An Instrument in His Hands

Part 1 Chapter 10

Part 1

Chapter 10

Our first visit was to a sick sister from the church who lay on her palette in wadded up covers, her body covered with sweat. She was moaning and obviously in physical distress.

‘She needs a blessing,’ I said to Aaron as soon as he introduced us. ‘Can you find someone to help you?’ I asked him.

He smiled at me, obviously pleased with something. ‘I’ll be back with someone. You stay with her.’

I donned her apron immediately, fetching water and washing the poor woman clean. Then I changed her bedding and clothing, placed a wet cloth on her forehead and rubbed her feet with oil. She groaned in relief.

‘Thank you, sister,’ she said, then fell into a comfortable sleep.

I wondered if there was any broth for her, then giggled. If I made her some broth, it might make her more sick.

After Aaron and the other priesthood holder gave the woman a blessing and arranged for dinner to be brought, we left.

I was so touched by the experience that I began to cry as Aaron walked me back to my home. I tried to hide my tears, but Aaron pulled me into an alcove on the side of a synagogue and asked why I was crying.

‘T-that was the first time in my whole life that I’ve done something truly useful,’ I sniffed. ‘It was so w-wonderful.’ After all my miserable attempts at cooking and cleaning, it felt so good to do work and feel success.

Aaron crossed his arms and addressed me, ‘Abigail, how can someone who knew so perfectly what to do for that woman to make her comfortable, never have done it before?’

I waved my hand. ‘Oh, that’s nothing. I only wait on my mother when she is bedridden.’

‘And you feel that is not useful?’

‘It’s just my mother,’ I responded deprecatingly. ‘And this sister really needed my service. She had nobody else and even thanked me! Mother never does.’

He narrowed his eyes and stared at me thoughtfully while I dabbed my wet lashes with a cloth from my bag. ‘Would you like to visit someone else tomorrow?’

I folded my hands to my face and bounced like a child. ‘May I?’

He turned and started walking again, I suspected to hide a triumphant smile. ‘Abigail, there are enough needy women in this city to visit ten every day. I appreciate your company, because I can’t appropriately visit them alone.’

I skipped to catch up not even caring that he had won me over. ‘That’s true! I’d love to help. Thank you.’

The next day I wore another golden robe. Mother was insistent, and even got out of bed and tied a gold thread through my hair. I felt absolutely foolish wearing it when Aaron led me to the poorest section of the city.

He clapped before the door of a small hut made of wattle and palm branches that stood in a tight row of similar homes. Two small faces peered out of the darkness. When they caught sight of Aaron they smiled. He handed them each a piece of sugarcane.

They took them and ducked inside. A worn woman then came to the door.

‘May I take your children for a walk and leave this sister with you? Her name is Abigail.’

The children left and I squeezed through the door and sat down with the sister. There were neatly folded blankets in the corner, a crude bench with a few simple cooking tools and pots, and baskets hanging from the roof in various stages of completion. The whole room was no bigger than our storage room in the yard behind my home. I had never been in a home so small.