10 December 2024
Welcome…
…to Day 10 of the Advent Calendar.
Feathers
Part 10
The story so far: Joe, walking at night to clear his head, is spoken to by a golfer in the video in the Auchterlonie’s shop-window.
Joe stared at the Auchterlonie’s screen. The guy still looked like a golf pro, but he didn’t sound like it. His voice felt like it was coming from far away, as if it had been bounced from satellite to satellite. And the accent was like Maryam’s – was he a relative? The figure went on speaking, something about the name Joshua meaning saving people and what a prophet had said and how God is with us. Joe usually kept his distance from religious types. He’d let them do their thing at lunch-time meetings at school, but never got caught up himself. Only the weirdo billy-no-mates were part of it. His family went to church just once a year, though on holiday they made a point of going into the dark, cool churches of the Mediterranean and lighting candles. But that didn’t mean they ever mentioned God like he was your friend. Like this crackpot.
“All right Joe. That’s all I’m here to tell you. Maryam needs you, and so does this special baby.” And in that moment, Joe saw the figure swinging his club and sending his ball down the fairway, a feather floating down from his shoulder as he followed through.
Next morning there was sand on his shoes but for the life of him Joe couldn’t remember how he’d got home. Gingerly, half-awake, he allowed the thought of Maryam to flit into his mind, expecting to feel the anger tinged with shame which rose in him yesterday on the Lade Braes. But it was no longer, “How could she?” He wondered instead how Maryam was feeling, how she was coping with the life inside her. He saw her face again, looking up at him, and he realised how scared she’d been when she told him, and how much worse she must have felt when he’d flown into a righteous anger against her. Was she eating this morning? She needed to eat for two now. Maybe he should find some hummus – did they have that at Morrisons? His mind landed on a place they could get together, renting a cottage where they’d bring up little Josh, Joe coming back in time to give him his bath. He called Maryam.
“I’m sorry about yesterday, it was just such a shock. I think I’ve changed my mind. Do you still want me around?”
Joseph and the child Jesus, Cattedrale di San Lorenzo, Genoa
Yours,
Donald.
Revd Dr Donald MacEwan
Chaplain