The Great Thirst Boxed Set

by Mary C. Findley

  In the center of the room, in a large basin, sat the leather bag, the lock open. The man squatted and put his hand into the bag, drawing out something that looked like a scroll, but which was made of the same glowing golden material as the lock.

  “May I take some pictures?” Talia asked.

  “Just as you see it here,” he agreed. Talia snapped with her phone all the angles she could without touching the scroll.

  “I have shown you the scroll, but I must take it to experts who can try to unroll it and decipher its message,” the man explained. “You know of the Copper Scroll found at Qumran, of course?”

  “Yes. It was in very bad shape, and it took a long time just to open it so that it could be studied,” Talia acknowledged reluctantly. “But my Uncle Naddy could help you with this. I know he could.”

  “Tell him to purify his heart,” the man said, putting away the scroll and locking the bag. “God demands purity, not just passion, from His servants. No doubt we could use him, and even need his expertise, but our struggle is not for those who play with defilement, thinking the end justifies the means.”

  “But I don’t understand your involvement in this,” Talia protested. “Guglielmo said the men who took Maria and the artifacts came to you. Are you responsible for my uncle being stabbed?”

  “I overheard two men wondering how to get rid of a woman they said they had been paid to kidnap. They talked of receiving money to steal some artifacts, but I gathered they had never seen their employer face to face. I was able to convince the thieves that I represented their employers. Since it was clear from what they said that they had already been given some money, they were very happy to surrender their hostage, with many complaints about how much trouble she was.

  “With some additional persuasion I also got them to agree to bring me the artifacts. Your uncle was attacked simply because he tried to resist being robbed. Unfortunate, but not intentional on my part. They only brought me the artifacts and the woman an hour or two ago. I have not seen them since.”

  The baby in the corner began to wail. The woman cradled him and said, “You need to go now. You may of course tell your aunt and uncle about these scrolls and show them your pictures. But we urge you to try to persuade them to stop interfering.”

  “They’re not trying to interfere. They want to help – we want to help – if you would only trust us.” Talia clenched her fists.

  The couple’s faces both softened. “Perhaps we can make contact later,” the woman said. “For now, we have to flee, before the person who paid to have the artifacts stolen discovers his employees were duped. We must close our shop forever and get far away from here. There is still hope that you can truly aid our cause, but now is not the time.”

  Talia wanted to shout at them. “I promise you, we just want to help preserve the Word. You misunderstand if you think my uncle is greedy. He spoke about the Great Thirst. He knows how important this is – to preserve and to spread the Word.”

  They did not even answer her, but continued packing to depart. Talia felt a hush fall over her when she saw them open empty cupboards for a last check. A cafe should have had foodstuffs, olive oil, costly spices – at least a few delicacies that would be more valuable to ordinary island people than money. She realized the cafe owner had bribed the men with everything that could be of value to thieves. She felt a sudden sense of the privation of these people, their burden and their sacrifice. They had been willing to share these few feet of space with Maria. But they could not continue to care for her if they meant to flee with that astounding treasure.

  “Please don’t be insulted, but I want to offer you help. Can I make some provision for your journey?”

  The woman glanced up at her husband but he did not respond.

  Talia took out some money and set it on the counter. “Also, please let me take Maria with me. She knows me. We can help her, and she won’t impede your journey.”

  The woman hugged her. “A blessing on you. We could not imagine what we would do about her. And if that pig tries to come for her, you will know how to treat him.”

  “Oh, yes. I think I can handle Jiggly.”

  She said the nickname as she always had and the woman laughed. “I know this word in English. The gelatin is jiggly, yes? He is well-named.”

  “Maria.” Talia touched the disheveled girl and she started up. “Come with me, baby. Aunt Sophie and Cindee and I are going to take care of you. Jiggly’s long gone.”

  “Talia.” Maria cradled her bandaged hand and rose with difficulty. Her clothes were torn, and she had no shoes, but she beamed around her split lip. “I truly have the Christ now. I don’t have to pray to his mother anymore. These people showed me the truth. They have God’s Words written in gold. Did you know?”

  Talia shot a look at the couple. The woman had retreated to a corner and begun to breastfeed her child, turning completely away from them, as if they had any privacy. The man stood over her, his body her only shield, not even watching for their departure.

  “Yes, I know.” Talia led Maria out of the cafe.

  Chapter Seventeen – “I Wish There Was a Map”

  “Hey, Keith, how are you doing?”

  “Talia?” Keith pulled his phone away from his ear and stared at it. It was Sunday night. He had already given up hope of hearing from Talia before having to handle another Bible as Literature class solo.

  “Yes, I’m back at my apartment now. I was wondering, could I come over to your place and try to catch up on what I missed with the Bible as Lit class?”

  “Oh, I didn't do anything special. I gave them the assignments from the course plan, but we spent the class kind of doing a Science experiment. Are you … is everything okay?”

  “Some thieves stole artifacts my aunt and uncle had just collected, and stabbed Uncle Naddy.”

  “Stabbed him? No wonder your aunt was scared.”

  “She wouldn't tell me over the phone what happened. But my uncle is going to be okay, and I am pooped, but I wanted to apologize for not answering your calls, and for making you do the class alone when I had just promised we were partners til the end.” He could hear the weariness in her voice, but also the big smile framing her words.

  “See, my aunt and uncle are both PhDs, and they run all over the world, but anytime one of them gets hurt, or gets sick, if it’s serious enough, the other one just goes to pieces. It has always been so weird, since I was a kid, how they want me to be their rock when they can’t prop each other up. There’s no other way to explain it. Aunt Sophie said she needed me, so I had to go.”

  “I know some people like that. It’s like they’re the kids and you’re the parent. But your uncle really is okay?”

  “That is exactly what it’s like. Yes, he’ll be fine. I’m sorry to invite myself over, but I need so bad to pray with Joana about the class and everything, and I'll tell you the whole story about what happened.”

  “Okay, sure, come on over. Joana will be glad to see you.”

  “I can’t wait to see her. I’m sorry I caused so much trouble.”

  Keith took a shower and changed clothes, putting on his black slacks and turtleneck. Half an hour later, Talia rang the doorbell. He saw that she looked pale and kind of generally wiped out, as might be expected from a person with a serious case of jetlag.

  “Talia!” Joana’s voice synthesizer announced, and the wheelchair rolled into the entryway. Talia had to push past Keith to hug his sister. He gathered his wits with difficulty and shut the door.

  “Welcome back,” Joana said.

  “It’s good to be back,” Talia said with great fervor.

  On Monday, Keith thought the kids were just a little too impressed when Talia explained her absence by telling them about Naddy being stabbed by artifact thieves.

  “Wow, just like the movies, where Indy has to have to fight off the bad guys to save the treasure!” someone said.

  “Cool!”

  “Well, you ought to be a little less excited ab
out all this, and a little more glad that he’s going to be okay,” Keith pointed out.

  “Oh, well, yeah,” muttered several voices. “What kind of stuff do your aunt and uncle look for, Ms. Ramin?” Karen asked.

  “You won't believe what they just found,” Talia said, and turned on the projector to show her phone shots of the leathery bag and scrolls.

  “So is that those testaments you talked about?” Rikki wondered. “They look so cool!”

  “We don't know yet,” Talia admitted. “People are studying them, and I hope they will contact my aunt and uncle and let us know if we can help.”

  “I thought you said somebody stole what they found?” Adam asked. “how did you get pictures of it?”

  “God sent someone to take this into safekeeping,” Talia explained.

  “So what will your aunt and uncle do now? Keep looking for some other stuff to do with the testaments? After he gets better, I mean?” Annie added hastily.

  “I'm not sure,” Talia said. “They need to figure out what else to look for. The last clues they had led them to that bag. I wish there was a map or something to show us where to go next.”

  After that they moved on to the topic of English translations of the Bible.

  “So how come there are so many translations of the Bible in English, anyway?” Laura asked. “People have been speaking lots of other languages longer than English has existed.”

  “That’s true, Annie,” Talia replied. “English has become kind of a universal language, though, for trade and all kinds of communication. That doesn’t mean all the English translations are good ones, though. You have to be careful, first of all, that it’s a translation, from the original languages, and not a paraphrase, and that it’s a good translation, not one that was made to promote some agenda.”

  “What do you mean by agenda, Ms. Ramin?” David asked.

  “I mean that there was a reason for making that translation besides making it as good and accurate as it can be,” Talia replied. “Even when the King James translation was made, King James told them to make sure they supported the divine right of the monarchy, because he thought the Geneva Bible, an older translation, spoke against it. But you shouldn’t make a translation just to support or speak against something that’s a current political issue. You have to make it true to the original languages.”

  “Wait a minute,” Adam protested. “Doesn’t God want us to use the Bible to change people’s minds about things? Wouldn’t that be a great chance, if the Bible told them things they believe were wrong? Like, we could make our own translation, in the class, here, and it would teach people not to hate other people for their skin color, or other stuff.”

  “Dude, people used the Bible to say that slavery was okay. How can you use it to do the opposite?” Nathan argued.

  “People did that,” Sheila pointed out. “The abolitionists used the Bible to say that slaves should be freed. You can already make the Bible say anything you want it to.”

  Talia put up her hands. “Okay, first of all, Adam, we can’t make our own translation, because I’m probably the only person in this class who knows Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic. And you also can’t make the Bible say something it doesn’t already say. You have to tell the truth about what it says.”

  “You know all those languages?” Kimberly demanded.

  Talia blushed. “Yes, but let’s not get sidetracked. The points people have made about making the Bible support opposite sides of a serious conflict of belief, like slavery – that’s what we need to talk about. People who pick out a verse here and there to support a position – they are taking those verses out of context. Lots of people do that. Maybe the verses support that position, but maybe they are not giving people the whole story.”

  “In my family, we read the Bible every day,” Parker said. “We start in Genesis and we keep going through Revelation, and then we start right over again. Dad says you can’t know the whole story about God without knowing the whole Bible. He told us about the up and down times in the Bible and how they’re like waves. Sometimes God shows His love, and His mercy, and His grace. Sometimes He shows His judgment, His hatred of sin, how He even uses bad people to punish His people. Dad says, ‘God made everything, and we need to know everything about God’.”

  “That’s beautiful, Parker.” Talia said. “That’s exactly the way we should look at the Bible, too. We need to look at the whole picture of God. And by the way, the reason a lot of people go wrong about translation and interpretation is because they’re thinking about things backwards.”

  “How do you mean, backwards?” Lisa asked.

  “Think about how you can get the Word out, to make people know just what it says, and God will change their wrong thinking. Don’t worry about going on the attack against something that’s wrong, or propping up something that’s right. The Word of God is alive, and powerful, and sharper than a two-edged sword. It separates, it reproves, and it can straighten out wrong thoughts and ideas.”

  “I get it!” Tom shouted. “It’s not a booster seat or a prop for our little ideas. It is the greatest idea of all.”

  Jayna chimed in. “It’s the truth, and it can set people free.”

  Talia clapped her hands. “Yes! Yes! Absolutely!”

  Chapter Eighteen – “Are You So Selfish?”

  “Ms. Ramin, Mr. Bradley, can I see you in the teachers' lounge?”

  Keith cringed. Why was his dad poking his head in their classroom? Talia called out the reading assignment and the students bent over their Bibles and notebooks.

  Keith and Talia joined his dad in the hall. Mrs. Farris slipped into the Bible as Literature classroom to monitor and Principal Bradley led them to the teachers’ lounge. A strange woman sat at the table.

  “I’m sorry I had to interrupt that lively discussion you were having,” Principal Bradley said, “but this is Doctor Williams from the State Education Department.”

  Doctor Williams looked over her half-glasses at them. “We just got word that your Bible as Literature class has been approved for a cutting edge study of electronic media development. We are hoping it will provide a model that will revolutionize education. We wanted you to be fast-tracked into the Bible Conversion Project.”

  “What’s the Bible Conversion Project?” Talia asked. “We’re already filing the weekly reports on what we teach, and the students are uploading their assignments. I thought that was all we needed to fulfill the requirements.”

  “All your records are in excellent condition,” Doctor Williams said. “As far as they go. That’s why you were chosen for the next phase,” Doctor Williams said. “Because you’ve made excellent progress, but you’re not yet fully compliant. Even in this digital age, so many people still study physical, print Bibles, underline verses and commentary, and make notes in the margins. They write longhand in notebooks or on cards. We need a virtual record of these physical studies. We need scans of everything – from the originals.”

  “What?” Keith jumped up. “What are you saying? We’re supposed to take the kids’ Bibles away from them? Their prayer journals? Their memory cards?”

  “There’s no need to be defensive.” Doctor Williams glared up at him. “Please be seated. No one is taking anything away, just borrowing the items to get them scanned. We will bring equipment here to the school and do it on the premises. Everything will be returned the same day.

  “We want materials from everyone in the community. Parents, grandparents, clergymen – Anyone who studies the Bible. Don’t you see? To get a complete picture of a student's study, we need more than just the class assignments. The archives should include everything that inspired them, and a record of the further thought and study their assignments inspired. This will become a resource people all over the world can use, for all time. Mr. Bradley, your prayers, your thoughts, your study of the Bible could teach someone in Thailand, Mali, Alaska – someone in a spaceship traveling to Mars – these insights will become eternal.

  �
�In return, we are going to help bring everyone into the digital age. We will give each participant a very simple-to-use tablet with a permanent link to the Bible Repository website. Just as soon as everything goes live they will be able to access all the work everyone has done to enrich the corpus. You will get back much more than you give.”

  “But it’s voluntary, right?” Talia asked. “People don’t have to give us their Bibles, do they?”

  “This program fails if it doesn’t accomplish the critical goal of gathering all the possible data,” Doctor Williams insisted. “So far, you have only given us what students felt they had to turn in to meet assignment requirements. We have no picture of the surrounding faith journey. It must be fully inclusive to succeed. How can we say that only fifty percent, or seventy-five percent, or even ninety-eight percent of people’s Bible study information gives a complete picture of this vital topic?”

  “What exactly do you mean by ‘this program fails’?” Keith’s dad demanded.

  “It doesn’t fulfill the requirements,” Doctor Williams said. “It doesn’t qualify for the grants.”

  “You mean additional grants,” Keith prompted.

  “No, I mean any grants,” Doctor Williams responded.

  “You mean we lose everything we’ve gotten from implementing the Bible as Literature program?” Principal Bradley choked.

  “It’s clearly stated in the contract you signed that this is a graduated program, consisting of steps that must be followed. The program itself is voluntary, but you agreed to provide information – complete information. There’s nothing scary or unreasonable being asked for here. Are your Bible studies secret? We aren’t even asking to spy on them or listen in to your private reflections. We just want you to share what is written down on paper. Why does the idea of sharing them with the world disturb you? Are you that selfish?”