Beloved Enemy, The (House of Winslow Book #30)

by Gilbert, Morris

  Kefira turned to see if Amir was serious, and he seemed to be. “I don’t think we’ll have to resort to that,” she said quickly.

  “These natives are no good. You have to beat them to get the best out of them.” Amir whirled and walked away, and Kefira turned to the man who stood before her.

  Lisimba was very small, several inches smaller than Kefira herself. He wore a simple tunic, belted by a strap of frayed leather. His feet were bare, his arms thin and stringy. His face was ugly. There was no other way to describe it. It was almost like a monkey face but was redeemed by the bright, cheerful brown eyes and the smile that twisted his lips upward. He was dark, baked by the sun, and Kefira was uncertain of how to treat him. “I don’t think we’ll have any beatings here, Lisimba.”

  “No, missy. Lisimba will work hard. God bless you very much.”

  “Well, I’ll have to tell you that I’m new at cooking on an expedition like this, Lisimba. You’ll have to help me.”

  “Oh yes, missy. You come with me. There is a market. You will buy fresh food for supper tonight.”

  The sailing craft had docked and was being unloaded into a truck that was backed up to the wooden dock. Amir had indicated they would have to wait until morning to leave for the digs, so Kefira had determined to cook her first meal, and she was nervous about it. She had gotten some Egyptian money from the professor, but it was a mystery to her how to convert dollars into Egyptian coinage.

  Lisimba bobbed along beside Kefira in a strange, hobbling gait, a cross between a hop and a skip. He grinned incessantly and punctuated many of his sentences with expressions like “Bless the Lord” or “Praise God.”

  The market he led her to was simple, made up of stalls on both sides of the narrow street. Lisimba was at her side as she selected the fresh vegetables, many of which she did not recognize. He bargained vociferously with the venders. Kefira quickly learned you did not pay the first price they asked and was shocked when Lisimba called one man a “thief with a camel’s nose” for trying to overcharge a lady. Such insults, apparently, did not mean anything, for the man had simply lowered his price grudgingly until an agreement was reached.

  When they reached the meat section, Kefira was appalled. Animal carcasses hung in the open air, covered with flies. The stench was unbearable, and she turned to Lisimba. “This is awful!”

  “You do not like the meat?”

  “No, there are flies all over it.”

  “If you like, we can buy a live animal and we can keep the flies off.”

  Kefira hesitated, then shook her head. “I don’t know anything about butchering animals.”

  “I know everything about such things, praise the Lord,” Lisimba said eagerly. “Come. Over there we can buy a nice juicy tender lamb. You know how to cook lamb?”

  “Not really.”

  “Then perhaps you will allow me to help you.”

  “I’m afraid you’ll have to, Lisimba. I’m glad you’re here. As you can see, I don’t know what I’m doing.”

  “You will learn very quickly. I will show you,” Lisimba said eagerly.

  The two purchased a half-grown lamb, which Lisimba said would make the best meal, and then they started back, with Lisimba leading the lamb.

  When they reached the docks, Kefira found that Josh had set up her tent, as well as one for Diana. He looked at the lamb and said, “Is that supper tonight?”

  “Yes, you should have seen that meat market. Meat hanging in the open. Flies all over it.”

  Josh suddenly laughed. “I want to watch as you butcher that cute little fellow.”

  Kefira frowned. “You’re awful, Josh! You know I couldn’t do that.”

  “You’re just like my sister Jenny. She hates to eat deer because she says they’re so beautiful. She eats them, though, I’ve noticed. Try to do a good job,” he winked at her. “You want to impress us all on your first meal on the expedition.”

  ****

  Anxiously Kefira looked over the meal she had prepared. The men had gone to wash up, and as they returned, she said nervously, “I hope you’re not expecting too much.”

  “It will be delicious, my dear. Your cooking always is,” Phineas said cheerfully.

  The men sat down, and Kefira began setting out the meal.

  “This smells wonderful. What is it?” Josh asked.

  “It’s stewed lamb, and I made some black bean soup.”

  As she put the dishes on the table, Professor Welles said, “I think we’ll ask God to bless the food. Josh, would you pronounce the blessing?”

  Josh asked a quick blessing, and then the men dug in. Amir tasted the stewed lamb and said with surprise, “Why, it’s perfectly seasoned! You are a chef indeed, Miss Reis.”

  “Well, I have to give credit to my assistant.” Kefira turned and nodded to Lisimba, who was standing close by. “He showed me how to do it.”

  “What is this?” Amir asked, holding up a small piece of pastry.

  “It’s called teiglach. It’s my specialty.”

  Josh bit into one of the bits of pastry and exclaimed, “Why, this is good! What’s in it?”

  “Cheese and bits of lamb.”

  Diana served herself a second helping of stewed lamb. “I’ll have to say, Kefira, you are an excellent cook.”

  “Thank you, Diana.”

  When the meal was almost finished, Kefira brought out her masterpiece—a sweet carrot compote. As the members of the party sampled it, they all pronounced it delicious.

  “I’ve been on some digs,” Phineas said, “where we had to threaten to shoot the cook, but I can see we won’t have any problems this time. My compliments, my dear.”

  As the others spoke up their commendation, Kefira felt a great release. She had been worried as to whether she could handle the kind of cooking that would suit the others, and now she felt confident.

  After the meal, the others left to see to the storing of the supplies on the truck, and Kefira helped Lisimba clean up.

  “I don’t know what I would have done without you, Lisimba,” Kefira said, smiling.

  “You will be a great cook,” Lisimba said. He flashed a smile at her, his little monkey face twisted, and said, “You will make a good wife for some man. This is good practice for wives-to-be.”

  Kefira did not answer but instead said, “Are you Muslim, Lisimba?”

  “No, missy, not Muslim—not anymore. I am a Jesus man now.”

  This surprised Kefira. She had assumed that the small man was a Muslim, understanding that most of the natives were. She waited for him to say more, but he chatted on about the supplies and the food, punctuating his remarks with expressions of thanksgiving.

  As soon as the meal was cleaned up and preparations for breakfast complete, Kefira went to the tent. She undressed, put on a cotton gown, and after washing her face and hands, got under the covers on the cot. She fell asleep almost immediately, but she slept fitfully. Several times that night she dreamed of a sharp black stone and of a house beside it with a goat on top. She had dreamed this for weeks now, and she could make no sense out of it. Finally she drifted off into a deep, solid sleep.

  ****

  They arrived at the dig site early in the day. The work went well, and by sunset the camp was fairly well established. The large wall tents were up in a line, one for each of the members of the expedition, and one that would serve as an office and a depository for the relics they found. There were two smaller tents for sanitary purposes, for which Kefira was grateful. Another tent was the cook tent, where the stove and oven were kept, along with a table and chairs for the meals. The groceries were stored here in crates to keep out any wandering visitors, and Kefira had worked quickly to provide a simple meal at noon as they set up the tents. Everyone had worked hard, and once Amir had come into the tent to get water. He was a suave man and seemed to be studying her carefully. Finally he thanked her for the water, then said, “Be very careful about leaving camp, Miss Reis.”

  “Why don’t you call me K
efira? Everyone else does.”

  “Why, thank you. I will. But as I say, I would not advise you to go alone outside of the area.”

  “Why not?”

  “Some of the people in this area,” Amir said carefully, “are not on good terms with the Jews.”

  Kefira turned to face him. “That was true in New York, where I lived.”

  “It is different here,” Amir said patiently. “These people are very primitive. There are ancient feuds and superstitions about the Jewish race.”

  “What about you, Amir? Do you dislike the Jews?”

  Amir laughed. His eyes were bold, and he studied her for a moment. “I hope to show you that I can be very close to Jews.”

  There was a tone in his speech that Kefira disliked, but the words themselves were inoffensive enough. She nodded, then went back to her work, and after Amir left, she said, “Lisimba, we have to have another good supper.”

  “Tonight we will have roasted lamb, and perhaps you will fix some more of your Jewish food.”

  As the two worked, Kefira finally asked what had been on her heart. “How is it that you are a Christian, Lisimba? Not many of your people are, I think.”

  “You are right, missy,” Lisimba said sadly. He turned to her with a mournful look on his ugly face. “But I will tell you why I am a follower of Jesus. You see, I was a slave.”

  “You mean a real slave in chains?”

  “In chains and beaten and all that goes with slavery.” He paused and asked, “Are there slaves in your country, missy?”

  “Not anymore. We had a war there, and they were all freed.”

  “Ah, that is good! But in many of the Muslim countries there is slavery. Young girls are sold into slavery by their parents when they are mere children. Others go into slavery for debt. That was my fate. I went in debt to the wrong man, and when I could not pay, he took me for a slave.”

  “How terrible!”

  “It was not pleasant. He kept me chained to a post every night, and he beat me severely.”

  Kefira listened with horror as Lisimba spoke of the nature of being a slave. She had never given this a thought, since slavery was not a part of American life, but now she felt the horror of it, the absolute hopelessness as Lisimba spoke on about what it was like. “I was no more than an animal to my owner. He would work me until I could work no more. Had I died, he would have thrown my body into a ditch.”

  “But how did you get free?”

  Lisimba’s face brightened up, and his face was quite bearable when he smiled. “I found a portion of the Word of God. It was only a small part of the Bible and very worn. It was printed in Egyptian, and I think the good God must have put it in my way. I found it, and I kept it secret. It was part of the Gospel that told of Jesus and His mercy. I read it every night until I had it memorized.” Tears sprang to his eyes, and he said, “And then I prayed to this Jesus God. I asked Him to set me free, and He did, missy. He did!”

  Kefira was fascinated. “How did that happen?”

  “I do not know. I know when I called on Jesus, He did something in my heart. I was miserable and unhappy and angry, but when I called on Him it was as if … as if I were put in a place where my heart was light and easy.”

  “But you were still a slave.”

  “Yes, I was. And every day I prayed for Jesus to set me free.”

  “How long did you pray?” Kefira asked cautiously. She was fascinated by the story, and there was no question in her mind as to the sincerity of the little man.

  “I prayed for three years, and one day a man came to my master. I had never seen him, but he was a relative of mine. He had succeeded in business and had become a Christian. He told my master he wanted to buy me, and he paid the full price. And when we were alone, he said that Jesus God appeared to him and told him to come and buy my freedom.” Tears were running down Lisimba’s dark cheeks, and he said, “So Jesus set my soul free, and then He instructed my cousin to buy my physical freedom. That is why I sing the praises of the Lord Jesus every day.”

  Kefira was tremendously moved by the story. She sensed the sweet spirit in Lisimba, and for all of his ugliness, he was one of the happiest men she had ever seen.

  That night she went to bed and thought for a long time about what had happened to Lisimba. She could not doubt his words. The truth shone from him, and when she went to sleep that night, she dreamed again of the sharp black stone rising high into the air and the house with the goat grazing on top.

  ****

  By dawn Kefira had breakfast cooked, which in this case was bacon and eggs and bagels. She could not eat the bacon, but the others ate voraciously. When they had finished, Phineas announced, “Well, it’s time to go to work. I’ve printed a schedule that we will stick to very carefully.”

  Kefira joined the others in looking over the schedule:

  5:00 A.M. Reveille

  5:30 A.M. Breakfast

  6:00 A.M. to 2:00 P.M. Work

  2:00 P.M. Lunch

  3:00 P.M. to 4:00 P.M. Siesta

  4:00 P.M. to 7:00 P.M. Work

  7:30 P.M. Dinner

  8:30 P.M. to 10:00 P.M. Plan work for next day. Examine results of day’s work.

  Diana said indignantly, “Why, we can’t work like this! There’s no time to do anything but work.”

  “That’s what we’re here for, my dear. I’m sure we’ll find time to make exceptions. Now we’re all going to the tell. We’ll start today.”

  He led them out to the tell, which was only a hundred yards away, and they all stood looking at the slight mound. “The important thing right now—I might say, the all-important thing—is where do we start?”

  “That is very important, Professor,” Amir said quickly. “I think we should start on the east side.”

  They all walked over the tell, which was no more than an acre in size, and for some time Phineas was deep in thought. He shook his head finally and said, “If we start at the wrong place, we can waste a tremendous amount of time. It’s very important that we find some artifacts immediately. My brother Conrad will be wanting evidence that we’re doing well.”

  Kefira, of course, kept silent during all of this. She listened as the professor and Amir discussed where to begin, and finally Phineas turned and said, “What do you think, Joshua? Would you be happy with Amir’s decision?”

  Josh looked somewhat disconcerted. “Well, I have so little experience, and I’m sure Amir has a great deal. But from what I’ve read of the excavation of other tells, the best would be the northwest area.”

  Amir looked incredulous. “Why northwest, if I may ask?”

  “Because it appears that out of a hundred communities, more than ninety of them placed their major buildings in the northwest area.”

  “Why would they do that?” Amir demanded.

  “I don’t think anybody knows.” Joshua shrugged. “Perhaps because of the sunset.”

  Amir argued vehemently against it, but finally Phineas said, “Amir, I am a scientist, but there is such a thing as luck. There’s also such a thing as a hunch, as we say in America. I respect your opinion, but I believe we will start in the northwest.”

  Amir was obviously affronted. “These things should never be left to amateurs!” he huffed.

  “You’ll just have to live with this decision,” Phineas said mildly. “Don’t worry. We’ll get to the eastern area soon enough.”

  “Very well,” Amir said stiffly. “Let’s get to work.”

  ****

  The stars were as sharp and clear as diamond points overhead, and looking up Josh said, “Just think, God knows the names of every one of those stars.”

  Diana, who had asked Josh to walk with her around the camp before bedtime, smiled at him. “I’m sure He does.” She had worked hard all day at the dig, and now she said, “This is going to be a lot of hard work, Josh, isn’t it? It always is.”

  “That’s what we came for.” He stopped and turned to face her. “I just thank the Lord I’m here. It’s a m
iracle, and I know I have you to thank for it, Diana. If you hadn’t talked your father into hiring me, I’d be back on the farm in Georgia.”

  “I’m glad you’re here too.” Diana came close to him and put her hand on his chest. “We’re going to have a good time on this. There’ll be hard work, but there’ll be time to relax as well.”

  She reached up then and touched his cheek. “What kind of woman is it you want, Josh?”

  Josh was taken off guard by her question. He made no immediate answer, but Diana knew the question had touched him. She somehow guessed he harbored a picture of the ideal woman in his mind and in his dreams. She stood there, wanting him and wanting to be seen by him, not as the world judged her but as a woman to be desired. Her own desires were burning within her, and she was not ashamed of them. She had known Josh as a young man and they had found passion together, and now she expected it to come again. She watched him carefully and knew that he was filled with restless, vague wishes and that he did not yet know what those wishes were. But she knew he had to have love, and since she herself needed this more than anything else, she waited for his answer.

  As for Josh, he struggled with the natural impulses that rose in him. Diana was a powerful enough force to be felt, and suddenly he could not squelch the heavy insistent appetite. He pulled his mind away from her by force of will and then said almost hoarsely, “Diana, you ought to be more … careful of yourself … with men, I mean.”

  “I can’t be like that, Josh. I can’t lock myself away. If we care for each other, why shouldn’t we have each other?”

  Josh suddenly straightened up and shook his head. “That may have been the way I thought when we first met back in our college days, Diana, but I’m a Christian now. I know that might sound pompous to you, but it’s the only answer I can give you.”

  Diana knew better than to argue against his belief. She looked up at him and said, “We belong together, Josh. I know you still care for me, and I care for you.” Her voice grew soft, and her eyes seemed to envelop him. “We have to seize what little joy we can, Josh. That’s all there is in this world.”