The stranger slaked his thirst at the well, the feral
children pulling at his clothes. He pulled faces at
them and roared and the children ran screeching and
joyful in mock terror.
"Master?"
The man was decently robed. Good quality linen with a
dash of colour. His wife and children probably had
full bellies and lived in a house that kept then cool
from the Judean sun and protected them from the chill
of a nightime desert wind.
Stranger and girl stared together.
"Master I have heard you talk many times and heard
wondrous things about you. I do not come to you so you
can cure my sick child or trick you into blasphemy as
many would. My life should be good, but something is
missing"
The girl looked up at the stranger and saw his adam
apple bob and the face desert-stained and raw.
"What do you want me to do about it? You are clearly
better off than many. Why can't you be satisfied with
that? Isn't it better to face the emptiness that is at
the heart of all our lives with a full stomach rather
than not"
The man was clearly expecting some divine annointment
that would fill this pit in his life.
"God has clearly given you talents and a better life
than many. Be satisfied with that. To do other is to
be ungrateful to God"
The stranger pointed into the darkest receses of the
square where lost women plyed their trade in the
shadows.
"Go make yourself seen"
The man with bemusement and shame walked into the
square and did as asked. He called. He waited. He
shrugged and looked back to the stranger as if to say
'she is not interested'. He called again before
walking back to the well kicking the sand with his
sullen sandals.
"You didn't wait very long?"
"How long should I have waited? An hour? A day?"
"There are those with little coin in their purses who
have every reason to want what you have got, who may
have waited longer. It is only when you have nothing
that God makes it easier for you. It is that moment
when Abraham is about to slay Isaac that God anoints
and frees you of your obligation. If he asked you to
wait an eternity for a lost woman would you do so?
Many are called and few are chosen"
When the man had walked away bemused and dissapointed, the stranger led the girl gently back to the well to slake their thirst.
