Free Judas by Frederick Ramsay Page A

daughter worked as a prostitute? He stared at my red hair and then nodded. “Yes, I see.”
    “I would like to know what happened here.”
    Nahum leaned back against the tree and gazed at the sky. Finally, his mind made up, he turned to me. “It is a long story and a brutal one. Are you sure you want to hear it?”
    I nodded.

Chapter Fourteen
     
    We sat in silence for a long time, he staring backward into time, and I forward, toward what I must do. He’d told me the whole of it, my grandfather’s brave and foolish idea to free the country and the horror that followed. I realized, too late, I had greatly underestimated my mother’s strength. No wonder she seemed so short with Dinah.
    “You say you were part of the uprising. How can that be if the men were crucified?”
    He showed me his wrists and the ragged scars where the nails had been driven through and his deformed ankles. I recalled his limp.
    “It takes time to die on the cross. Our Roman conquerors were called away the next day. Not all died. Usually they will break the legs of those still living. Then death comes quickly. But they were in a hurry, so they ordered our people not to bring us down, to let us die. Who would follow such an order? It was Friday and Shabbat would begin. The dead must be in the ground, so we were taken down. I was one of the lucky ones.”
    What could I say? I closed my eyes and tried to see it, to take it in.
    After a while he asked, “Are there others…brothers, sisters?” I hesitated, my gaze shifted westward, toward the sea, toward Corinth.
    “No, none.”
    “Well, you have uncles in the area but—”
    “But they would not welcome me under the circumstances.”
    “Unfortunately…it is our way.”
    “Yes.”
    “It would be best if you kept what you have told me to yourself, Judas. These are difficult times and some of the people here have not forgiven your grandfather, and with the circumstances of your birth…”
    “I did not come here to find family. I do not want anything from them. If they had any interest in my mother or me, they would have saved us, they could have helped.”
    “Your uncles were only boys…children.”
    “And my mother’s uncles?”
    He dropped his gaze. “Why did you come here?”
    “To find out what happened, and to measure the people’s will. I am the grandson of Judas of the Galilee. I intend to pick up where he left off.”
    He looked at me, sadness etched his face. Finally he pointed to the hillside just to the south of where we were seated.
    “This water system will connect springs and wells in these hills to provide good water for Sepphoris. The first well in the system once belonged to your grandfather. People here think it is the least he can do to atone for what he did nearly twenty years ago. Do you understand?”
    “You are telling me that these people will not fight for me. Will they fight for anyone?”
    “We live in expectation of a messiah.”
    “Messiah?”
    “You do not know your scriptures? Surely you know about the messiah.”
    “You forget. No one ever invited me to share them.”
    “Yes, that is so. Some believe a new David will come and set us free. Some believe he is near.”
    “How near?”
    He closed his eyes. Then, a decision made, he rose to his feet.
    “I must finish this line today. I would be honored if the grandson of Judas of the Galilee would stay with me while he visits the land.”
    ***
     
    The Galilee is the provisioner of all of Israel. The soil is dark and fertile. From it comes such abundance that those who work it can support their families and, in a good year, have sufficient surpluses to attain a small measure of wealth. Anything that can be grown will be found ripening on one of the terraced plots in the hills around the sea. Grapes, olives, pomegranates, figs, and dates of every size and variety hang heavy on branches. Flowering fruit trees bring the bees and their golden combs. Land that is not cultivated supports flocks of fat