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

by Gilbert, Morris

  “No, I don’t agree, Diana. Please, you don’t know what it does to me when you—” He could not finish his sentence and said almost harshly, “Time to turn in. We’ve got a hard day tomorrow.”

  Diana was satisfied. I touched him. He’s fighting, but this religion of his will fade away. He wants me, and I can make him want me more.

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  “Jesus Held Me Together”

  The date was May 29, and Kefira knew that the weather back in New York would be mild—spring was usually quite comfortable. But here in the flat plains of Egypt, the bright sun already beat down with summertime strength.

  Kefira stood on the tell and surveyed the surrounding area. As far as she could see, there were no trees. The tents made a line that broke the flatness of the terrain. Far off to her right an outcropping of rock arose, the two lines of rocks forming a wadi or a small valley. To the north a flock of sheep was barely visible, the dark red robes of the herdsmen making a small splash of color on the bland landscape.

  The excavation that day had surprised her. She had imagined workers throwing dirt high in the air, working with feverish activity. Instead, shovelful by shovelful was examined carefully by the professor or Diana, with Josh watching on the sidelines. It was all rather boring, and Kefira had waited all morning for them to find something. Instead the native workers had hauled away wheelbarrow after wheelbarrow to a small wadi, dumping their loads there.

  Now she saw the professor go down on his hands and knees and wave the barrows back. He had a brush in his hand and was studiously sweeping away the dust from something. She carefully stepped closer as he picked up an object and said with satisfaction, “The first find of our expedition.”

  They all crowded around as Phineas held up a small disc. “What is it?” Diana asked, peering at it.

  “I think it’s a button. It has an eagle on it. It must be from one of Napoleon’s soldiers.” The professor took a small white card out of his pocket and began to write on it. When he had finished, he handed it to Kefira and said, “We label everything we find like this.” Taking the card, Kefira saw he had drawn a picture of the button, and at the bottom of the card he had written, Button from one of Napoleon’s soldiers. Beside the button, he had noted, Scale 1–1. And at the top left, he had carefully printed, Level one about seventeen fifty.

  She looked up and said, “How would a French button get in Egypt?”

  “Napoleon thought to expand this as part of his empire. He had to stop, though, when Lord Nelson defeated his navy at the Battle of the Nile and he was cut off. Still, this button may have come directly from one of his soldiers, or a native may have found a coat and brought it here. No way of telling.”

  Kefira handed the card back and smiled. “You keep careful records, Professor.”

  Phineas nodded. “That’s what archeology is. Records.”

  ****

  The careful digging of the trench went on for several days, and a number of artifacts were turned up. There was a gold coin with a picture of Caesar on it, a Roman sword missing its handle, likely hewn of wood now rotted away, and a considerable amount of pottery, which Diana identified.

  Kefira was pleased with the way she kept the group well fed, and also with the way she took care of the professor. He had a way of losing things, and she, with Joshua’s help, organized his writings and the findings in a careful, methodical way.

  Kefira had asked to do some of the work of digging, and under the supervision of one of the crew, she put in her time under the blazing sun. Josh, whose skin was fair, burned if he did not cover himself and wear a broad-brimmed hat, but Kefira simply turned a rich golden color, and she took no harm from it.

  It was on a Thursday afternoon, while Kefira was very carefully removing sand, when she made the most significant discovery of all. She had become quite proficient at gently scooping away sand with a cup. It was dull work, but she had learned how important it was to let nothing go by. Emptying the cup, she began to brush away at the sand when suddenly her fingers encountered something hard. Carefully she took a brush and swept the sand away and then she stopped suddenly. She began to tremble and said in a strange voice, “Josh, I think I found something.”

  Josh, who was working ten feet away, came at once. Peering over, he caught his breath. “You have. I’d better get Professor Welles.” He left and was soon back with the professor, along with Amir and Diana. The professor was staring at the object, and he looked up and smiled.

  “Kefira, you found a grave.”

  “Someone’s buried here?”

  “Yes, and it’s very well preserved.” He began to clean the sand away, and soon a hand was clear and part of a forearm. Everyone was excited, and for the next day and a half they took turns clearing the sand away from the body Kefira had discovered. As they did, the professor explained to Kefira, “The body, as you can see, is in a sleeping position, with the elbows and knees drawn together. Many bodies are found in this position. The body was placed in a pit with provisions for the afterlife—we’ll probably find a few artifacts here, such as food containers.”

  “But how can a body still be here after all these years?”

  “Probably no place in the world would a body be better mummified, with the possible exception of someone being frozen in a glacier. Here, you see, the sand absorbs all the water from the body. It dries it out and preserves it. It’s not at all unusual to find burial places like this. Many times we find them under houses.”

  “People buried their dead under their house?”

  “Oh yes. That was very common.”

  The digging went on until the body was finally clear.

  “It’s a woman,” Professor Welles said softly. “Look, her hair is even preserved. It’s a reddish color. And there’s another body here, a small child.”

  Kefira said nothing, but she felt a great sadness. She kept back while the others worked, and finally Josh called out, “Look, I don’t believe it!”

  Everyone moved in closer to see what Josh had uncovered. “It’s a cross,” he said.

  Kefira leaned forward and saw that in the woman’s hand, which was partly beneath her body, was an object that did indeed look like a cross.

  “It’s made of silver, I think,” Josh said. He looked up at the professor. “That pretty well dates it, doesn’t it? It would have to be from some time in the first century A.D.”

  “Yes, it’s a find indeed.”

  Amir had leaned forward, his eyes gleaming. “This will be worthy of some attention. A Christian burial here in this part of the world and at a very early date. Congratulations, Professor.”

  “The body won’t last long now that it’s been uncovered, unless we take special care,” Professor Welles said. “You’re the expert in that, Amir.”

  “Yes, I will take care of it at once.”

  Later that afternoon Kefira was seated on the sand watching as Amir carefully transferred the body to a case that could be sealed airtight. It would be taken to the museum in Cairo, where it would be preserved.

  Josh came over and sat down beside Kefira. “You’re very quiet today.”

  “I’ve been thinking about that woman and her child.”

  Josh looked at her and saw that her eyes were sad. “Why does it trouble you?”

  “I’ve been thinking about her, wondering what she was like. She must have been happy when her baby was born. I could just imagine her riding the child on her knees, kissing the baby’s cheek, just as I’d do if I had a child.” She looked at him, and her eyes were enormous. “I’ve always been interested in people, Josh. I see them laughing or crying, and I wonder why. I hardly ever pass a man or a woman without wondering about their story. Has their life been good or bad?” She looked up and said, “Have you ever stopped to think how close heaven is for all of us, and yet how far it is when we lift our hands to touch it?”

  Josh felt a surge of compassion. “Don’t be sad,” he said. “Just imagine that she had a good life.”


  “But she died so young, and her baby along with her.”

  “Don’t be afraid. Don’t ever be afraid, Kefira. God is good, and He cares for us.”

  “You really believe that, don’t you, Josh?”

  “Yes, I do.”

  “I’m glad you think like that. I hope you always will.”

  A gust of wind lifted a lock of her black hair, then dropped it over her forehead. She brushed it back and looked down at her hands for a moment. When she looked up, he saw there were tears in her eyes. “I cry too easily, I guess. Her troubles are over at least. Most of ours still lie ahead of us.”

  Impulsively Josh reached over and took her hand. It was warm and strong, and he held it, squeezing it to give her a little comfort. She turned to face him, and he saw her need for love and assurance and faith. “You’ll find your way like I did.”

  Kefira felt the strong grasp of his hand; then he released her, and she got to her feet. “I’m sorry to be so moody. That’s the way women are, I guess.”

  “It’s the way men are too,” Josh said, getting up to stand beside her. “I’m glad you feel deeply about things, Kefira.”

  She smiled briefly, then turned away. She went at once to the tent and began working on the meal with Lisimba at her side. She could not keep from thinking about the woman buried in the sand with her baby, and Lisimba noticed her quietness. “Why you not talk much, missy?”

  “I’ve been thinking about the two bodies we found, the woman and the little baby. It makes me sad to think of it.”

  “No, she is with Jesus. Do not be sad.”

  “How do you know that?”

  “She had a cross in her hand. Mr. Josh told me. She was a Jesus woman.”

  Kefira turned and looked at the man. He was ageless. He could have been anywhere from thirty to seventy. The desert seemed to have embalmed him almost as much as the woman they had found. She smiled at him, for she had grown fond of the man. “I wish I had your assurance, Lisimba.”

  “You will have after you are saved.”

  The words caught at Kefira. “After I’m saved? What do you mean by saved?”

  “Why, all of us need to be saved. We are all bad creatures. Me, I was the worst of sinners, but the Bible says that all people sin.”

  “Of course, that’s true. But there’s nothing we can do about it.”

  “Oh no, that is not right, missy!” Lisimba protested. “Let me read you. There is a book in the Bible called Acts.”

  “Yes, I’ve read some of it, about the man called Paul who was struck down on the road to Damascus.”

  “Yes, Paul was saved like that. Tonight before you sleep, read in the sixteenth chapter of this beautiful book. It tells the story of two men, Paul and Silas, who were preaching about Jesus. They were thrown in jail and had their feet in chains, and they were whipped for preaching. I know the rest by heart. You would think that men in jail with their feet bound, with their backs bleeding, would be very sad, would you not?”

  “I would think so.”

  “But the Bible, it says, ‘And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them. And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened, and every one’s bands were loosed. And the keeper of the prison awaking out of his sleep, and seeing the prison doors open, he drew out his sword, and would have killed himself, supposing that the prisoners had fled. But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, Do thyself no harm: for we are all here. Then he called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas, and brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?’”

  Lisimba fairly quivered with excitement. “You see? This man he knows he is bad, but he wants to know how to be bad no more. That is what being saved means.”

  Intrigued, Kefira said, “And what did the prisoners tell him?”

  “Ah, in verse thirty-one, they gave him the answer, ‘And they said, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.’ And that is what happened, missy. The jailer he believed and was saved and was forgiven for his sins, and his whole house gave their hearts to Jesus. Oh, what a happy story! How great is our God to save us from all of our sins. Hallelujah! Praise the name of Jesus!”

  Kefira was moved by Lisimba’s story. She worked the rest of the day, and the first thing she did that night, after going to her own tent, was to turn to the book of Acts and read the entire story. She read it slowly, thinking carefully about it, and wondered, How could a man love those who had beaten him with a whip? I couldn’t do that! She read the story again, and the question came to her, Can it be true? Can a person be saved and have his sins forgiven? All she knew of faith was from her Jewish background—there was nothing like this in her imagination.

  Going to bed, she lay awake for a long time thinking of Lisimba’s excitement and joy, and going over the story of Paul and Silas and the conversion of the jailer. Finally she dropped off to sleep and dreamed again of the black rock rising like a needle in the air.

  ****

  The work progressed steadily, and all of the team members fell into a regularity of life. It seemed they all followed the schedule Phineas had laid out, and Kefira found herself enjoying the life. The work was hard and demanding, but during the nights she would sit around the campfire listening to the others, saying little herself. She continued to read the New Testament, shocked at how hungry for it she was finding herself to be. She was fascinated by the character of Jesus of Nazareth. He was nothing like she had imagined. She knew now that she had allowed her thoughts of Him to be colored by those she had seen who called themselves Christians. She found in the New Testament that even the close followers of Jesus had faults, and somehow that comforted her. She loved the stories of Jesus when He met those who were ill and simply touched them and they were healed. She read over and over again about the prostitute He had forgiven, and how Jesus loved people no matter how bad they were.

  Her relationships were good with everyone except Amir. He had taken occasion more than once to lay his hand on her shoulder and squeeze it. Whenever he came near her, she immediately put up her defenses. One evening when she was cleaning up by herself, he came in and spoke to her pleasantly. “You did well on the dig today, and the meal tonight was good. You’re working hard.”

  “I don’t mind, Amir.”

  He came over then and stood beside her. “You and I ought to drive into the village sometime. There are some things I could show you there.”

  “Oh, I don’t think I could do that. There’s too much work to do.”

  Kefira was taken completely by surprise when he suddenly seized her, pulled her close, and kissed her. She was so shocked by his brazen action that she did not resist for a moment, but then she put her hands against his chest and shoved herself forcefully back. “Don’t you touch me again!” she said quietly but with a direct intensity.

  “Don’t tell me you’ve never been kissed before.”

  “You heard what I said.”

  “Yes, I’ve heard that you carry a gun and that you shoot men who take liberties. But I think all women want to be loved. They just need a strong man.”

  “Amir, stay away from me,” she warned.

  Amir laughed and shook his head. “You Jewish women are a funny sort, but I’ll win you over.”

  Kefira told no one of what had happened, but she was careful to never allow herself to be alone with Amir again.

  ****

  Josh got a severe case of sunburn the next day, and Phineas ordered him out of the sun. He came into the cook tent to watch Kefira as she prepared the meal and to drink the water she gave him from time to time. Lisimba was scurrying about peeling and dicing vegetables, and at the same time, as usual, he was talking about the Bible. He loved the stories of the Bible, the Old Testament and the New, and was continually speaking of them.

  Josh listened as Lisimba told Kefira the story
of Jesus walking on the water. He spoke with great gusto and dramatized everything with wild hand gestures. Sometimes he became so excited he literally danced.

  “ … and so Jesus tells Peter to come to Him on the water, and Simon Peter—he jumps out and he starts for Jesus, walking on the water his own self. But he don’t go far when he suddenly looks around and sees the storm, and then he makes a bad mistake, missy. He doubt Jesus, and he suddenly sinks down in the water. He begins to scream ‘Help me!’ and Jesus, He go picks him out of the water and throws him in the boat. That Peter,” Lisimba said, shaking his head sadly, “he should have gone all the way to Jesus.”

  “You really believe that story, Lisimba?” Kefira asked.

  “Oh yes, missy. Jesus can walk on water. He is a big God. He made the water. Why can He not walk on it?”

  Josh grinned and listened as Lisimba rebuked Kefira, and when the small man left the tent, he said, “You’ve got a good preacher there, Kefira.”

  Kefira came over and sat down beside him. “Drink some more water,” she said, “and put that compress back on your head.”

  “It’s just a little burn, not sunstroke.”

  “You do what I tell you.”

  “You’re pretty bossy,” he complained, but he took the damp cloth and put it on his forehead. “You two have gotten pretty close, haven’t you?”

  “Lisimba? Yes, he’s a lovely man.”

  “Lovely! He’s ugly as an ape!”

  “I don’t mean outside. He has more joy than anybody I’ve ever seen.”

  Josh had been very careful to put no pressure on Kefira, but now after sitting silently for a moment, he said, “I don’t want to offend you, Kefira, but one of my prayers is that one day you’ll know Jesus.”

  Kefira looked at him quickly. She did not answer for a time, and then finally she asked, “Why would you want me to be a Christian?”

  “Because I think everyone needs Jesus. You know there’s a verse in the book of Colossians that says Jesus holds everything together, all the stars in place. He keeps the earth from flying off in some crazy direction, and He keeps life together.” Josh had grown very serious, and now he said, “He kept me. Jesus is all that held me together, Kefira. If it hadn’t been for Him, I don’t know where I’d be.”