack's cheek.
A commotion at the ticket counter drew their attention. His mother screamed when she saw Dr. King's snarling face. There was no mistaking that red hair. Dr. King roared in fury. "Stop them! That man isn't that boy's father!"
"Joe!"
"Go, now! Hurry!"
Joe grabbed up James and Amara had Yodhi. He bounced in her arms as they ran for the security check in. They had next to nothing with them but it was still necessary for them to remove their shoes and send their scant belongings through the x-ray. Over his mother's shoulder, he watched Zack put himself between the red-headed Doctor and their small family. He caught a glimpse of Nurse Daily moving to stand beside Zack and Lizzy, John in Lizzy's arms.
"Get out of my way!" King shoved at Zack, who in turn grappled with him. "They left the country without his father's permission!"
Airport security stood in Joe's way. "Is this true, sir?" one of the three asked. The second man had his radio out and was calling for assistance.
"I am his father," Joe insisted. "He isn't my biological son, but I have custody of him with my wife who is his mother."
"Can you prove that, sir?'
"Can he prove otherwise?" Joe demanded, the knowledge that he was in the right lending him confidence.
Dr. King was desperate. "That boy's blood is worth more than gold! Bring him back! He could save millions!"
"Leave us alone!" Amara cried.
Joe pointed to King. "You hear what he's saying? He's mad. He only wants to run experiments on our son. He's murdered other children. You can't let him kill again!"
"Let me go!" Dr. King growled as Nurse Daily tried to restrain him and shouted for security. Airport officers ran toward the red-headed man as he bellowed, "His blood is a miracle!"
"You'll never have him!" Yodhi heard the resolution in Zack's shout. They weren't allowed to pass through the security check, but the head security officer of the airport was now consulting with Joe. They were told they couldn't leave until this matter was settled.
"He's trying to steal my son," Joe told them earnestly.
"He won't get him now, sir," the officer said as the police arrived. "Please, come this way…"
For his disturbance, Dr. King was dragged away. Nurse Daily reinforced Joe's accusations of murder. Zack, his eye red and closing where Dr. King had hit him, and Lizzy, with John in her arms, met the Carpenter family in the airport security office. They would all have to go with the police to tell their story. His mother held him close, crying and trembling with relief that Dr. King was in custody. Yodhi was pressed against her shoulder and couldn't see anything else.
~*~*~
Part Three
Six months later, back home with Zack and Lizzy in Cairo, they heard that Dr. King had died in prison. Nurse Daily had testified to what he had done to all those babies. Dr. King's son, also Dr. King, took over his practice. On their small radio, they all listened to his announcement:
"My father was a brave man, a trifle misguided in his methods. His research was vital and must continue! His passion never flagged. Neither will mine. I will continue his brave efforts in the field of synthetic blood research. Someday, we will cure far more than the rare blood diseases of the world. We will find cures for cancer, for AIDS, even for the common cold. Eternal life will not just be a matter of faith but a matter of reality!"
"Zack," Lizzy said, holding John in her lap. "Turn that off?" James jumped up and did it for her. "Thank you, honey," she said.
"He is as mad as his father," Joe muttered and held Yodhi tightly. The boy reached up to touch his father's beard.
"Not mad," 'Maree told her husband, her hand on Joe's shoulder as she stroked her son's curls. "Evil."
"That's one evil gone," Zack told her. "You’ve no need to fear, Amara."
Yodhi looked up at his mother, whose eyes proclaimed her concern, but she did not speak aloud any of her fears.
~*~*~
After that, his parents settled in to a simple life. Yodhi grew strong in their love and God's, though they did not leave him or his brother alone outside to play. His father taught him to work with wood, and by the time he was seven years old, he was good enough that together they made beds for him and his brother and for his cousin John. Yodhi was privileged to carve their names into the headboards.
As his father and mother prayed with them, kissed them tenderly and sent them to sleep the night the new beds were in place, he rolled over in his soft mattress to view his handiwork. He smiled just a little as the moon lit up the curlicues and the crudely carved name below it and above his pillow:
Yeshua Emmanuel
Carpenter.
###
~*~*~
About the Author
Kristie Kiessling was born in Collingswood, NJ. She grew up in a large family of creative people, reading even before she could "read" by memorizing stories she was told and "reading" them to others from memory.
Kristie has always wanted to tell stories. While her brothers played chess, she would use the taken pieces to tell epic tales on the sidelines. She would look at picture books and Bible stories quietly in the living room for hours. Believing in Jesus as her Lord and Savior flowed naturally out of being raised by believing parents, but that does not mean Kristie didn't test her faith in a God who has proven to her that He never fails.
She's written poems, plays, songs (words and music) and told all manner of stories to her kids. Now, with her husband's encouragement and her three children old enough to pursue their own dreams, she is using her God-given talents to tell her stories to a much broader audience.
~*~*~
Connect with Me Online:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/Narratus
My blog: https://Kristiekiessling.blogspot.com
Sanguis Dei Page 2