Jacob's Way (18 page)

When Reisa stepped into the kitchen, she said, “His name is Ben Driver. He just told me.”

Sam and Phineas exchanged quick looks. “So the bad penny has turned up,” Phineas said.

“Bad penny? What does that mean?”

“Means your sick man is a criminal,” Phineas snorted. “He was sent to prison.”

“What for?” Reisa asked.

“Aw, it wasn't murder,” Sam put in quickly. “I think he held up a store or something.” He scratched his chin thoughtfully, then added, “He was a good soldier, but after the war he got into trouble. I hear as how his family kicked him out.”

“How awful!”

“His dad, John Driver, has got money. Lives just the other side of Richmond. Ben could have gone home after getting out of the pen. But if the gossip I heard was right, he lit a shuck under his son.”

“What that means—‘lit a shuck'?”

“Means he ran him off,” Phineas grunted. “Don't sound like much of a father to me.”

Sam shook his head stubbornly. “The Driver family's always been good folks, Phineas. The old man, he's a little hard-tailed, but a good man deep down.”

“What is ‘hard-tailed'?” Reisa asked.

“Oh, it means he's a little bit on the hard side—you know, doesn't allow for a body's weakness. Took his boy's going wrong bad, so the talk went. They had another son, Matthew, that died in the war. Heard that the old man was never the same after that.”

Reisa listened as the two men talked of the Driver family, and found herself feeling pity for the sick man. She understood better why he was so withdrawn.
Poor man! What if my grandfather would turn me away? How would I feel?

Reisa came back later to see if Driver was still asleep. He was, and she stood there looking down at him. She had a sense of guilt, for once he had flung his arm out and touched her breast, and she had struck out at him instinctively before she realized that his action had been involuntary, that he had not meant to molest her. Now as she looked down on him, she tried to make something out of his face. The sheet that covered his body outlined his tall thin form. His eyes, at least the left eye, were sunken and dark circles were under them, and his cheeks were sunk in slightly on each side. She wondered again how it could be that a man was so alone in the world that he had no family nor friends to send for when he was hurt.

She moved out of the room and found Jacob sitting at the kitchen table with Sam. Phineas was washing dishes at the sink.

“How is he, Granddaughter?” Jacob asked.

“He's asleep. His fever's broken. I think he will be all right.” She moved over to where Phineas stood and started to wash the bowl and the spoon, but Phineas took them from her. “I will cook you supper tonight if you don't mind, Phineas.”

“Don't mind a bit,” Phineas said testily. He turned and studied the two. “I've got to get out of here. They've been arguing religion for the last hour—and they're likely to go on for the rest of the day.”

Indeed, Sam looked up and grinned at Phineas. “It wouldn't hurt you to stay and get a little of this. It'd do you good.”

Phineas left, however, so Sam turned back to Jacob and said, “Remember, you were reading to me about how the children of Israel disobeyed God, and God sent a pack of snakes to bite 'em.”

“Yes. That is in the Law.”

“Well, what did Moses do when them people started dying of snake bites?”

“He made a brass serpent, and he put it on a pole.”

“And what happened then?”

“Why, the Scripture says that everyone who was bitten and dying of snake bites would look up at that pole, and then God would heal them.”

“And do you believe that, Jacob?”

“Certainly I believe it!” Jacob said quietly but firmly. “I believe all that's written in the book of the Law.”

“All right. Keep that in your mind now, and let me read you something. This is from the book of John.”

Reisa had been washing dishes, but at this word from Sam she half-turned to listen more carefully. She had read her copy of the book of John all the way through, and part of it several times. Now she waited to hear what Sam would say.

“This here part is in chapter three: ‘There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him—'” Sam interrupted himself, “I reckon he came to Jesus by night because a respectable Jewish rabbi wouldn't want to be seen with a man like Jesus.”

“The religious leaders did not like Jesus?”

“Well, they thought he'd come to do away with their religion, but Jesus never done that. Anyway, this fellow Nicodemus said, ‘Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him.'”

“That is true certainly. No man can do a miracle of himself. God must be with him.”

“This next verse is the part that made me turn to religion. I was a soldier then, and we had a meetin' and a preacher, and he preached on this verse. Here's what Jesus said to Nicodemus.” He read again, “‘Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.'”

Sam paused, and Jacob blinked with surprise. Reisa had read this passage many times, for it was the part of the Gospel that fascinated—and troubled—her the most.

“That is impossible, Sam! A man can't be born but once.”

Sam laughed and slapped his hand on the table. “Now, you said that. Hear what your friend Nicodemus said. ‘Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born?'”

“The rabbi had good judgment.” Jacob smiled.

“But here's what Jesus said, ‘Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.'”

“Those are strange words,” Jacob said quietly. “I have no idea what they mean.”

“Well, neither did Nicodemus. The next verse says, ‘Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be? Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things?'”

Sam looked up then and said, “That's the Scripture that got me. I didn't see how no man could be born but once. But Jesus said you hear the wind, but you don't know where it's comin' from, you don't know where it's goin'. You don't understand that. And he told Nicodemus that there has to be somethin' happen on the inside of man. Not on the outside. Don't you see? A man's born once into this world physically, but he's got to have a change of heart to get into the kingdom of God.”

Jacob's eyes narrowed, and he could not answer for a moment. Finally he said, “I agree with that. A man's heart must be made right. If that is what you call the new birth, then I can see the reason of it.”

“So could I, and I gave my heart to Jesus that night.”

Reisa listened as Sam talked about his conversion experience—how he had gone to a meeting a confirmed sinner and had heard a preacher speak of Jesus. She listened with wonder as he related how his heart began to melt, and how he felt himself to be a blackened sinner. And then he fell on his face and cried out for God to save him.

“Since that time,” Sam said, “I've been a new creature.”

“But what does all this have to do with Moses and the serpent?”

“I been gettin' to that. Here it is right here in verse fourteen. After Jesus told Nicodemus how he needed to be changed on the inside, he says right here, ‘And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.'”

“So that's what I get out of that Old Testament story about Moses and the snake. Them people were physically bit, and they looked to a physical snake that Moses made of brass, and they were healed in their body. But Jesus said anybody that looks unto me will be healed in his heart. This verse sixteen, I guess, sums up all I know about the Bible.” Sam's eyes grew misty, and his voice grew soft: “‘For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.'”

Reisa turned and saw once again that there were tears in Sam's eyes. He was, she had learned, a very emotional man, and she honored him for it.

Jacob was deeply moved by Sam's emotion—and by the words that he read. He was quiet for a moment, and he said, “I will think on these things, Sam.” He got up and walked outside, his head bent deeply in thought.

Sam watched him go, then shook his head. “He's a mighty fine man, your grandpa. Don't know as I ever met a finer, Miss Reisa.”

Reisa came over and sat down and looked Sam in the face. “Are there many Christians like you, Sam?”

Surprised at such a question, Sam shook his head. “I ain't nothin' special, Miss Reisa. I'm just an average, garden-variety Christian, I reckon.”

“I've always been afraid of Christians.”

“Afraid!” Sam was genuinely surprised. His eyes flew open, and his jaw dropped. “Why in the blue-eyed world would you be askeered of Christians?”

“Because in my country many of my people have been killed by those who call themselves Christians.” She went on to tell him of the pogroms that had taken the lives of so many, all carried out by members of the state church, the Russian Orthodox.

Sam shook his head and said loudly, “I don't reckon them folks know much about Jesus. A Christian would never do anything like that to anybody. Jesus never would, and Christians are supposed to be like him.”

Reisa reached over and squeezed Sam's hand. He looked at her with surprise as she said, “You've been so good to us, so kind, you and Phineas. God will reward you.”

She left the room then and went out to walk beside Jacob, who gave her a strange look but said nothing.

“What do you think about all of this? About what they say about Jesus and—what do they call it?”

“Being born again, they call it. Sometimes he calls it ‘being saved,'” Jacob replied quietly. “Other times he calls it ‘being converted.' It is very odd. But it is good to meet a Christian who is all that a man should be.” They walked for a few more steps, and he turned to face her. “Which of us has the true faith? We shall see.”

When Driver awoke the next morning, he knew that the worst of the sickness was over. He still coughed from time to time, but it was a minor thing, perhaps nothing but a reflex action. He lay there dozing, enjoying the feeling of good health after such a terrible time.

Hearing the door open, he opened his eye and sat up. The big black cat jumped up and came to him at once, pushing his head against the hand that Driver held out. “What's this critter's name, Miss Reisa?”

“His name is Boris.”

“I dreamed he smiled at me yesterday.”

“It was no dream.” Reisa set a tray down on the table with a plate of scrambled eggs and a biscuit. “He does smile.”

“Never heard of a cat smilin',” Driver mused. He sat up, and Reisa handed him the plate and fork, then sat down beside him. He ate hungrily and said, “That was good. I could use more.”

“I think you should eat small meals instead of big ones. I'll bring you something else in a couple of hours.”

Jacob came in and came near to sit down on his bed. His face was pale and drawn. “How are you, my friend?”

“Better.” Driver's eyes reflected a question. “I still don't have it clear in my mind where I am. This isn't your place. Did I hear that right?”