CHRISTIAN WRITER'S BLOG CHAIN — LEAP

Hello My Friend and Welcome.
Today's post is our contribution to the Christian Writer's Blog Chain. The topic this month is leap and, as usual, I'll address it from an authorial perspective. This year is a leap year meaning February is a day longer.
[Memo to Writers: You have an additional day for writing this year. Do not waste it!]
When I hear leap, the phrase that most often comes to mind is a leap of faith. We could interpret it literally and recall the time or times we've relied upon the strength of our religious convictions to see us through. However, seen in a more general way it simply means trusting our inner voice, to go with our gut feelings.
Last month I spoke about my current WIP, MARTYR and giving Yudah a great girl to marry. Happily, it is now a completed project…though I missed my deadline by about a week. (Cutting 10,000 words can do that.) 
To meet his future wife, Rhebekka, Yudah had to make a huge leap of faith. I've including a condensed excerpt from the five-chapter subplot in which Yudah, finds his bride. The overarching story takes the family Antioch to Rome where Rivkah and her husband, Shemu'el assist Simon Peter. Along the way their ship stops on the island of Cyprus. Paphos, on the western end of the island, was home to the famous Temple of Aphrodite where young women participated in rites of prostitution to prepare them for marriage.
With nothing else do to while the ship is docked, Yudah decides to go into town and see the sights. He passes the Temple just as the parade of initiates begins and notices a young woman who looks terribly out of place. The only way he can solve the riddle of her unhappiness is to enter the Temple and select her. Making a leap of faith, he heads up the Temple steps. They end up spending the night together, though he doesn't sleep with her.  By morning they've shared their life stories and decided to marry.
We'll start with the last paragraphs of Chapter Seven called, appropriately enough, Yudah and Rhebekka. 
~ 7 ~
"When love beckons to you, follow…"                   
                                                                                              —Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet 
Yudah dashed up the stairs two at a time and took a position near the last pillar. It put him far from the conical rock, the place of choosing, and at the very end of the evening's suitors. The other men shoved and jostled for a place near the head of the line. Everyone, it seemed, wanted to be first. Everyone, that was, except Yudah. He paid little attention to the undulating row of young women who passed him chanting, dancing, and waving their feathered drums as seductively as possible. After a long wait, the woman he'd watched from the street appeared, as downcast as before. He fell into step beside her.
She shot him an angry glance. "What do you want?"
He chuckled. "I thought everyone knew. Did they forget to tell you?"
"Your jokes are not appreciated. I see plenty of available women, most of them more attractive than me. Why not choose one of them?"
"I may select the woman of my choosing, and I chose you."
"What if I do not want you?"
"As I understand it, the choice is mine to make."
They reached the conical rock, the place for choosing, and the young woman attempted to continue on without stopping.
The matron supervising the evening's activities caught her by the arm and yanked her back. "You failed to stop at the place of selection child. You must take your place on the square tile in front of the conical stone and proudly declare, 'I bring a love offering to Aphrodite. Who will have me?'"
The young woman's shoulders slumped. Head down, she took her place on the tile and mumbled the phrase.
Yudah immediately stepped forward and threw a denarius at her feet.
The two of them stood like statues, neither knowing what to do next and afraid to look each other in the eye.
The matron stormed over. "What is wrong with you? This is a joyful moment and you act like you are going to your execution. Pick up your money, take the man's hand, and lead him to your cubicle so you may consummate the blessing he has invoked."
She pressed the low-cut neckline of the gown to her body and bent to retrieve the coin. Rising, she took Yudah's hand and started down the hall.
 "Wait!" The matron rolled her eyes. "Why must I always get the stupid ones? Did you learn nothing this afternoon? You must say the formulaic phrases to receive the goddess' blessing."
The young woman sighed.
Yudah squeezed her hand, offering encouragement.
She drew a deep breath. "Uh, come with me to…to my chamber where we will …umm, share Aphrodite's…whatever."
"That is close enough." The matron waved her hands shooing them away. "Go. I have work to do."

(Skipping ahead)
Rhebekka smiled for the first time. "Have you ever heard of a man named Yosef who is called Barnabus?"Yudah grinned. "What an interesting world this is. I know Barnabus well. He lodged at my father's house each time he came to Antioch."
"Barnabus is the one who instructed me in the way of the Lord."
He took her hand in his. "I must ask what a Christian girl is doing in the Temple of Aphrodite."
"Should I not ask the same of you? Why is a good Christian man intent on deflowering a virgin?"
"Ah yes, at first glance that does seem problematic." He cupped his chin. "Perhaps this will make things clearer. As a youngster my mother sometimes assigned miscellaneous household chores to my sister and I while she went to market. On occasions, when we did not wish to complete a particular task, my sister and I agreed not to do it and say we did. I suggest we make a similar pact here and now…let's not and say we did."
Tears welled in her eyes. "This makes no sense. What are you up to?"
"No sense, you say?" He picked up her drum with its rim strung with feathers and its stretched skin top decorated with symbols of fertility. He studied it carefully, moving it this way and that. "I see only bent wood, feathers, and a piece of animal skin here. Where is the music?" He turned it over and stared into its hollow back. "I find no music."
Yudah took Rhebekka's face in his hands and stared deep into her eyes. "The music is not in the instrument. The music lies in the musician's heart and soul, your heart and soul. Should I wish to possess the music, it is you I must have not your silly drum."
He moved onto the bed beside her and slipped his arm around her.
She tilted her head onto his shoulder.
"Let's spend this night learning about each other," Yudah said.

~ 8 ~Yudah and Rhebekka snuggled close. Talked out, they were content to hold each other in the darkness. From far off a cock's crow sounded. They jerked apart and gasped. With one voice they said, "It is nearly dawn."
Yudah leaped up. "I must go."
He held Rhebekka tightly and kissed her good-bye before leaving the small cubicle. Hanging lamps along the walls cast semi-circles of light on the dark floor. His footsteps echoed off the marble walls as he hurried down the silent corridor to the pavilion where burned out fire pots from the previous night's ceremonies emitted an earthy smell.
Yudah slid his hand along the ornate railing as he descended the marble staircase. The eastern sky showed streaks of red. The far off bark of a dog intruded on the early morning solitude. Gone were the crowds, excitement, and noise of the previous evening. Its passions sated for another day, the city slumbered. 
He paused momentarily, getting his bearings then darted down the street. A row of Tamarisk trees bordered the Temple. They kept them trimmed high to provide shade for its open porticos on hot afternoons. The trees were in full bloom and even in the pre-dawn darkness Yudah could see lacy tufts of pink flowers sprouting from the tips of each branch. Discarded petals pooled in wide circles around the base of each tree.
He glanced left and right then slipped behind the first tree, crunching dry petals beneath his feet. Yudah leaned against the deeply furrowed bark and cast watchful glances at the main stairway. His worries increased with each passing second. He wanted to believe Rhebekka would keep her word…that she'd come to meet him as they'd agreed. What if she didn't?
The Temple complex had many entrances and exits. If she chose to, Rhebekka could exit from the other side of the building and slip away unseen. He would be left waiting, never to see her again. Yudah remembered her sitting on the bed, her shoulders quivering as she wept and hated himself for entertaining such notions.
* * *As soon as Yudah left, Rhebekka hurried down the hall to the niche where she'd deposited her clothing the previous day. She removed the simple homespun tunic, cloak and scarf along with her sandals, purse and loincloth. She surveyed the other cubbyholes. All empty; everyone else had left. The only sound was the slap of her bare feet on the polished marble floor as she jogged back to her small cubicle. She passed a fountain and paused to wash her face. The cool water felt refreshing on cheeks left hot by many tears.
Returning to her room, she quickly stripped off the transparent gown of Aphrodite and pulled on her own tunic and cloak. She looped a plain girdle made of woven rope around her waist, knotted it, and slipped her feet into her sandals.
Rhebekka reached into the simple cloth bag she'd brought with her and extracted an ivory comb. She quietly hummed to herself as she ran it through her hair. Once the tangles were out, she combed it straight back and gathered her tresses. Placing a polished stick between her teeth, she laid a piece of tooled leather over the hank of hair and secured it with the stick.  She feathered her bangs and smiled. She felt like herself again instead of a harlot. She applied a modest amount of color to her cheeks and lips and then threw a scarf over her head.
She refolded the filmy garment the matron provided each initiate, placed her drum on it, and double-checked to make certain she wasn't leaving anything behind. Lastly, she removed the bed cloth. After carefully folding it, she placed it on top and carried the stack to the matron.
The woman answered her knock in a robe, rubbing her eyes. "I had given up hope of you ever coming by." She yawned. "The others left hours ago."
"Well, here I am," Rhebekka said with a happy grin.
"You look much different than when you arrived. You seem happier, fulfilled." The woman winked. "Perhaps, even satisfied? See, is it not just as I told you? Aphrodite blesses even the most reluctant initiate."
Rhebekka offered her the garments. "I have indeed been blessed."
The matron took the garments Rhebekka thrust at her. "Is there something you wish to share about your evening spent serving the goddess?"
Rhebekka masked her fears with a smile. "Oh no, that won't be necessary. As you said, I was reluctant at first. But as time went on, I found an unexpected exhilaration. I shall always remember it as a most enjoyable night."
The matron shrugged, gave the stack of clothing a perfunctory once over, and signaled her approval.
Rhebekka turned and left without a backward glance.

* * *Yudah's heart leapt when he heard the sound of footsteps scurrying across the portico. From the shadows he watched Rhebekka descend the stairway and turn onto the street. She looked both ways and, seeing no one, headed directly for the tree where he waited.
Yudah looked her up and down, noting the change in her appearance. "Do I know you?"
Rhebekka giggled and gave him a quick kiss. "Not as well as you are going to."
He held her close. "I feared you might not come."
She leaned into him. "And I worried you would not be here."
"But you did and I was." Yudah hugged her tightly and gave her a long, lingering kiss.
Breathless when he released her, she glanced back over her shoulder. "There is no one on the portico, but even if there were they could not see us. It is safe for us to leave together," she whispered.
Stepping out of the darkness, Yudah took her hand. Their fingers entwined as they walked to the docks.


On Friday we'll begin our series of posts on Traditions Lent and Easter beginning with Quinqagesima Sunday.
Until then, we wish you Peace and Blessings.
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