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“Do you think your mom and sisters will be home when we get there?” Chuza asked as we were walking together.
I glanced sideways at him. “If you mean, will Joanna be there, yes, I’m sure you’ll have a chance to speak with her. And if you’re lucky, she might not even knock you upside the head for being so bold as to address her.”
Chuza tried to hide his embarrassment. It was an open secret that he was smitten, and whenever the tough young gang leader stood anywhere in the vicinity of my older sister, he reminded me of a puppy eager to please its master. Joanna, for her part, pretended not to notice and ordered him around like a servant. But after Chuza went home one afternoon, I saw her whispering and giggling with Susanna.
The rest of the boys were still at work out in the fields. Chuza had met me outside my rabbi’s home and was carrying some of my scrolls for me. In addition to reading scripture, the two of us had started working with Judas to memorize some of the things Abban had taught him. In teaching Chuza to read, I forced myself to study harder so I could explain it to him. But he was picking up mathematics more quickly than I, so we depended on each other for help.
He changed the subject. “Herod’s men have hired my dad and his crew to work on that aqueduct. There’s a spring up in the hills south of here, and they’re going to dig a canal and line it with stones all the way down to the city. My dad said that he might want me to help out on that project instead of picking grains out in the field.”
“Will you still be able to come study with me?”
“Yeah, on three afternoons a week,” he said. “Dad thinks it’s really important. The other three days I’ll help them. I don’t think I have to do any digging or stonework, but I’ll probably have to drive the oxen hauling the cart from the stonemason’s yard. That shouldn’t be too hard.”
I was happy for him. For one thing, this type of work would get him out of the fields. Chuza had told me that picking fruits and grains was backbreaking work, and it wasn’t always safe. Every worker had a quota to meet each day, or else he would not get his wages and might even be beaten. But on some days bandits or Roman soldiers might take some of his pickings, and so he would have to work longer to make up for the loss. But he would not have to face that sort of threat driving a cart of dirt and stones.
And his improved rank would make him more worthy in Mom’s eyes. She might not object as much to him talking to Joanna.