Love on the Edge of Time

by Julie A. Richman

  “Damn, you’re hot,” he whispered in her ear.

  “Let’s find Johnny and the Eggleston’s and say goodnight. I think I’ve had enough for one evening.”

  “I don’t know, I think you could still take a few inches.”

  “Just a few?” She mocked sadness.

  Holding up a hand, he wiggled his fingers, “When I pluck you like a six-string.” As they made their way across the space, Jesse slung an arm across Kylie’s shoulders, pulling her into his side. “I keep getting hard just thinking about how you handled him. You are so badass.” He kissed her temple, just as they approached Johnny, Joanna, and the Egglestons.

  “There they are,” Johnny smiled as they approached. “We were just discussing the trip. We leave for Alaska in two weeks.”

  “I’ve never been. I’m excited to go there. I understand it’s very beautiful. And that the men are burly and hot.” She jabbed Jesse in the ribs with her elbow and laughed.

  “I’m gonna get dumped for a salmon fisherman, I know it,” he laughed and everyone joined him.

  “Come, join us,” Ross offered.

  “I’d love to. I hear it’s gorgeous. But I’m going to be in London for a few weeks recording.”

  “With the band?” Sarah asked.

  “No. This is some solo work I’ve been doing. It’s for my next album. When you guys get back from Australia, I’m doing a small showcase show at The Bowery Ballroom downtown. I’ll make sure you’re all added to the guest list.”

  “Can I bring a friend?” Sarah piped in.

  Jesse smiled at the teen. “I’ll personally make sure you’ve got a plus one, Sarah.”

  As Kylie watched her boyfriend make the teen swoon, she hoped that Sarah would be with them in Alaska and Australia, at least part of the time, so that she could have the opportunity to really talk to the teen and maybe help her find the path to healing herself.

  ••••••

  Rolling over, even in her sleep she knew she needed to savor every moment feeling him next to her. She was going to miss his warmth, the funny little noises he made in his sleep and the talking, the conversations he had aloud with the people in his dreams. So, when her arm found cold, empty space, she woke from her half-sleep state.

  Under the door was a slit of light coming from down the hall. What was he doing up at this hour? Rubbing her eyes, she grabbed her phone from the night table to see the time. There were still two and a half hours until the alarm before she had to get dressed and begin a long day that would end in Anchorage, Alaska.

  Swinging her long legs off the bed, Kylie headed down the hall on her journey to find out what had Jesse up at this hour. His journal was open and there were lines of lyrics, crossed out words and margin notes. He sat playing solitaire with his ancient deck of cards, she had heard them snapping to the table before even entering the room.

  “Hey, babe,” she said softly to let him know she’d come up behind him.

  Turning and smiling, he extended an arm to invite her into his lap. “Hey, Toots.”

  “What’s going on?”

  “I had an idea for a song. Got the first two verses out and was just thinking where, if anywhere, I wanted to take it. So, just clearing my mind with a game of solitaire.”

  “We’ve got two and a half hours till my alarm, play solitaire after I leave. Come and snuggle.” Kissing the tip of his nose, she rose from his lap and headed back to bed, hearing his footsteps almost immediately after hers.

  “I’m going to miss you,” she whispered once in the comfort of his spoon and strong arms.

  “We’re not getting out of bed for a month after we both get back.”

  Kylie laughed. “You really do have this John and Yoko thing.”

  Hearing the normalized pattern of his breathing, she knew not to wait for a response and snuggled in deeper into his arms for what would be the last time for more than a month.

  ••••••

  Making sure the doorman had loaded the last of her luggage into the Town Car, he opened the back door for her.

  “I’m going to miss you, Toots. I want to get in that car and go with you.” He took her face in both hands, kissing each corner of her mouth before going in for a deep kiss. “A picture a day,” he reminded her.

  Kylie nodded-unable to speak-and ducked into the car. Waving goodbye, she tried to capture a mental image as he stood on the sidewalk watching her leave.

  Pulling out her phone, she typed the text message, Missing you already, your (pageant) Queen of Hearts and sent off the first photo to him.

  She could barely see him, half a block away, when he reached into his pocket for his phone and opened the text.

  Smiling as he viewed the first of many daily pictures. This one, handwritten lyrics on a swath of a page in his journal with the Queen of Hearts from his deck sitting diagonally across the page and she’d added a vintage, vignette sepia overlay to frame the image.

  He was still smiling as he walked back into the building.

  She certainly is my Queen of Hearts, he mused.

  Chapter 14

  “Yeah. I miss her like crazy, but I’m being really productive and focused. I’m getting ready to leave, and once I’m in London, I’m going to be eating, sleeping, and breathing that recording time. So, I’m really doing okay.” Shifting on the couch to pull out his phone, he smiled at yesterday’s picture. It was a selfie, her hair sweeping across her face in the wind with majestic snowcapped mountains as her backdrop. Her smile matched his as he wished he were exploring the rugged landscape with her.

  Claire crossed her legs from left to right. “Since you’re going to be missing three appointments, how do you feel about doing Skype sessions when you’re in London?”

  “Yeah. Yeah. I think that’s a great idea. The time difference might chew us up a little.”

  “What if we kept it Wednesday mornings, same time for you, and I’ll just adjust on my end, so that you have some consistency. Can you comfortably commit to that?”

  Nodding, Jesse affirmed. “I like that. I can do that. With being overseas and Kylie almost impossible to communicate with, having this as a constant is a good thing.”

  Claire smiled. “I’m glad you think so and I have to agree. You’ve been sober for quite a while now…”

  “Two hundred and thirty-nine days,” he interrupted.

  “Two hundred and thirty-nine days,” she repeated. “You are closing in on nine months, Jesse.”

  “I feel so good, Doc. So good. I’ve really gotta thank you. I know it’s a bit unconventional what we’re doing. But it’s working and nothing has worked like this before.”

  Unexpectedly springing from the couch, he closed the space between them in two strides, leaning down to wrap her in a hug. She stood as his arms went around her, falling into his somewhat awkward embrace, her head to his shoulder. Giving her a quick, tight squeeze before placing his hands on her shoulders to disengage, Jesse moved back to his space on the couch, leaving Claire reeling, her emotions swirling too fast to identify.

  “So, I was thinking I’d like to get one last regression in before I ship out,” he broke the ungainly moment with an amped-up declaration.

  “Let’s get started.” She straightened her skirt, hit the darkener button on the shades and began talking him through the guided meditation. When his head snapped to the left, it appeared as if he were intently listening or staring at something.

  “It’s more than just wolves, Daniel. Did you hear that cry?” He craned his neck, slowly surveying from left to right.

  Claire wished he wasn’t wearing the RGB glasses so that she could see his eyes.

  “There. There it is again.”

  “Where are you?” Claire asked.

  “We are in the hills above Anathoth.”

  “Can you tell me where Anathoth is? What country?”

  “We are in Roman Judea.” The hairs on Claire’s neck began to do a line dance. Israel under Roman rule? The psychiatrist wondere
d.

  “Who is we?” She asked.

  “I am with Daniel.”

  “Is he your friend, brother?”

  “He is my spiritual mentor.”

  “What year are you in?”

  “It is 46.”

  “AD?” Claire scribbled notes as quickly as she could.

  “Yes. It is common era.”

  “And you are in what is now known as Israel? Is that correct?”

  “Yes.”

  “Is Jesus preaching?” Claire asked, quickly Googling the dates of Jesus’s birth and death.

  “No. The Great One has been gone for years now.”

  Corroboration on the existence of Christ. Claire’s hands were shaking.

  “Did your paths ever cross?”

  “No. But he was known by all.”

  “Who is ruling Israel now?”

  “Rome.”

  “But who specifically has local authority for Rome.” She stared at the Wiki chart on her tablet. There’s no way he’ll know this.

  “The current procurator is Tiberius Julius Alexander, a traitor to the Jews and to his own heritage.”

  The chills running up and down her arms stunned the psychiatrist into silence. There is no way in Hell, Jesse Winslow, bad boy rocker, knows the specifics of Roman history in the middle east. Yes, he could’ve identified a major, well-known figure like Pontius Pilate, but Tiberius Julius Alexander-not likely.

  Looking to trip him up, she threw out a red herring, “And he reports to Caligula in Rome,” her intonation making it a statement of fact.

  Jesse shook his head, “No, Caligula was murdered. Claudius now rules Rome.”

  “I see,” was all she said. He was right. After a moment, she asked, “Who are you?” realizing she had never gotten a name.

  “I am David.”

  “What is your full name?”

  “David Ben-Abraham.”

  “And you are a rabbinical student?”

  “Always. As God’s teachings are eternal, but I already have a ministry of my own.”

  “And where is that?” she asked, poised to Google.

  “It started in Sebastia. Where I’m from. But there are followers throughout the land.”

  She typed the name into her tablet and looked up at her patient, just as his head whipped around.

  “There it is. I heard it again, Daniel. It’s coming from that direction.” Jesse lifted his arm and pointed at the wall. “Come, we must go. It sounds like a child to me.”

  The terrain is rough on our sandaled feet as we utilize the near full moon’s light to guide us around rocks and low scrub bushes. The wind howls over the hills and I wonder if that’s what I hear and my mind is just playing tricks with me. For a child to be left alone in these hills at night would surely be a death sentence.

  Quietly, Daniel and I proceed, careful not to alert animals to our presence. Stopping on a ridge, I listen as the wind blows her song through the cedar tree branches, her falsetto as ethereal as the moon’s glow.

  “It must’ve been the wind,” I conclude as we continue to follow the stars and head north toward Sebastia.

  Falling into easy conversation, we follow the moonlit path, suddenly halted by a blood-curdling scream that is most definitely human…and female.

  Silently, I point to my left, indicating the cry came from off the path to our north. Changing tracks immediately, we begin to climb the hill, attempting to keep the rustling of our clothes to a minimum. Looking all around us, there is still no one in our line of sight, either close or at a distance, that could have made that sound. That sound. I know if I don’t find its source that it will haunt me in dreams forever.

  Daniel halts me by putting an arm across my chest and gestures with his head to the right. Crouched and growling a dark wolf bares his teeth. Behind him in a bush is a girl. I’m not sure if the animal has her captive or if it is protecting the teen from us.

  Daniel raises his club, assuming a protective stance as I call out, “Are you hurt?”

  Shaking her head, “No,” she calls out. “I think he’s protecting me.”

  “Was that you screaming before?”

  “Yes, there were snakes. But he killed them.”

  “If my friend lowers his club, will he allow you to walk out to us?” I call to her.

  “Yes. I think so.” She pauses, “Promise you won’t hurt me?”

  “Yes, you have my promise.”

  Nodding to Daniel, he lowers the club and the girl begins to make her way out of the sharp-edged confines of the bushy cedar.

  “I am David and this is my mentor, Daniel,” I indicate pointing to my companion. “What is your name?”

  “I am Rachel.” As she attempts to disengage her snagged garments from the branches, the ripping fabric tears the night’s silence, evoking the wolf to bare his teeth. Yet, the imposing animal does not move.

  It is then that I notice she is here in the wilderness wearing only kethōneth, her undergarments, and there is no sign of her simlāh or any type of outer garment. Quickly stripping off my me’īl, I toss her the cloak as she emerges from the bush, so that she can immediately wrap in it.

  I remain in a stunned silence, stuck to my place in the dirt as Rachel walks toward me, a vision of the night that makes me wonder if perhaps I am hallucinating. Wrapped in my robe, she seems to float on the darkness, with the wild animal following at her heels. The first thing I notice are her large, wide-set dark eyes as they are almost almond-shaped in appearance and profoundly expressive. They are saying something to me, of that I am sure, telling me a story in a language I have yet to learn. As she nears, I take in the rest of her, admiring her thick ebony hair as it falls past her shoulders, framing her oval face and small, upturned nose, but what I wasn’t expecting was her smile, soft, sweet, and shy.

  What was this beautiful young woman doing out here in the dangerous night? Beyond wild animals, bands of thieves roam these hills regularly.

  “Rachel, why are you out here alone in the night? This is no place for you to be.”

  “I have been exiled by my family. I’ve brought disgrace upon them and I am destroying the chances of my sister making a match and being married off. My family can’t afford that. My presence puts them all at risk.”

  “Why have they exiled you?” The concern in Daniel’s voice is evident.

  “Because it is too much of a journey, and loss of harvesting time, to take me to the leper colony.”

  Daniel and I look at one another silently. I can tell by his expression that neither of us can breathe in this moment. Having recently visited a leper colony to pray with its occupants for renewed health and healing, there was something we were missing in the beauty standing before us.

  “Rachel, who told you that you have leprosy?” Daniel’s tone remains benevolent and paternal.

  “Rabbi Ezekial and everyone who knows me.” Her head hangs in shame.

  Rabbis are the healers in most villages and their word is rarely disputed. Yet, this girl standing before us appears to be the picture of health.

  “Rachel, Daniel and I have helped heal many of our followers, some with leprosy, so maybe we can help you. Is there a diseased area you would be comfortable showing us?”

  Slightly lifting her kethōneth, she exposes her right leg, a dark red, raised plaque is visible in the moonlight. The patch covers a significant portion of her calf and appears to have an almost silver scale.

  “Does it itch?”

  She nods.

  “And you have it in other places?” Daniel asks.

  “Mostly my arms and legs, but there are some spots on my back, too.” Again, she hangs her head in disgrace.

  Looking at Daniel, “The Essennoi.”

  He nods.

  “Rachel, I think we can bring you to some people who can cure you. We will have to go to Jerusalem and borrow some donkeys and a wagon and then it will take a few days. Would you come with us?”

  “I don’t…” she begins.


  “You will die if we leave you here alone. Please, let us help you. Tonight, we will build a fire to stay warm and we can leave in the morning.”

  “Can you really cure me so that I can live among people again?”

  Her eyes are wide with hope, and in my heart, I already know I will do whatever I can… call in all the favors owed to me, just to try and give her back all that has been robbed from her.

  “Yes. We will be taking you to stay with some people in Qumran, on the shores of Lake Asphaltitus. You need to do exactly as they say and you will be cured.”

  “Forever?”

  I hate to dash her hope. “For a while, at least. And if it returns, you can be healed again.”

  Next to the fire the wolf slumbers. “How long has the animal been with you?” Daniel inquires.

  “Since the edge of my town. He’s been very protective of me.”

  “I’ve never seen a wild animal be so docile and protect a human in this way.”

  “Perhaps this is not a mere animal,” I suggest and the beast lifts his head, looking me directly in the eye, before resuming his slumber.

  In the morning, the decision is made to split up, with me and Rachel heading to Jerusalem for transportation and Daniel returning to Sebastia in preparation for the upcoming holidays. As we go to leave, the wolf turns and begins to follow Daniel, as if understanding the older man needs him, and in that moment, I know my mentor will return home safely.

  By the light of day, Rachel is even more beautiful than she had appeared in the moonlight and I find myself trying to banish bad feelings toward her family for exiling her, knowing she would most likely die in the wilderness.

  “Why are you saving me?” She looks at me out of the corner of her eye, too shy with me yet to be as bold as she might like.

  “Because I can.” I smile down at her.

  “Are you always that sure of yourself, David?”

  “Yes, generally I am.”

  She’s silent a moment before asking me, “Do you have a lot of followers in your ministry?”