Beth was surprised they had tweezers in Bible times.
Luke held Beth’s arm gently. He started removing splinters from her scrape.
Beth tried not to pay attention to what Luke was doing. She looked straight ahead.
Stacked crates rose in front of her. This area was filled with furniture, barrels, and wooden boxes. The rain kept falling. But the crates, barrels, and boxes protected them from the wind.
Finally, Luke let go of her arm. “Now I’ll put aloe oil on it,” he said.
“Okay,” Beth said. She hoped the aloe didn’t sting. “I’m glad those crates block the waves.”
Luke nodded. “They’re the ship’s cargo,” he said. “The cargo helps block the wind.” Luke dabbed oil on the long scrape.
“What’s in all those crates?” Beth asked. The oil felt soothing.
“Some are filled with food. Others hold nails, linens, chains, and even swords,” Luke said. “They also hold the belongings of the passengers.” He took out a clean cloth and wrapped it around Beth’s arm.
Beth smiled. “Thank you,” she said. Then it dawned on her. Aloe oil might be what the Imagination Station needed.
Beth looked around for Patrick. He could dip the gadget’s wand into it. Patrick was still by Paul’s other friend. She would tell him about it later.
Luke picked up his medicine pouch. He slung it back over his shoulder.
Suddenly, wind swooshed down on Beth. Water splashed around her.
Why wasn’t the cargo protecting them? she wondered.
A sailor was moving the crates in front of her.
Another was unstacking the crates beside her.
Suddenly, the crate she sat on moved.
Beth looked behind her. “What are you doing?” she yelled.
Two strong sailors were pulling her crate.
“All cargo must go overboard,” a soldier said. “We avoided the sandbars of Syrtis by lowering the sea anchor. Now we need to lighten the ship.”
“Would you take the child with it?” Luke yelled. A muscle in his jaw twitched. Luke reached out to Beth.
Beth grabbed Luke’s hands and jumped off the wooden box.
The sailors ignored Luke. They kept pulling the crate toward the ship’s edge.
A soldier rolled a barrel past them.
Luke and Beth moved out of his way.
Then the soldier lifted the barrel over the railing. He threw the barrel into the sea.
Another soldier bumped into Beth. He was tugging a wooden box to the edge of the ship.
“Excuse me,” Beth said.
“Quiet, child,” a passenger whispered. “They might throw us over next.”
Beth hoped that wasn’t true. But she shut her lips tightly.
A sailor reached for a small crate.
“Wait,” Luke said. “My parchments are in that one.”
The sailor ignored Luke.
Beth watched the sailor drop Luke’s box into the sea.
Luke sighed. But then he said, “Better to lose what doesn’t matter than what does. I’ve heard Paul say that many times.”
“Didn’t your parchments matter?” Beth asked.
“To me they did. But not in comparison to my relationship with God,” Luke said.
Beth realized something. Luke had just lost all his possessions. Everyone on this ship had too. But no one was complaining. Maybe this storm was worse than she thought.
The deck was colder without the crates. Beth shivered.
Luke took off his brown cloak. He wrapped it around Beth’s shoulders.
The cloak was wet. But it was warm.
“Thank you,” Beth said.
Sailors picked up a large crate by the ship’s edge. They strained to toss it into the sea.
“They should toss that over,” Luke said. He pointed to a large tree trunk on its side. It was rolling back and forth on the deck.
“What is that?” Beth asked.
“It’s the mast. It held the mainsail,” Luke said. “But the wind and waves broke it.”
The mast looked like a huge telephone pole.
“What will you do without your things?” she asked.
“We’ll have to start over in Rome,” Luke said.
A sailor rolled another barrel past them.
Beth took a step closer to Luke. “This ship is headed to Rome?” she asked.
“Yes,” Luke said. “Paul was arrested for preaching the gospel. He goes to Rome to stand trial.”
“Why are you traveling on this ship?” she asked.
“I travel with Paul,” Luke said. “I help him with his pains and illnesses.”
“Is Paul sick?” Beth asked.
“Yes and no,” Luke said. “Paul calls it a thorn in his flesh.”
Beth touched her bandaged arm. “Does it hurt?” she asked. Rain dripped from her braid down her back.
“At times,” Luke said. “Paul has asked God to remove it. But God hasn’t yet.”
Beth frowned.
“That isn’t a bad thing. God did something better,” Luke said. He stepped aside for soldiers to get to a crate behind him. “God became Paul’s strength. Paul’s weakness shows God’s strength.”
Beth shook her head. “That won’t take Paul’s pain away,” she said.
“No, it won’t,” Luke said. “But it helps Paul keep preaching the gospel to anyone who will listen. And I will be by his side. I will write everything down. Then everyone will know how great God is.”
Beth thought for a moment. Luke was a writer. Luke followed Paul. Her eyes opened wide. She was with Luke, the author of two books in the Bible.
But then Beth had an awful thought. “You’ve lost your parchments!” she said. They had been thrown into the sea. All his writings were gone.
“God will give me new parchment,” Luke said. “He will give me the words to fill them.”
Beth felt relieved. But then she stared at Luke’s medical pouch. Would the soldiers toss that into the sea too? She hoped not. The Imagination Station might need Luke’s aloe oil.
The Lifeboat
Patrick felt Aris shove him. “Watch out!” Aris yelled.
A barrel rolled by them.
“That was close,” Aris said.
Patrick wondered why the soldiers and sailors treated everyone so poorly. He asked, “Is everyone in this area a prisoner?”
“No. You aren’t,” Aris said. “There are also travelers, merchants, and off-duty soldiers and sailors.”
“Why are you a prisoner?” he asked.
“Just like Paul,” Aris said, “I tell people about Jesus.”
“That’s not a crime, is it?” Patrick asked.
“Some Jewish leaders think it is,” Aris said. “Hopefully Caesar won’t agree with them.”
The ship creaked.
Patrick’s brows knit together. “Is the ship strong enough to get through this storm?” he asked.
“I’m not certain. Maybe Luke could tell us. We might need to take it to the doc,” Aris said.
Patrick laughed. Ships are tethered to a dock, and doc is short for the word doctor.
Aris laughed too.
Patrick looked around. Most of the cargo had been thrown overboard.
Now Patrick could see Luke and Beth in the distance.
He saw a large Roman soldier near Beth. The soldier wore armor over his tunic. The man also wore a metal helmet.
“What is that soldier doing?” Patrick asked.
“He is guarding the prisoners,” Aris said.
“Does Paul have a guard?” Patrick said.
“His guard is a Roman centurion named Julius,” Aris said. “Julius trusts Paul. He lets Paul walk about freely.”
Aris looked around. Then he said, “I’ll bring you to your friend. I need to check on Paul. He tries to help everyone. But sometimes he needs help.”
Patrick pointed. “I see Beth over there,” he said. “Go help Paul. I’ll be fine.”
Patrick started to walk towa
rd Beth.
Aris smiled and called out, “What’s a sailor’s least favorite color?”
Patrick turned back and shrugged.
“Maroon,” Aris said.
Patrick laughed. Marooned sailors are stuck on an island without a boat. And maroon is a dark red color.
Patrick waved and left.
Patrick stepped around people standing. He moved carefully between resting sailors and soldiers.
How could they sleep in such a noisy storm? Patrick wondered.
A figure sat up and stretched as Patrick walked by. He seemed to be a few years older than Patrick. The teen wore a short skirt with sashes over his shoulders. He was dressed like a Roman sailor.
Patrick knew about Roman sailors. He had been in Rome on an earlier adventure.
Patrick stopped watching where he was going to see where Beth was. He stepped on something soft and lumpy.
A Roman soldier sat up. “I’m trying to sleep,” he yelled. His thick black eyebrows formed a V on his forehead.
“I’m sorry,” Patrick said.
“You’re not as sorry as you will be,” the soldier said. He stood. He was more than twice Patrick’s size.
“Leave him alone, Demetrius,” the young sailor said.
“Is he your friend, Marcus?” Demetrius asked. “Then I’ll teach you both a lesson.”
The boy jumped to his feet.
The soldier’s hairy arms reached toward Patrick.
But Marcus grabbed Patrick first. He pulled Patrick away from the soldier. “Run!” he yelled.
Patrick took off after Marcus. He slipped and slid across the deck.
Marcus slipped also. They were running too fast.
“I know a place to hide,” Marcus said. He pointed.
Patrick saw a small wooden lifeboat near the ship’s railing. It was lashed to the deck.
Canvas was tied over the top of the lifeboat. The storm had loosened the ropes around the canvas. The cloth no longer completely covered the lifeboat.
“What’s that doing here?” Patrick asked. He thought lifeboats were supposed to be on the outside of a ship.
“We were going to lose it in the storm,” Marcus said. “We had to hoist it aboard.”
A wave crashed over them.
Marcus dove under the canvas tarp.
Patrick did too. He landed in a puddle of freezing water.
“Yikes!” he yelled.
“Oooh! That’s cold,” Marcus said.
“Why was that soldier so mean?” Patrick asked.
Marcus said, “He hasn’t eaten for a while. And he’s tired like everyone else. That makes him grumpy.”
“Why hasn’t he eaten?” Patrick asked. He formed a cup with his hands. He scooped up some water. Then he tossed it over the edge of the small boat.
The boys peeked between the canvas and the lifeboat.
Another wave hit. It splashed more water into the boat.
“Everyone’s seasick. And the storm has people worried,” Marcus said.
Patrick’s hands were too cold to toss out more water.
“Where’d you come from?” Marcus asked. “I don’t remember seeing you earlier.”
“My name’s Patrick,” he said. “I was with Aris before stumbling into Demetrius.”
Marcus laughed. “You shortened his name. I like that,” he said. “I’ll call him Aris too. He’s always telling jokes. Have you met Paul?”
“My cousin and I bumped into him. He saved us from being washed over the ship’s railing,” Patrick said.
Marcus laughed. “He wants to save everyone,” he said. “Paul tells stories about a man who rose from the dead. He says that man died on a cross to pay for our sins. I don’t know if that’s true.”
“It is true! Paul is talking about Jesus,” Patrick said. “Jesus is the way to God the Father. People who believe in Jesus are forgiven for their sins. They start a relationship with God.”
The ship suddenly plunged down the side of a large wave.
Patrick felt his stomach drop, like he was on a roller coaster.
The ship righted itself and started up another wave.
Marcus said, “I was raised by my grandmother. We lived on a small island called Malta. She never needed gods. I don’t either.”
Suddenly a harsh voice ordered, “Get out of there!”
“Oh no,” Marcus said. “We’ve been found.”
Patrick shivered. He would be glad to get out of the cold water. Sooner or later, he would have to face Demetrius. Now was as good a time as any.
“This boat is not a toy,” the voice yelled.
A large hand grabbed Patrick by the back of his tunic. Another hand yanked Marcus out of the boat.
“Ow!” Marcus said.
Patrick looked up. The man holding them wasn’t Demetrius. He was a sailor.
What have we done? Patrick wondered.
The Tackle
It’s hard to tell day from night. The sky is always dark, Beth thought.
Life on the ship was the same. The people sat on the deck in the storm. There wasn’t much to do.
Beth remembered the excitement from two days ago. Patrick told her all about it. Patrick met a new friend named Marcus.
They had a run-in with a grouchy soldier. Then an angry sailor tossed them out of their hiding place. Paul showed up just in time to calm everyone down.
Getting to know Marcus helped to fill the time.
Then there was the aloe oil.
Luke didn’t use the aloe oil on Beth’s injured arm again. “Your scrape is healing well,” he had told her. He had even removed her bandage.
For two days Beth tried to get the oil from Luke’s pouch. She wanted to show it to Patrick. But Luke kept the pouch close.
Beth’s stomach growled. But she couldn’t eat. Luke called it seasickness.
Everyone was seasick. No one had eaten anything for the last two days.
“Ginger soothes the stomach,” Luke said. “But my supply has run out.”
“I like peppermint better than ginger,” Aris said.
“Peppermint soothes stomachs?” Beth asked. She reached into her pouch. “Maybe these leaves will help.”
Aris held up a rope with a knot in it. He said, “Maybe, or maybe knot.” He laughed.
A sailor near him laughed too.
Luke smiled. He said, “You’re full of surprises, Beth. I will crush these into powder. They should help you and others.” He left.
Patrick stretched and sat up. “Did you get the aloe oil?” he whispered.
Beth shook her head no. “I’m going to ask Luke for it today,” Beth said. “No more sneaking around.”
“It’s worth a try,” Patrick said. The sailor who had found Patrick in the boat walked by. He scowled and shook his head at Patrick.
Patrick turned toward Paul. “Thanks again for saving me from that huge sailor,” he said. “I don’t know why he’s so angry.”
“Tempers explode when people are tired and scared,” Paul said.
Paul stretched. He said, “Where’s your friend Marcus?”
Patrick said, “He’s working again.”
Beth knew Marcus and Patrick liked hanging out together.
“Let’s play ‘spot Marcus,’” she said.
“You’re on,” Patrick said.
Beth scanned the deck. Marcus wasn’t bailing water with the other sailors.
Beth looked toward the coils of rope. He wasn’t tying furniture down. She looked at the people near them. He wasn’t sleeping either.
“I found him,” Patrick said. “He’s running toward us.”
Marcus looked upset.
“What’s wrong?” Paul asked.
“The ship’s still too heavy,” he said. “Throwing the cargo into the sea days ago wasn’t enough.”
“Oh crate,” Aris said. “Get it?” He laughed.
Beth saw Patrick smile.
Marcus didn’t seem to hear him. “Everything has to be tossed,” Marcus said.
Beth felt the ship climb another wave. The mast rolled on the deck in front of them.
“Even the tackle?” Paul asked.
“Yes,” Marcus said. “The ropes, benches, and the rest of the furniture have to go. You grab the tackle at the bow,” Marcus said to Paul. “The other sailors and I will toss things at the stern.”
“I’ll help you,” Patrick said.
“We can always use an extra hand,” Marcus said. “Let’s go.”
Patrick hurried away with Marcus.
Paul wrapped his cloak tighter and looked at Beth. “Ready?” he asked.
“I am,” she said.
Aris smiled. “I guess the ocean is trying to greet us,” he said.
Beth looked at him questioningly.
“It keeps waving,” Aris said. He picked up a mat.
Beth laughed. A bucket slid by her. She picked it up.
Everyone looked tired, even Paul. But everyone helped. Tiredness didn’t stop a single person from throwing the tackle overboard.
Paul grabbed a rope. He rolled it between his bent elbow and his hand.
Luke hurried over to them. He started pushing a bench toward the edge of the ship. “The water makes it easier to slide,” he said. His foot slipped. “Both for benches and men.”
“I’ll help you,” Aris said. They worked together.
Another wave sloshed over them.
Beth tossed the bucket. She went back and picked up a tangled net. It felt slimy like snakes.
Paul flung the coiled rope into the sea.
Beth threw the net overboard.
Lightning shot across the sky.
The four of them walked back to the center of the ship.
“Does this go?” Beth asked. She pointed to the broken mast.
Paul nodded.
The four of them lined up beside the heavy pole.
“One, two, three, push,” Paul said. “One, two, three, push.”
Others joined them.
Each push brought the pole closer to the edge of the ship.
The ship dipped.
“Look out!” Beth said.
A giant wave rose in the air. It was double the size of the ship.
Beth’s stomach lurched. She held her breath.
The wave shoved Beth backward. It pushed the mast and a bundle of rope backward too.
Swept Into the Sea Page 2