While Tobias worried that he had foolishly lost his father’s money, his father and mother worried that they had lost Tobias. Each morning, blind Tobit ran his fingers over the marks he had scratched on a wax tablet, counting the days. Each evening, he took up his stylus and scratched one more mark.
One morning Tobit heard the footsteps of his wife, Hannah, crossing the courtyard. At this time of day she left to take mended garments to her customers. Instead, she walked toward him.
He straightened, alert as she sat beside him and took the waxed tablet from his lap. “What is it?” he asked.
“The days required for a journey to Ragae have long passed,” she said. “Is it possible that Gabael refuses to release your money?”
Tobit nodded thoughtfully. “It’s possible.”
“Perhaps Gabael is dead, and Tobias petitions someone else.”
Tobit nodded. “It’s possible.”
“Perhaps Tobias lost the receipt.”
Tobit nodded. “It’s possible.”
Hannah lowered her voice to a whisper. “How well did we know his traveling companion. What’s his name?”
“Raphael.”
“Perhaps this Raphael turned on Tobias. Our son could be lying in some ditch mortally wounded. Or . . . or . . . dead for all we know.”
Tobit nodded. “It’s possible.”
“Is that all you can say? It’s possible?” Hannah dropped the wax tablet into Tobit’s lap and rose.
He heard her sandals slap halfway across the stone yard. Then she stopped and wailed, “My child has perished! Oh, my child! Do I not care because I let you go, you, the light of my eyes!”
Tobit huffed. It was the light of his unseeing eyes that was gone. “Calm yourself, Hannah,” he said. “Tobias is young. This is his first journey away from us. Give him a few more days to discover the world.”
“Discover the world? Small comfort that is. He may choose to take the money and never return to us.”
Tobit leaned his head back against the wall. “It’s possible.”
- to be continued -
© 2012 Karyn Henley. All rights reserved. Based on The Book of Tobit, circa 200 BCE. Photograph courtesy morguefile.
