Dawn on Lake Tiberias And Other Stories

Dawn on Lake Tiberias and Other Stories

  Copyright 2013 William Dean Hamilton

  Table of Contents

  Dawn on Lake Tiberias

  Gaol House Rock

  Telemachus

  Immortal Stars

  The 12

  The Dying monk

  Wolf of Gubbio

  Epworth

  The Ship

  95 theses

  Fleeing England and the King

  Meeting with the king

  Bibliography

  About the author

  Connect to William Dean Hamilton

  Dawn on Lake Tiberias

  Si walked down from his house onto the beach by the Lake Tiberias. Shadows that Si knew were mountains hid behind streams of mist on the far shore. Si sweated from the heat of a hot day near the end of the summer so he hesitated for a moment behind the shade of a grove of palm trees. He knew he was lucky to be able to do most of his work at night when the air would be cooler. The air smelled like only large bodies of water could, unbelievable freshness mixed with that old fish stench.

  Si’s partner Andy was wearing his brown work uniform, a dull-looking-robe-like thing and he wore his dark brown hair short, except around his ears. He was working on the drag nets, huge nets that needed repairs a lot because they got caught on the rocks at the bottom of the lake.

  Si said, “Andy how’s it going? Are the nets OK?”

  Andy looked up, “Oh, hi Si. I think they’re fine, I just wanted to have a final look since we have a few minutes.”

  Si said, “Good. I have a feeling we’re going to have a great day today, the weather is perfect for fishing.”

  Andy said, “I think you’re right.”

  Si looked at their boat, a thirty-foot long wooden craft that looked like a large rowboat with a sail in the middle. It was moored along a pier that was fifty feet long; on the other side of the pier was another boat of about the same description that belonged to their partners.

  “Help me get these back into the boat.” Andy said and pointed to nets, they pulled them into the boat.

  A voice called out behind them, “Hey you two, you’re gonna make us look bad, getting to work so early.”

  Si turned to see the two brothers, John and Jim, who were in charge of the other boat. They were large men, who wore brown work uniforms like they all did, but John always had a wild glint in his eye, and his hair wasn’t kept as neatly as the rest. Si said, “Hi guys, once the sun has set, we’re going to be ready, how about you?”

  John spread his hands and made a gesture to indicate his might, “Don’t be worrying about us, it’s the help that seem scarce.”

  Si looked around, there wasn’t a sign of the four hired men they needed to help with the boats, and he saw only the rows of small, clay houses that were in the village. He hoped the men wouldn’t be late, this was the sort of night that you could catch a lot of fish, and you had to make money when you could. But then he saw them, all of them coming together. He hoped this didn’t mean that they had been in a tavern together; he needed every man on his best wits. He said, “Here they come now.”

  John said, “Good, me and Jim can’t be doin’ all the work, can we?”

  Si looked at the men; none of them looked drunk, which was a good thing. They all wore similar gray work robes and all had beards of different lengths. They were laughing at a joke he couldn’t hear, all of them smiling. Good, he thought, they will all be in a good mood tonight, that make the work easier, maybe enjoyable. Two of the men, Tim and Jake, broke off from the other two and headed towards Si, the other two went with John and Jim to their boat.

  Tim said, “Hi boss. I think the weather’s good for tonight.”

  Si said, “Yes, I do think your right.” And the three walked along the dock to the boat and to Andy, who was inside with the nets. Si could smell the fish much more here; it smelled like money to him. He asked “Are we ready to go Andy?”

  Andy looked up, “Yes we are, I’m all set and the boat looks fine.”

  Si said, “By the time we get set up it will be dark I think.” He undid the rope from the pier and the boat swayed under his feet, but he had done this so often he didn’t notice anymore. He picked up an oar and pushed at the dock, forcing the boat backwards. He looked to the west and saw the light had begun to redden; the mist still covered the distant peaks. The waves made soft swishing noises as they crashed into the boat and tipped it back and forth, sea gulls glided on currents of air, and other boats crept over the light blue sea. This was Si’s favorite part of the day, it was why he had put the boat out a little but early, but the idea of fishing at night was so that the fish couldn’t see the nets and would get caught up in them. It would take a while to meet up with the other boat, and it wouldn’t be quite dark when they had. Andy never complained about setting off early, Si thought that was because he felt the same way.

  They rowed out but John’s boat was still moored at the dock about a thousand feet away. A fish jumped out of the water a few feet from the boat and Si smiled, that fish will be in my net soon, he thought. He saw John throw the rope and push his boat out to water. It will only be a few moments now.

  Other fishermen, the type who threw small nets rather than using dragnets were rowing back to the shore. Si’s crew had tried it and had the equipment on their boats, but the dragnet was the best way to make a good catch. But it was kind of fun to do sometimes, and the dragnet was very hard work. The red in the sky darkened and the heat of the day seemed to lessen, unless it’s my imagination, Si thought.

  John yelled, “Daydreaming again Si?”

  Si jumped a little and said, “John, there you are, finally?” And then threw him the rope that was on the end of the net.

  John said, “Good throw, which is unusual for you.” John smiled and turned to his crew, “OK boys, let’s pull back.”

  The boats separated and the net flopped out into the water, Si was helping the net out to prevent snags, until all 800 feet drifted out in the water. Si tied his end to the boat. While they were getting ready Andy had lit a signal fire. Si signaled once by opening a door on the side of the fire to show that he was ready. John signaled twice, the signal that he wasn’t; he would want to wait until it was darker. Dark blue had overtaken half of the sky, but John wouldn’t want to start until all the light blue was gone. One by one the stars came and when their display was complete John signaled once; the dragging was to begin.

  Si said, “OK guys, it’s time to start rowing.” Then he picked up his own oar and they started to row to shore. To start each stroke Si said, “Stroke.” The boat moved slowly to shore, with each stroke they could feel the drag of the immense net, but something felt wrong. As they got closer to shore usually the drag would get worse as fish were caught in the net. No time to think about it now, Si thought, they had to keep the boat going or the fish they had caught in the net would escape. They were much closer to shore now, and Si shouted, “Turn.” The crew only oared on the side away from the other boat, the boat turned towards the other one. It was too dark to tell if John’s boat was doing the same, but Si was sure it was.

  After a few minutes Si shouted, “Halt.” And the crew stopped rowing. The boats came together with a thud. Si thought, Not exactly textbook, but it was OK. The crews of both boats pulled on the nets as quickly as they could to prevent fish from escaping, but as they pulled they saw no fish.

  John screamed, “What, no fish. And you guys kept up with us for once. I don’t understand it.”

  Si said, “It should have been a huge catch, I don’t understand it either.”

  John said, “I could tell that there were less fish than usua
l because of the drag, but I never imagined no fish.”

  Si said, “Alright, we’ve got a lot of night left, let’s get to another place on the lake and start again, the question is where?”

  John said, “That’s the part I hate the most, I think it makes the most sense to go to the other side of the lake, but that will take a long time, we’ll miss one pass, if not two.”

  Si said, “Yeah, but maybe we can drag on our way over there, it will be a challenge to keep the pace up.”

  John said, “Yeah, but we should reel the nets in around in the middle of the lake, maybe we will get lucky and catch some fish that avoided our first net.”

  Si said, “Might as well, it’s a plan then.”

  The pair told the other fishermen what they had decided and they set off.

  Morning

  The dawn would have been magnificent, if Si had looked, but his arms felt tired, his hopes ground down to dust. The eight-man crew had toiled like slaves in the hot night and not captured one fish.

  Si said, “Alright men, we’ll go back now, I know you’re tired, and we haven’t caught anything, so every fifty feet or so stop and take a rest and if I see any fish Andy and I will throw the net out.”

  And they rowed, and Si looked. Rowed. Looked. Si was beginning to think that this lake big enough to be known as a sea didn’t have any fish left in it, but then, when they were only about a hundred feet from shore a fish glimmered under the waves. Si and Andy threw the net and the fish was caught in it. They pulled at the net and were too excited over one little fish, but that didn’t change how they felt. The fish thrashed, but was no real challenge for a professional fisherman to haul into the boat; it was about a third of the size of the usual fish they usually caught. They lifted the part of the net that held the fish out of the water and the fish slid through the holes in the net.

  For a second Si felt like the raw wire that was his nerves had frayed through, but then he felt a weight on him and from the side of his eye he thought he saw something more wonderful than an angel, he turned and a man stood watching him from the shore, not an angel after all. Si asked, “Andy, is that the man that stayed at our house and helped mom out?”

  Andy asked, “What man?”

  Si pointed, “That man over there.”

  Andy said, “He looks familiar, but when did he stay at our house?”

  Si said, “You know the guy that John told us about.”

  Andy was puzzled, “Who does John know that we don’t, we work with him every day?”

  Si said, “No, not that John, the one that’s in prison.”

  Andy said, “Yeah, that was a bad deal, he never deserved that.”

  Si said, “I guess it doesn’t matter, let’s just get back to shore and wash and fix the nets and hope for a better tomorrow.”

  Andy said, “We’ll get ‘em tomorrow. Hey look some people have come to hear your friend, if I wasn’t so tired I would listen to him.”

  Si said, “Yeah, I think I would too, especially because of how he helped mom.”

  They had only to row a few hundred feet more to arrive at the dock; once they did they unloaded the nets. Si laid the nets out on the beach; lilies and reeds had been caught in the nets and a few holes had been ripped in the night’s work. Andy worked on patching the nets and Si cleaned them.

  Down farther on the beach Zeb, John and Jim’s father, was yelling at them, they were a long way down the beach so he could only hear the words, “fish,” “money,” and “idiot.” A crowd was forming around Si’s friend, while that happened Si was finished washing the nets and helped Andy repair them with the other two men.

  They were almost done when the man came to Si and he said, “Simon, my rock, would you let me use your boat to teach the crowd?”

  Si said, “Of course, teacher.” He didn’t feel like it, but knew he should. Si and Andy took him on the boat a few feet from shore so that he could teach without the crowd pressing on him. Si rested his eyes and sat on the boat.

  After about a half an hour Si found himself being awaken by Andy, who whispered to him, “You really should be hearing this, this is a great teacher and master.”

  Si said, “I would Andy, but I’m so tired and hopeless from the night, I was so sure that this would be a good night that it makes me wonder if I’m living the life I was meant to.”

  Andy said, “Oh, don’t be like that. It will be just fine.”

  A shadow fell on them as they talked and they turned to look, it was the teacher, he said, “Put out into the deep of the lake.”

  Si said, “Oh, um, all right.”

  And so Andy and Si rowed to the middle of the lake, the muscles in their arms and backs ached. The sun made the morning sticky and humid. Si saw that Zeb had the crew out casting nets to make up for the bad night’s work.

  The teacher said, “Simon, my rock, let down your nets.”

  Si said, “Master, we worked all night, and took nothing.” Si looked at him and bowed his eyes down in shame. “But at your word I will let down the nets.” Si grumbled to himself as he hastily threw the dragnets overboard, “What does a carpenter turned rabbi know about fishing?”

  Then it felt like something hit the boat and Si fell down, he caught himself before his head hit the side of the boat. Then he looked up and saw the net it was being pulled into the water, it was making the boat almost capsize.

  Si yelled, “John, get over here.” Si thought, it must be a huge fish to do this, but there weren’t any whales in the lake. Andy had been momentarily stunned as well, but the two grabbed a hold of the net and it stopped more of it from going overboard. They pulled and fish flopped onto the floor of the boat. They strained and the fish were now up to their knees, the other boat arrived and John, Jim and the other men pulled fish into their boat as well. There were so many fish Si’s boat started sinking. Si and Andy threw fish overboard.

  John’s boat started to sink as well and Zeb yelled from the shore, “Don’t you dare throw any fish overboard.” But they did anyway.

  When they had recovered the nets and threw enough fish overboard so that it wouldn’t sink, Si threw himself to his knees and pointed at Jesus and said, “Jesus, depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord.”

  And Jesus gently put Si’s finger down and put his hand on his shoulders and said, “Fear not; for now you will catch men.” Jesus turned to Andy and said, “You too Andrew.”

  Andrew dropped a fish he held, his mouth gaping.

  So they rowed slowly with the overloaded boat to shore. Si said, “Everyone listen. We are now going to be following Jesus, help yourselves to our fish.”

  The crowd pushed them and young, old, and in between grabbed fish. They seemed to forget they were gathered to hear the words of Jesus and they carried the fishes back to their houses or to the market to sell them.

  When the crowd dispersed Si saw John and Jim mending their nets while their father was sorting the fish and the two helpers salted the fishes in the boat to prepare them for market. Jesus walked over to John and Jim.

  Zeb said, “Hey Jesus, you can come and work for me, you know being a prophet doesn’t pay very well.”

  John stood, “I’m sorry about my father, he doesn’t mean any disrespect.”

  Jesus said, “Sons of Zebedee, John and James, come follow me and become fishers of men.”

  Zeb said, “Everyone calls me Zeb, sonny.”

  Jim stood and looked at John, John nodded, Jim said, “We’ll come with you.” And they walked away, leaving Zeb and the other two crew members in the boat.

  Zeb said, “You can’t take my boys, who’ll take care of me?”

  Jesus said, “Your Father in Heaven.”

  Zeb thought for a moment, from anyone else this would have been a joke, but from Jesus it didn’t seem like one. He said, “Take care of my boys Jesus.”

  Jesus nodded and they walked away.

  Notes

  Lake Tiberius is also known as the Sea of Galilee; I have tr
ied to fill in the gaps on the Gospel accounts while being as true to the original narratives as possible. You probably noticed that I tried to trick the reader by using unfamiliar versions of the names; I think it creates a bigger impact, I’m sorry if you disagree. The John that was in prison was John the Baptist. The Gospels record that they dragged their nets that night and also threw them into the water, and I have tried to reconcile the two versions with my story. We won’t know what really happened until the end of time.

  Gaol House Rock

  Jeb Taylor was thrust into the jail (known at the time as gaol) by a guard. A beard twisted with gray mostly hid his slender face; he wore the clothes of a seaman, he smelled of vomit with an undertone of ale. They shoved Jeb into the stone-lined cell, and he stumbled into the pale, dirty floor, a bit of spit hanging from his mouth. The cool rock under felt nice and somehow soothing, but Jeb lifted his head in a weak attempt to turn and said, “Your mother should have taught you manners, I would have mentioned it to her…” He tried to push himself up, but couldn’t quite get the job done. “When I saw her in the freak show last night, you stupid moron.” The only evidence of the guard was the sound of boots on rock.

  Someone said, “You shouldn’t be so hard on him. You only fell because you were drunk.”

  The prisoner strained his head up to see a blur in his cell with him. A tall, plump man came into focus that was wearing a white jacket, trousers and a pull box hat, all of which were stamped with arrows to denote they were the property of the crown. The face in the middle took some time to become clear. The mustache was the first feature recognizable under a prominent nose and large mouth. Curly reddish-brown hair topped his head, but it was the sparkling eyes that grabbed his attention. Then an image in his mind matched the face he was looking at.

  Jeb said, “You have some nerve telling me to go easy on the guards, I remember you. You had the foulest mouth in the county, and I bet you still do. I’ve sailed around the sea and must have heard swearing in ten languages and haven’t heard anything like you. You used to be devoted to swearing like a lovesick poet is to his rhymes. I can’t believe they stuck me with you. John Bunyon - that is your name.”

  John nodded his head in agreement, “Yes, I am chief among sinners. Thankfully sweet Jesus has ripped the old serpent from my mouth and has given me a tongue that speaks of his love, grace and liberty.”