Twice Loved at Armageddon

Twice Loved at Armageddon, Part IV

Chapter Eleven

Scott continues Farah's rehabilitation from earnings in service to the Romans. He has her educated in the learning of her day.  She then loves him but will only offer to be his mistress because she's not virgin.  She never gave herself to a man, but still she doesn't feel good enough to be his wife. 

Chapter Nine:  When Scott learns John the Baptist is nearby, he takes her to him where he restores her sense of innocence.  She agrees to marry him.

Chapter Eleven

   Scott allowed Farah to work with Corrina's servants for another week.  Corrina had told him that no one dared touch her because he had Flavius's favor.  Indeed, soldiers now nodded to her in respect when she accompanied servants to market.  When Scott wasn't working with Flavius, he was with Farah.  He decided to do several things at once.  He was arranging through Flavius to have a teacher of Greek, Latin, and ancient classical subjects for Farah.  Meanwhile he continued to tell her stories.

   He started with Snow White.  Farah had seen snow on Mount Hermon, so she could relate.  She found the wicked stepmother amusing and didn't see how she could have fooled Snow White.  Farah had trouble with Scott's use of apple, because the term was generic.  Amazed at her insight, Scott moved on to Shakespeare's Hamlet.

   Farah thought it a pity that Hamlet died in his moment of triumph.  He then told her the story of Macbeth.  Farah saw nothing wrong with a Lady Macbeth's determination to advance her husband's career.  She faulted her for pushing Macbeth to "to become king through immoral means."  She said a woman should not order her man around just for her own pleasure.

   After a few days, Farah offered to tell a story of her own.  "A warrior loved his hostile king too much to fight back against him.  Instead he took refuge in the wilderness where disaffected men joined him.  His band of six hundred kept raiders from plundering local farmers in exchange for modest support."

   "When one rich landowner refused to support the warrior, he was outraged.  The rich man's wise wife went by herself with gifts to the warrior on her own.  When news reached her husband, he died in a fit of rage.  The wise widow then became the wife of the warrior."

   Scott recognized Farah's story as an incident in the life of Israel's King David when he became husband of the widow Abigail.  While it amazed him that the story lost all connection with David, he realized good stories stay around in more than one form.  Determined to say nothing about King David, he thanked Farah for her exciting story.

   Farah had questioned learning Scott's style of eating. He had had craftsmen fabricate four sets of silverware and began to have Farah eat with him several evenings this way.   Servants brought in soup first.  It was of boiled grain in water and flavored with spiced meat.  This was followed by the main course.  He had servants cut the meat into filets now and then.  He made her follow his lead: napkins on the lap, frequent wiping the mouth with napkins, and even passing food back and forth.

  Improvising American food was a problem, for so many staples came from the Western Hemisphere.  They never came close to making coffee.  He had servants boil some kind of root and flavored it with honey. He called it coffee anyway, and he had Farah dip honey or cream into a small cup and stir.  Not exactly Starbucks, Scott thought.  What was important was that Farah associated coffee with something to drink after meals.

   Sweets for dessert were never a problem for that part of the world.  Servants now and then brought Scott a pizza.  At least he called it that.  In time Farah had acquired Western table etiquette to some extent.  Scott wasn't concerned that Farah kept strict details of etiquette all the time but learn when to apply them should she find herself in the twenty-first century.  The same went for certain personal habits he knew would never be accepted.  She thought it strange to use a cloth in order to blow her nose. Nevertheless she always followed his example.