The shouting was becoming unbearable. Leaning against the corner of their house's sleeping quarters, Mary flinched each time her father raised his voice with indignation, usually followed by Hannah's sighs of desperation. Tehilah and Miriam had conveniently been sent away with some other women of the village to purchase more spices at the marketplace. Mary wished she'd gone too.
Now that knowledge of her pregnancy had spread like wildfire, even the tax collectors showed themselves unabashedly biased towards her family, demanding higher sums of money and making more visits than before. Today, it reached a point where they were alluding to taking Mary's mohar— 'dowry'— as payment and this did not sit well with Joachim.
"You can't be serious!" The man boomed. "I need to return this to Jacob the carpenter!"
"Well maybe you will have to change your initial plan, sir," one of the three collectors snarked.
"What if we paid you in grain?" Hannah intervened. "I'm sure we have enough to satisfy all of you and your families and even—"
"Silence, woman!" Another exclaimed, raising his hand to stop her from speaking anymore.
His other colleague glared at the patriarch impatiently. "We will be back tomorrow at noon. If the payment is not made, we will take thirty percent of your crops yearly."
Before Mary's parents could disagree, the tax collectors left as quickly as they had come, going to make someone else's day miserable.
Hannah's hands were slightly shaking, her husband took them in his and tenderly kissed her veiled forehead. There, they basked in silence without uttering one word; it was a sight Mary had never seen from them. Her parents' distress made her feel more guilty than ever, for she blamed herself for her family's current struggles.
The pregnant Hebrew girl suddenly had the urge to run to them and embrace the very people who'd nearly shunned her. She knew it would be very inappropriate, but this was the same that had conceived, raised and loved her for as long as she remembered. The pain of having to hide away from them was too much.
Resolved to see them, Mary got up on her feet and straightened her wrinkled tunic. Stroking her large, dark braid over her shoulder, she took a deep breath and slowly walked towards her parents.
But right when she was about to reach them, a knock resounded at the door.
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Shining Bright | ✓
Short Story❛ . ╱╱ ❪ 𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 ❫ ━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Ambys 2023 Winner | 2x featured As the Roman empire reigns over Judea, a couple from a small town is chosen to fulfill a prophecy that will deliver their people from persecution. (...
