Tabatha skittered between crowded streets, clinging to her husband’s hand as they weaved through crowds. The two traveled through the market of a village at the base of the Mount of Olives. They were tired from their long travel, following Jesus and His Apostles, and were going to visit Tabatha’s father’s house. Donkeys brayed and cows mooed, chickens darted between people’s feet, merchants yelled prices, and customers haggled, each noise competing with another grab her attention until she could not hear herself think over the crescendo. To Cleopas, she yelled, “Quite a difference from the quiet mountains!”
Finally, they reached her father’s house. Ahuva, her mother, greeted her with plump arms, her beautiful purple dress enveloping Tabatha in a wave of lavender. Her father, Uzi, laughed heartily and smacked Cleopas on the back, making him choke and stumble forward.
“So, I expect you came to tell us you’re pregnant?” Uzi said to his daughter, his eyes sparkling as he stroked his magnificent beard.
Tabatha looked up from the rib-crushing hug her younger sisters, Pazit and Penina, were giving her. “Papa,” she admonished, standing up and picking up her baby brother, Tam. “No, I’m not pregnant. Is a daughter not welcome to see her parents simply for the sake of seeing them?”
“Of course, you are welcome any time, Tabby,” Ahuva said, taking the baby and handing him to Cleopas, who stared concernedly at the long string of drool hanging from the baby’s chin. The short, round woman led her daughter into the dining room, shooting a withering gaze at her broad, tall, bearded husband, who shrank back at its heat.
“Ahuva, dear—,” Uzi began, but by that time Ahuva had moved on. “I just want some grandchildren!” He yelled, then stared pointedly at Cleopas, who walked briskly to catch up with his wife and leave his father-in-law behind.
Ahuva bustled about the kitchen, pulling out pots and pans to make her two children a scrumptious welcome-back dinner. “Aha! I’m going to make you some latkes!” Cleopas smiled, then shot Tabatha a sympathetic glance. She cringed inwardly. Her mother always made latkes when someone special came to the house—and Tabatha despised it. She refused to tell her mother so, though and decided to tough it out. Uzi came in at that moment and took Tam from a Cleopas, wiping the drool off his chin and flinging it, where it landed in Cleopas’ hair.
“Just want some grandchildren skittering around the house. ‘Course I’ve got enough children for that. Doesn’t matter though, I’m Tabby’s father and Ahuva is my wife. They can’t boss me around,” he muttered to the baby, who ripped some hair from his father’s beard.
“What was that, dear?” Ahuva asked, raising an eyebrow at Tabatha and Cleopas but keeping her voice dangerously innocent.
“Nothing, honey!” Uzi promptly replied. Tabatha and Cleopas snickered, covering their mouths with their hands. Tabatha noticed the drool in her husband’s hair and swiped it out, Cleopas staring at her with a horrified expression. “Ha!” Uzi bellowed. “Maybe he isn’t fit to be a father yet,” he chuckled to Tam.
“Tabby! Cleopas!” Pazit and Penina shouted as they rushed back in from outside. One was dressed in green, the other yellow, with identical smiles and faces. Tabatha could not help but laugh at how adorable they looked. “Come and see the new colt,” Pazit said.
“Yes, she’s so very cute,” Penina agreed, grabbing the two’s hands, and dragging them.
“Girls!” Ahuva chastised, causing the twins to drop their hands and stare wide-eyed at their mother.
“It’s fine, Mama,” Tabatha laughed, standing up and pulling Cleopas up with her. “We’d love to see the colt. Maybe we’ll buy the next one!”
“With who’s money?” Cleopas asked as they followed the girls outside. Uzi laughed and slammed his hand on the table. Ahuva sighed happily.
“So good to have them back, huh?” She said to her husband before cutting the potatoes before her furiously.
Outside, Pazit and Penina dragged Tabatha and Cleopas to the stables. “Cleopas, of course, Tabatha will use your money!” Penina laughed at Cleopas.
“But Papa is right, Tabby, I would love to be an Aunt,” Pazit nodded.
“Chava from two houses down is an Aunt and she is always bragging about it,” Penina added.
Tabatha was about to say how very naughty that was when Pazit yelled, “Then we would be able to brag, too!”
Cleopas laughed and put his arm around Tabatha. The four happy relatives came upon the stable when they saw two vaguely familiar men untying the new colt from its pen. It was a beautiful thing, with soft gray fur and beautiful blue eyes. The mother donkey was braying loudly but did not bite or kick the men. Pazit shrieked, her hands flying to her cheeks. Penina ran back to the house, yelling, “Papa! They are stealing the co-o-olt!”
“What are you doing— stealing my father’s colt?” Cleopas demanded, standing between the girls and the men. The two men looked up as if shocked to find someone opposing them.
“The Lord has need of it,” one of the men said, looking solemnly at Tabatha and Cleopas.
“The Lord?” Tabatha repeated, stepping up to the men.
“Tabatha,” Cleopas protested, but his wife turned sharply on him.
“These men say the Lord has need of the colt,” she said, pointing at them. “And look! This one is Jude, Jesus’ apostle, and this one—Philip. If they say the Lord has need of a colt, we should give them this one and the mother.” Cleopas looked the two men up and down.
“Alright,” he said. “Take the colt to the Lord. May he do what he pleases with it.” Uzi and Ahuva had rushed to the stable by that time, and Ahuva inhaled to protest, but Uzi hushed her, and the apostles left with the colt.
“You are just going to let them take our colt?” Ahuva asked her husband, who was following the men with his eyes.
“The Lord has need of it!” He replied, like what she said was absurd. Ahuva turned on her heel and stomped back to the house, muttering things about, “new colts,” and “my latkes.”
“Come!” Tabatha said to her family. “Let’s see what the Lord is doing!” Cleopas led the way through the village. It took the group of relatives some time to reach the center of the market, when they heard shouting.
“What’re they saying?” Pazit asked, her eyes wide.
“Just listen!” Penina said, closing her eyes, a look of concentration passing over her face. “Banana?” She guessed.
“No, silly,” Tabatha said. “They’re shouting ‘Hosanna!’” Cleopas smiled and shared a knowing look with his wife.
“It is the Lord!” The shouting got louder, and the crowd in front of them parted. Riding on a colt with blue eyes and soft fur was the Lord, a man who looked ordinary yet was anything but. Tears sprang to Tabatha’s eyes at the sight of her beloved Master.
“Hosanna to the Son of David! ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’ Hosanna in the highest!” The crowd shouted, taking off their robes and tunics and laying them before the colt. The women were cutting palms off nearby trees and laying them on the road. Cleopas, Uzi, Tabatha, Pazit, Penina, and the out-of-breath Ahuva followed suit. Such joy Tabatha had never seen pour from the faces of her old village. Everywhere, people were dancing and laughing like they never had before. Tabatha could not help but join in, dragging Cleopas with her, whose deep alto voice and clumsy feet joined in with Tabatha’s shaky soprano and steady dance. “‘Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord!’” They sang. “Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”
The two passed a group of Pharisees arguing among themselves. “You see that you are accomplishing nothing,“ they said. “Look, the world has gone after Him!”
Cleopas threw back his head and laughed and Tabatha said to them, “Indeed, you accomplish nothing!”
The Pharisees fumed. Tabatha waved them goodbye. “Teacher!” The Pharisees yelled to Jesus. “Rebuke Your disciples.”
Jesus immediately turned to them and chuckled. “I tell you,” He said, “that if these should keep silent, the stones would immediately cry out.”
Tabatha and Cleopas met back up with their family. Uzi and Ahuva looked on in awe, dumbstruck. The twins grabbed their siblings' hands and quoted scripture.
“Fear not, daughter of Zion; Behold, your King is coming, sitting on a donkey’s colt,” Pazit said, her yellow dress rippling as she jumped up and down.
“Tell the daughter of Zion, ‘Behold, your King is coming to you, lowly, and sitting on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey,’” Penina said, her eyes huge and her body motionless.
“Yes, daughters of Zion,” Cleopas said, looking each girl in the eye. Then he turned to look at Jesus, riding on his father’s colt. “Behold, your King.”
Word Count: 1,493
Episode #: Prequel
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