"Yes, what is it, Yeshua," said the Rabbi.
"You know I will lay my apologies before the man," I said, "but he would never allow me to say such things."
"This is true."
"I would go with my father and my father would beg him," I said, "but the man would never allow us to come in the door."
"This is true."
"Well, then, you spoke of kindred. You spoke of kindred elsewhere."
"I did."
"On her mother's side, our side, we have cousins in Sepphoris. But more to the point, we have cousins in Cana, whom you know very well. Hananel of Cana is your old friend. He's the first who comes to mind, but there are others. However, Hananel is a well-spoken and persuasive man."
Everyone nodded to this. We all knew Hananel.
I went on to the Rabbi,
"We laid the marble floors of his house years ago," I said. "On many a pilgrimage, I've spoken with Hananel, all the way to the festival, as have you."
"Yes, yes, and the very last time," said the Rabbi, "as we all went together, Hananel called my nephew Jason a nuisance and a curse, am I not correct?"
"I don't speak in connection with Jason, Rabbi," I said. "I speak in connection with Avigail. The old man is surely at home. We would have heard if he had left Cana to go to Caesarea, and we have not. He knows all of the family of Avigail's mother, and he's closer in kinship to her than he is to us."
"That's true," said James, "but he's an old man living alone with no sons living and his grandson is roaming the world, only Heaven knows where. What can he do?"
"He can come and talk to Shemayah and reason this matter out with him," I said. "And he can write to the kindred we don't know far and wide and he can find a place for Avigail to lodge. She need not starve to death in this village. This is not to be borne. She can go to her people in Sepphoris or in Capernaum or in Jerusalem. Hananel will know them. Hananel is a scholar and a Scribe and a judge. Hananel can speak where we can't be heard."
"This is possible. . . ." murmured the Rabbi.
"I'll go to him," I said. "I'll explain what happened. I'll lay before him the whole story as I saw it, and my own clumsiness. And he will understand."
"Yeshua, you are as brave as Daniel, to put your head in the lion's mouth," said the Rabbi, "however . . ."
"I'll go to him. It won't take an hour for me to get to Cana. What can he do? Turn me down."
"He has a mean tongue, Yeshua. He makes Shemayah look like a flower of the field for cheerfulness and sweetness. He does nothing but bemoan his wandering grandson, and he blames Jason for it. Jason. He blames Jason that his grandson is under a porch in Athens disputing with the heathens."
"It's no matter to me, Rabbi," I said. "He can heap me with insults. He has a clever tongue and a relentless tongue, and no patience for men like Shemayah. And I think he will remember his cousin Avigail, above all."
Joseph lifted his hand.
"I know he will remember his cousin Avigail," Joseph said softly. "We old ones," he said. He paused as if he'd lost his thought and then went on with vague eyes. "We watch the young ones on the pilgrimage, as if they were flocks of birds we must keep to the road. I've seen him many a time smiling at Avigail. When the girls broke into singing, he listened to Avigail. I saw him. And one time, over a cup of wine in the Temple Court as we sat together on the last day of the festival, he told me he heard her voice in his sleep. That wasn't so long ago. Perhaps two years ago. Who knows?"
This was exactly what I'd seen as well.
"I'll go then," I said. "I'll ask him to find a household for Avigail, away from Nazareth, where she can be properly cared for, and where she can rest."
Joseph looked up at me.
"Be careful, my son," he said. "He will be kind to Avigail, but not to you."
"He will bait you," said the Rabbi, "try to rattle you with his arguments and draw you in with his questions. He has nothing else to do in his library. And he is sick over the loss of his grandson, though he himself drove the boy away."
"So give me some armor for this journey, my lord?" I suggested.
"You'll know what to say," said the Rabbi. "Explain it as you have here. And don't let him drive you out of the house. If I were to go with you, we'd be in a battle, he and I, at once."