"I can't wait until I'm 13. When I have my bar mitzvah, I can finally get Seth to leave me alone. Ever since he went through his a couple of years ago, he won't leave me alone. First, he bosses me around. 'Caleb, get this. Caleb do that.' Abba is no help. He just nods at me to do whatever he says.
Second, he thinks he is so much better than me. He gets to take care of the cows and learn about all Abba's tools. He and Seth even started talking about girls the other day. While all this is happening, I'm stuck doing Seth's bidding or working with Momma. Seth calls me 'the daughter she always wanted.' If I hear him say that one more time, I'm going to punch him."
Seth sprinted into the village and straight to the house. "Woman, several large groups are headed toward us from the north. He wants you two to get all our beds ready for guests."
"How long before travelers might arrive?" Caleb asked.
"By tonight, kid."
"Seth, we will need that yearling steer butchered. Caleb, walk through each room and sleeping space. Straighten them up and make sure they are have everything needed. I will head to the root cellar. Meet me there, Caleb."
"Yes, meet Momma at the root cellar daughter Caleb. I'll take care of the meat, woman."
Caleb bundled fresh straw on his back. He filled all the downstairs palates with fresh straw, then carried all the blankets out back to be beaten clean. He wrapped and bundled more straw and climbed to the roof. Under the canopy that covered most of the roof, Caleb filled the rest of the pallets there and dropped the blankets into the back yard with the rest. Every two pallets sat with a small clay water jar in between and a wooden box for the possessions of a visitor.
After all the pallets lay stuffed with fresh straw, Caleb hustled out back to the cellar. “Don’t let Seth bother you, son. Remember God hates the proud, but upholds the humble. Now, lets see what we have in here to feed some folks.” Caleb and his mother, Rebekah, ducked into a cave. As Rebekah lit the torch mounted in the wall, Caleb gingerly made his way toward the back. Cool dampness settled on him as the light flickered out ahead. There in the back waited shelves holding clay jars of various heights and shapes. Each was labeled with the name of its contents etched into the jar when the material stood soft. Dried figs, raisins, dates, wine of various ages, barley flour and wheat flour waited with a few blocks of cheese wrapped in cloth along with bags of onions still in the skins. Dried meat and jerky were stored in wooden barrels.
Rebekah and Caleb took hold of one of the barrels, lifted and carried it from the back of the cave to the front. Rest. Lift again, carry, rest. After hours of carrying mother and son were soaked with sweat and ached.
"So are you girls all tired?!" Seth whined. Abba laid a stained hand on his shoulder. "Well, WE have two, two steers ready for any guests who come. Now where is our supper?" Abba directed Seth outside to wash up, saving Rebekah from two tired boys trying to kill each other.
"Mom, just once I wish you'd let me beat some sense into Seth." Caleb demanded.
"It never does work that way, Caleb." Rebekah sighed. "We both know we did a good day's work. Now let's finish with a good meal." Soon Rebekah invited the three men to the table with just the smell of her stew.
"Mother nobody cooks up a stew like you." Seth cheered. "Jacob never would have taken Esau's birthright, if he had to compete with your cooking." Everyone laughed. Talk turned to all the travelers. Abba, Samuel, had heard the Emperor was counting heads for a new tax. Seth disagreed. He thought folks were coming to Jerusalem to see Herod's new building. As the two men "discussed" their ideas, Rebekah and Caleb cleared the table.
"Caleb, why don't you go for a swim. I can handle anything else that needs doing tonight." Mother offered. A swim! Caleb took off at a run. At the pond, he stripped off his cloak, and robe, setting them on top of the bushes. He wadded into the water, then stretched out and swam. The cool liquid was a gift from God. Soon three or four other boys joined him for splashing and wrestling and swim races.
It was almost dark when he climbed out of the water to find his clothes. They were gone! "Oh Seth" Caleb growled. "When I get a hold of you . . ." He ran home in his soaked tunic that clung to his thighs. A couple neighbor ladies gasped at the indecency as he sprinted by. Caleb charged into the house roaring for Seth.
Seth stuck his head down the ladder to the roof. "What's the matter? Did little Caleb lose his robe?" With a flick Caleb's robe and cloak fluttered down toward the floor. "Oh, look what I found lying in the bushes." Caleb dashed to catch them. Slam! The lid to the roof set shut.
“I’ll get you, Seth!” There was no way Caleb was going up on the roof tonight. Caleb dried off, then stomped to one of the downstairs pallets for the night. He flopped down mumbling to himself. The mumbling turned to tears. “Why is Seth so mean?”
The next day felt like a festival. All morning groups, caravans, of people rushed through town toward Jerusalem. Rebekah and Caleb set up a stand by the road with food to sell to those travelers running low. Camels loaded with saddlebags and boxes paid them no mind. Their minders dressed in silks and gazing straight toward the future. Other groups were on foot.
As the day edged toward high noon, kids were sent out of the procession to look over Caleb’s wares. Young men and women about Seth’s age kindly bought dried fruit and meat, politely thanking him as they carried off their treasures. “Why can’t Seth treat me like this?”
“Caleb, go to the well and bring back a water jar full. We may be able to sell some drinks.” Within 20 minutes Caleb wobbled back, balancing 30 gallons of water on his head. By dark, mother and son had just about sold out of all the food and water they had set out for the day. In fact over the next few days the parade of people continued. Camels loaded with corpulent families in bright silks drifted by. Families on foot carried their tents on their backs and their food on their donkeys. Smartly dressed men on horses led families on mules with their own tents and supplies. They all disappeared into the houses and inns of Jerusalem.
“Momma.”
“Yes Caleb?”
“The cellar is starting to look kinda empty. Shouldn’t we save some of our supplies in case travelers actually stay with us?” Rebekah smiled.
“Come with me.” Rebekah took Caleb around the root cellar. In the ridge behind stood another weathered wooden door. Rebekah pulled it open. Another cave, almost twice the size of first waited with food. “Caleb, the front cellar is filled with the older supplies. We sell that first. This cave holds more recent food. We will have plenty for everyone.”
That evening the first of the caravans came out of Jerusalem sniffing out a place to stay. The next day the tide of caravans into the city met the backwash coming out. The human whirlpool swirled around Rebekah and Caleb.
The downstairs pallets filled up first. An etched and wrinkled grandfather and his clan liked the looks of the back corner of the great room. Seth grudgingly led their pack animal away to the barn to feed and water them, while Caleb helped carry in their sacks of traveling gear. “I’m so glad we don’t have to set up the tent tonight.” One of the younger girls sighed. “It will be so good to sleep on a real pallet.” She smiled at Caleb.
Later in the day a multifamily group found the house. They filled out the rest of the downstairs. Their talk sounded funny like they came from down near Egypt.
“Caleb, get Seth and pull out the great table for the evening meal.” Rebekah asked. Caleb took off at a run to find his brother. He ran up on Abba and Seth outside town scattering seed for spring wheat.
“Seth, Mom needs us to get out the great table for tonight. The house is full!” Seth glanced over his shoulder with disgust, then went back to scattering from his burlap bag. “Abba, make Seth help me.” Caleb pleaded.
“This will be his field someday, Caleb. He needs to learn how to make it work for him. I will help you with the table this time.” Seth grinned as he worked away. Samuel and Caleb left him and walked back toward the barn. The barn was a large shed built up against a cave in another hillside halfway between the fields and the house. “So tell me about our guests.” Samuel asked his son.
“Well, first we have a family from north of here I would guess. There are six of them, grandparents, son and wife and two granddaughters. They seem nice and are glad they don’t have to sleep in a tent tonight.”
“Wait until they taste some of your mom’s cooking. They will be very glad then!” Abba replied.
Caleb continued to describe the guests as the two entered the barn. Off to the left inside the barn three items stood on edge wrapped in burlap. Samuel took up two of the sacks, while Caleb hefted the last. Still chatting the pair walked toward the house. The shadows had taken over the lawn and a couple early stars were bravely shooing the sun down. Seth fell into step behind them. Within minutes the three young men had added the three sections to the normal low table. The new table stretched across the middle of the great room from front to back.
“Help me put out the first course.” Rebekah asked them. Seth gave Caleb a shove in the back.
“Us men need to clean up.” Seth declared as he left the room. The girl who had smiled at Caleb earlier hurried up to his side. “Here, let me help.” She offered as she took a steaming wooden bowl of food from him. “My name is Miriam.” She kept her eyes low as she walked toward the table.
The aroma invited everyone to eat. Most pulled their pallets to the table, so they would have a cushion to lie on during the meal. The menu was simple. Fresh bread, stew, dried fruit and cold water. Samuel returned thanks and everyone began to eat and talk. The city streets were so full you could hardly walk. People from all over Palestine had been brought back to the area for Caesar’s census. Folks had been stopped at several points and asked to produce some proof of identity.
After the meal, mother brought out wine for the men, while father lit a bonfire for folks to sit around in the backyard.
“Caleb and Seth, make sure each pallet has a blanket for the night. We don’t want people to fell that they have to sleep in their cloaks.” Seth pretended he didn’t hear and kept walking toward the fire. Rebekah sighed and started after him.
“Mom, don’t bother.” Caleb called. “I can get them.”
“I’ll help too, if you need me.” Miriam offered. The pair climbed to the roof and passed homemade blankets down the ladder and around the room to each of the pallets. Rebekah had made most of them and they lapped over the pallets perfectly. The last two weren’t as straight.
“These two are different.” Miriam remarked.
“Well, I made those. I’m not as good as mom is yet.” Caleb explained.
“I know. I made my first blanket last fall. It has a hole in the middle.” Miriam giggled. Caleb laughed along. It felt good after all the hard work of the last few weeks. The two strolled to the fire talking and laughing. As the fire died down and the wine ran low, folks wandered back toward the house and bed. At last just Seth, Samuel, Caleb and Miriam huddled around the coals.
“When we came back this way today, we were stopped by a couple soldiers right at the other end of town.” Miriam reported. “They were just getting set up to check everyone tomorrow. The bigger one has a nasty scar over one eye, his right I think.” A braying donkey interrupted her.
“Here comes some more people.” Caleb observed. Little oil lamps flickered against the dark revealing two donkeys, one loaded with supplies and the other carrying a woman. Around the animals stumbled a sick older lady, her frail husband and a couple little grandkids barely old enough to walk. A strong young man steadied the donkey with his wife and kept an arm under the old lady.
“Caleb, get your mother.” Abba stated. Caleb and Miriam hurried off toward the house. “Seth, lets you and I help them with their animals.” With a sigh Seth fell in step with his Dad. They helped the young lady off the donkey while the young man half carried the old lady into the house. Caleb met them and led the old couple to the last two pallets, which they had butted together in the middle of the room where the supper table had stood. The woman on the donkey steered the grandkids into the house, while Seth and Abba steered the donkeys toward the barn for the night. The grandkids huddled next to their grandparents. Miriam and Rebekah offered them some food, but they were already asleep. Rebekah took the two large blankets off the family pallets upstairs and covered the foursome. Within minutes they stopped shivering and settled into deep sleep.
“Oh what are we going to do with you.” Rebekah whispered as she noticed the young woman’s condition. “We can’t have you sleeping out in the air.” Just then Seth came in.
“We have the animals settled, woman. I’m going to bed.”
“You will need to sleep in your cloak tonight, Seth.”
“Great.” Seth mumbled as he started up the ladder.
“Just a minute, Seth.” Rebekah stated in thought. “Let’s make a place in the barn for this young lady. It will be out of the dampness at least.”
“That’s a good idea, woman.” He answered his foot still on the ladder. “Caleb, that sounds like your kind of work.” He continued to climb.
“Why you!” Caleb snarled. The young woman groaned.
“Caleb, please go with the young man and set something up. Miriam and I will help Mary out in a few minutes.” Caleb left for the barn with the young man following.
“Joe, my name is Joe.”
“My name is Caleb. We are going to set you up in the barn and get you off the ground for the night.”
“Thanks.” The three men stacked straw into two decent pallets for the couple. Caleb brought out the leftovers from the evening meal. Not long after the young woman joined her husband in the barn.
“Now, Mary, if you need help tonight send your husband in and get us up. I will have Caleb sleep right by the door over there, so you can find him.”
“We will be fine, Ma’am. We appreciate what you have done.” With that everyone went off to bed.
Caleb was awakened in the pitch black and Joe shook him. “Caleb, its time, go get your mother.”
“What?” He mumbled trying to wake up.
“The baby is coming.”
“Oh, yeah. I’ll get her.” Caleb banged through the darkened room until he found the ladder. He burst onto the roof. “Mom, mom come quick, the baby!” Rebekah was already pulling her robe on. She lit a small oil lamp and the two hustled out to the couple in the barn. Caleb kept Joseph company outside. A few minutes later, Abba walked up to the two. “First time father?” He asked Joseph.
“Yes. I’m not sure I can handle all this.” He confided while the sounds of delivery broke out of the stable.
“No one is.” Samuel answered. “Take each day as it comes and let the Lord look after tomorrow. Best advice my father ever gave me. It took me a few years to figure out what he meant. So, you got a name picked out?”
“Jesus. We’ll name him Jesus.” While the older men talked, Caleb crept back to the barn. His curiosity was getting the best of him. Besides things had quieted down in there. As he peeked between the boards, he watched his mom smack the baby on the behind. As he cried in response, the baby’s eyes lit with the flame of life.
“Sounds like little Jesus has quite a voice.” Samuel laughed as Joe rushed into the stable to meet his son.
“Why did Mom spank the baby, Abba?”
“That cry is his first breath, son. A baby needs air, food and warmth we he first comes into our world, air, food and warmth.”
“Then Jesus will need a blanket.”
“Oh I’m sure Joe has all that taken care of.” answered Abba. Caleb wasn’t so sure. He walked back to the house trying to take in all that he had seen and heard. Miriam met him at the door.
“Did I hear a baby cry?” She asked.
“Yes, a little boy has been born in the barn. His name is Jesus.” Caleb replied as he wandered past. Caleb made his way to his pallet. Beside it sat his box. He opened it. Inside lay the first blanket he ever made. He and his mom worked on it together. They were the only two who had seen it. He had woven a little lamb’s face on the center of it. The cloth was too small, so he was saving it for his first child. He grabbed it out before he could change his mind and surged down the ladder.
On a sprint he crossed the yard to the barn and burst inside. Little Jesus was all wrapped in strips of cloth and he was fussing against them. Caleb stepped up to the manger bed and wrapped his blanket gently under Jesus’ chin. The baby settled and closed his eyes. His mother picked him up in the blanket and snuggled him close.
“Well that fits him perfect, thank you. We will give it back tomorrow.”
“No, you keep it. It’s my gift.”
