CHILDREN OF TIME (2025 Edition) by Michel Poulin - HTML preview

CHAPTER 7 – MOTHERHOOD

 

17:40 (Jerusalem Time)

Tuesday, July 20, 1943 ‘B’

Arab Quarter, Old Jerusalem

Holy Land of Palestine

Having finished for the day with her official duties as Overseer of the Holy Land, Nancy had decided to go have an informal supper outside of the futuristic copper-plated steel and armor glass tower which housed the administration of the new country. Slinging first across her chest a pouch containing baby supplies, then strapping to her front torso a baby carrier, she grabbed eight-month old Eli from the large play crib sitting behind the work desk of her official office and walked out. The administrative tower being beside the southwest corner of the Old City walls, she was soon inside the Old Jerusalem, walking calmly along its narrow stone-paved streets and enjoying the sights of its animated popular life. As per her habit, and despite her title of Overseer and the immense powers she held from The One, she wore only a simple but nice white embroidered cotton robe and a pair of laced sandals. She thus looked little different from many of the Palestinian women of Jerusalem, save for her uncommon height and muscular built for a woman. Nancy in fact preferred to stay as much out of the limelight as possible, partly because she wanted her little Eli to be disturbed as little as possible, but mostly because she didn’t crave attention the way most politicians or celebrities did. Her ministers and administrators did the bulk of the public work, with her staying quietly in the background, overlooking their activities and formulating policies. About the only times she really appeared formally in public as Overseer was on Thursday afternoons, when she held her court of high justice to judge severe criminal cases or hear judicial appeals. Then, helped by her power of telepathy, she passed judgment on those brought before her, with her word being final. Many foreigners and governments called her a dictator handing out summary justice for that, but the citizens of Palestine overwhelmingly approved of her justice, having seen in the seven months since she had become Overseer how fair and just she was. While some foreign governments and medias called her derisively ‘The Queen of Jerusalem’ or, worse, ‘The Witch of

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Jerusalem’, her people widely called her ‘The Hand of God’, rather than simply ‘Overseer’. Personally, she would rather be called simply ‘Nancy’. In fact, going out like this in informal clothes was one way for her to mingle with her people without fuss or ceremonial.

After passing through the Jaffa Gate and walking along the Street of David, she turned left on Saint-Etienne Street, soon passing by the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, built on the ancient site of the Golgotha, the execution place of Yeshua, more commonly known by Christians as Jesus Christ. Every time she came around the place, it made her remember the sad day when, disguised as Nava the Disciple, she had witnessed Yeshua’s death on the cross, close to 2,000 years ago. The last words of Yeshua to her then had been to ask her to care for and protect his wife, Miriam of Magdala, which Nancy had done, bringing a bit later Miriam and her still to be born son to the future. Now, the church built to commemorate his death was run by Christian monks and priest who practiced too rarely the virtues held by Yeshua and who kept quarrelling between themselves about who ran the church…and split its revenues. The greed and pettiness of those priests and monks had been grating on Nancy for months, apart from bringing popular disrepute to their church for decades now. If things didn’t improve, she was going eventually to have to put her foot down and bring some order and decency to the place.

Little Eli babbled happily as she passed close to the colorful fabric of a terrace’s sunshade along the Via Dolorosa, with Eli trying to grab the tissue flapping in the wind. Nancy stopped for a moment, letting Eli play with the fabric, then kissed his head before resuming her walk.

‘’Come, my sweet Eli. You will soon be able to get out of your carrier.’’ The baby boy, who could sense telepathically her mood, quieted down as Nancy approached the Arab Quarter. She finally entered a small restaurant-terrace near the ruins of the old Roman fortress of Antonia. The owner, who knew her well as a regular customer, grinned on seeing her and her baby and hurried to lead her to a small table in a corner.

‘’Good afternoon, Nancy! It is nice to see you again, especially with your cute little Eli.’’

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Instead of frowning at his apparent familiarity, Nancy smiled with gratitude, as the owner was consciously helping her to stay anonymous, and this at her past request.

‘’And a good afternoon to you, Mahmud. How are your wife and children?’’

‘’They are fine and my children are growing up real fast. What can I serve you?’’

‘’I will have a plate of shish taouk and a couple of falafel balls, along with a cup of tea. Can I bother you to bring as well a baby chair for Eli?’’

‘’With pleasure, Nancy.’’ said the owner with a smile before disappearing in his backroom for a moment, returning with a modern high baby chair and placing it besides Nancy’s table.

‘’Here you are, Nancy. I will go get your food and tea right away.’’

‘’Thank you!’’

Placing first Eli in the high chair and buckling his belt, Nancy then took out of her slung pouch a pot of baby food, a bottle of milk and a spoon, then a bib that she tied around his neck. She had time to start feeding spoonfuls of baby food to Eli before Mahmud came back with her plate and a tea service. She thanked him, then slowly ate while continuing to feed her adopted son. At the same time, she discreetly kept watching and listening to the activity around her and the restaurant. Jerusalem and Palestine as a whole were now largely peaceful and safe places, but trouble now came too often from passing or visiting foreigners, some of which had a beef or two with her or with what the Time Patrol said about the life of Yeshua or the origins of man. More and more of those troublemakers were actually representatives or hardcore followers of the various Christian churches, who objected violently to her portrayal of the life of Yeshua, which was at odds with what one read in the Bible. The fact that she had actually gone in time and witnessed Yeshua’s life firsthand seemed to count for little to these hardcore Christians. The recent release for public distribution and sale of the various historical documentaries made by the Time Patrol, including its most recent one on the Neanderthals, had only inflamed even more those Christian hardliners.

She was about finished feeding Eli and was halfway through her own food when an old, frail woman supported by a mature woman entered the restaurant. The mature woman then helped gently the older woman sit on a chair of the terrace, speaking to her in Italian.

‘’Please rest a bit, Mama. You have walked way too much today for your arthritis and your heart. I will get you some cold water.’’

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‘’But I want to finish retracing the Via Dolorosa, Gina.’’

‘’Please, not before resting a bit, Mama.’’

The mature woman, who was in her forties, then went to the service counter and tried to order a glass of cold water, but her English was nearly non-existent, while the Arab waiter’s English was not much better. Taking a quick decision, Nancy got up and went to the counter, smiling to the Italian woman and speaking to her in her native tongue.

‘’I do speak Italian, miss. May I help you?’’

‘’God bless you! I was trying to order a glass of cold water for my mother. I’m afraid that the Sun was hard on her.’’

‘’Sunstrokes and dehydration are indeed things to be careful about here in Jerusalem at this time of the year, especially where old people are concerned.’’ Nancy then switched to Arabic, asking the waiter to bring her a glass of cold water. The young man hurried to get one, bowing when he gave her the glass. Thanking him, Nancy then gave the glass to the Italian woman.

‘’Here you go, miss. Do you mind if I check quickly your mother? I am familiar with sunstrokes.’’

‘’If you wish, miss.’’ replied the Italian, not too sure about letting a stranger check her mother but also not wanting to insult someone who had just helped her. Both went to the table occupied by the old woman, with Gina sitting beside her mother and giving her the glass of water while Nancy stayed up near her.

‘’Here, Mama, have some water.’’

‘’Please, don’t drink it too quickly, madam.’’ added Nancy in Italian. ‘’The shock could hurt you. May I check your pulse while you drink?’’

‘’Are you a doctor, miss?’’ asked the old woman. Nancy shook her head.

‘’No, but I am qualified in first aid.’’

‘’Then, go ahead, miss.’’

The old woman then started drinking slowly her glass of water while Nancy checked her pulse. She found it weak and irregular and eyed the old woman with worry. She appeared quite pale and her breathing was laborious. In most places, she would have been a borderline case for a quick ambulance trip to a hospital. Here, with the hot sun of Palestine and the walking to be done up and down steep streets and stairs, she was at high risk of keeling over on a moment’s notice. Nancy thus looked at the woman’s daughter with concern.

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‘’Your mother’s pulse is weak and irregular. She should see a doctor as soon as possible.’’

Those words brought a look of near despair on the daughter’s face.

‘’But we don’t have the means to pay for a doctor here. We barely had enough money to pay for this pilgrimage, which my mother hoped would help get her health back.’’

Nancy nodded soberly: she had guessed by the worn clothes of the two women that they were of limited means. She then gently put one hand on the hand of Gina.

‘’Miss, if your mother was hoping to recover her health by coming to Jerusalem, then her hope is going to be fulfilled.’’

Nancy then put her other hand against the back of the old woman and closed her eyes, concentrating. Gina nearly jumped out of her chair when Nancy’s hand started to glow against her mother’s back.

‘’WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO MY MOTHER?’’

‘’I am healing her. Please be quiet, miss.’’

On her part, the old woman didn’t protest, a smile coming instead to her face as she felt her arthritic pain fade away and her lungs clear up. Her daughter watched her smile, then looked at Nancy with disbelief, but didn’t dare speak up until Nancy’s hand stopped glowing and she opened her eyes.

‘’What did you do to my mother? Who are you?’’

Nancy straightened up before answering her in a sober tone.

‘’My name is Nancy Laplante and I am the Overseer of the Holy Land of Palestine. Your mother is now much healthier than before and will be able to resume her pilgrimage. She should however finish her glass of water first and rest a bit before walking again. If you will now excuse me, I have to go take care of my baby son, over in that corner.’’

Gina looked briefly at Eli, growing restless in his high chair, then knelt in front of Nancy.

‘’You performed a miracle. You healed my mother. How could I ever thank you?’’

‘’By practicing the true teachings of Jesus Christ and showing kindness and tolerance towards others, miss.’’

Gina then noticed the roundish belly of Nancy, level with her face as she was on her knees.

‘’Are you pregnant, miss?’’

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‘’Six months pregnant, as a matter of fact. Have a good stay in Jerusalem, you and your mother.’’

Nancy then left the two Italian women and returned to her table, watched with disbelieving eyes by most of the other customers of the restaurant, who were in majority tourists.

The old woman, her daughter behind her, soon came to Nancy’s table and knelt in front of her, taking and kissing her right hand.

‘’Miss, you are an angel. I will be forever in your debt. So, it is true that you met Jesus Christ while he was alive? Our priest in Naples kept saying that you were a fraud and a liar, but I don’t believe it anymore.’’

Nancy made a wry smile then: this was far from being the first time that the Catholic Church smeared her name in the last few months.

‘’Yes, I met Yeshua of Nazareth. In fact, I helped her mother Miriam to give birth to him. If you want to know more about the true life of Yeshua, then I would counsel you to go see the documentary film on his life produced by the Time Patrol. It is presently playing in at least two theaters in Jerusalem. There are also printed editions of the same documentary on sale in bookstores in Jerusalem.’’

The fact that the two Italian women probably would not have the money to buy the book on Yeshua then it her as soon as she had spoken. Getting up from her chair, she called for the waiter to bring her bill and looked at the old woman, making her get up.

‘’I tell you what, madam. I will guide you to a bookstore I know nearby and will get you a copy of the book on Yeshua. Just give me time to put back little Eli in his carrier.’’

Putting back the baby supplies in her slung pouch, then lifting Eli from his chair and sliding him down in her chest carrier, his back to her, she paid her bill and left the restaurant with the two Italian women. They walked together for less than 400 meters, with Nancy keeping her pace short and slow in consideration for the old woman, before arriving at a combination bookstore and souvenir shop near the limits of the Jewish Quarter. The Italian women were surprised to see that the shop was still opened at this hour.

‘’This shop stays open until nine in the evening and is also opened on Sundays? But that’s improper!’’

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‘’It caters mainly to tourists who come from afar to visit Jerusalem and Palestine, miss. As for being opened on Sundays, the Jews and Muslims celebrate their days of rest on Fridays and Saturdays, respectively, not on Sundays. Please come inside with me.’’

Like most stores and restaurants inside the walls of the Old Jerusalem, the shop was small and cramped inside, something aggravated by the large number of customers browsing through the rows of shelves. Nancy soon stopped in front of a shelf that seemed very popular with passing customers and showed to the Italian women stacks of large books with covers illustrated with high quality color holographic images.

‘’These are printed editions of the various historical documentaries produced to date by the Time Patrol. They have been available for sale to the general public for less than two weeks now. Apart from the documentary made on the life of Jesus, the Time Patrol has produced to date three documentaries on the origins of man, plus one documentary on the history of Jerusalem and of the Holy Land. All of them are available in a number of languages.’’

Nancy then took two copies of one of the large but relatively thin books and gave them to the two Italian women, who eyed with awe the holographic picture of Yeshua on its front cover.

‘’This is Jesus, as he really appeared. Those copies you are holding are of the version made with trilingual captions in French, Spanish and Italian. There are as well other versions, one an English-German-Russian and the other an Arabic-Hebrew-Farsi version. Please accept those books as gifts from me.’’

As the Italian women were profusely thanking her, Nancy had a second thought and gave them as well copies of the documentary on the history of Jerusalem and of the Holy Land.

‘’Since you came on a pilgrimage, you might as well learn about the ancient history of this land, back to the time of Abraham. In this book, you will see my spirit as it lived within the body of Sarai of Ur, wife of the great patriarch. Again, consider these as a gift. Now, let’s go to the cashier before we get trampled by the other customers.’’ They actually had to squeeze past a line of shoppers to get to the cashier, where Nancy paid for the four books, which were fairly expensive in view of the abundance of high quality photos and holograms in them. After wishing the two Italian women a good trip back home and letting them out of the store to show them the way out of the Old Jerusalem, Nancy went back inside to speak to the owner of the commerce, a Polish

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Jew who had emigrated to Palestine after the liberation of Europe by the Time Patrol in 1942 ‘B’.

‘’So, Samuel, how are the sales of the Time Patrol documentary books doing?’’ Samuel Dubinsky grinned at her question and rubbed his hands together.

‘’They are flying out of the shelves like hot cakes, Nancy. My clerk has to refill the shelves at least once a day, particularly for the books on Yeshua and on the history of the Holy Land. They are by far my best selling items.’’

‘’And the books about the origins of man?’’

‘’They sell well also, but not as much as the two previous ones. However, I noticed that American tourists in particular often buy numerous copies of the same books, especially those about the origins of man. I bet that they intend to give or sell those extra copies once back home.’’

‘’Hum! With the ban on Time Patrol documentaries in the United States, I am not surprised by that. Hopefully, those clandestinely distributed copies will help open a few minds in the United States. The official attitude there is frankly discouraging.’’

‘’I have a cousin who emigrated to the States. Maybe I should write to him to ask him about the true public opinion on those documentaries.’’

‘’I would actually love to hear from him about that, Samuel. Please visit me if you hear from your cousin on that subject.’’

‘’I certainly will, Nancy.’’

‘’Well, I better let you take care of your business now: I see a horde of German tourists about to invade your shop.’’

‘’That kind of invasion I can handle, Nancy.’’ replied Samuel, smiling. ‘’May I kiss your little Eli before you go?’’

‘’Of course, my friend!’’

Samuel then delicately planted a kiss on the head of the baby boy, then waved a hand at him.

‘’Bye bye, little Eli.’’

The baby’s response was to giggle while grabbing one end of Samuel’s moustache and playing with it, to the man’s amusement. Nancy then left the store after a last handshake with Samuel and continued her promenade around the Old City.

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13:01 (Jerusalem Time)

Thursday, July 22, 1943 ‘B’

Justice court, government administrative tower

Jerusalem, Holy Land of Palestine

‘’All rise for the Overseer of the Holy Land!’’

At the call of the court clerk, the mixed crowd of spectators, reporters, witnesses and relatives of accused or victims got up from their seats as Nancy walked into the large hall. She went to sit on the elevated throne at one end of the hall before speaking up.

‘’Please be seated! The court clerk will now call in the first case.’’ The judicial clerk grabbed a sheet of paper and read from it in a solemn tone.

‘’This court will now hear the appeal of the case of incest and theft against Aisha Haram.’’

Nancy took one of the files put on the small table besides her throne and read quickly through it as the clerk resumed the substance of the case. A teenager had been accused by her parents of pushing her uncle, who was employing her as a maid, into an incestuous affair. She had also been accused of stealing from her uncle. The girl had been found guilty by a lower court before Nancy’s arrival in Palestine and condemned to five years in jail, but was now appealing her sentence. Her quick reading of the case file raised at once a number of suspicions in Nancy’s mind: for one thing, the case had been purely circumstantial, with the teenager condemned solely on the strength of the words of her uncle and parents, and this despite her vehement protests that her uncle had been the one abusing her. Another point was the fact that the parents had loaned their daughter as a maid in order to repay a debt due to the uncle. This smelled of slave labor and abuse at the expense of the poor teenager, but past standards of justice in the region had been heavily biased in favor of the word of men versus that of women. She however had the means to find the truth quickly. She spoke up in her microphone as the teenage girl was brought forward by a policewoman.

‘’I will remind all that my judgment will be final and will not be subject to further appeals. I will also reserve the right to use my powers of telepathy and of time travel if necessary to find the truth in the cases presented before me. If, however, I am forced to use those powers to find the truth, then the guilty ones will be punished more severely. Those who wish to avoid such stricter sentences are thus encouraged to confess at once and then ask for the court’s leniency. In the case of a confession, I will still make a

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telepathic mind introspection, in order to ensure that an accused is not being intimidated into such a confession. Aisha Haram, do you still want to appeal your past conviction for incest and theft?’’

‘’Yes, I do, Overseer.’’ said timidly the girl. Nancy then looked at the two men and one woman dressed in Arab garb waiting in the witness dock.

‘’Yusuf and Mariam Haram, Hassan Eid Dinn, do you still hold to your accusations against Aisha Haram?’’

Nancy, along with many of the spectators, saw the parents and uncle of the girl hesitate before answering, with the uncle finally speaking up.

‘’We still do, Overseer.’’

‘’Very well! Aisha Haram, step forward.’’

More than a bit intimidated, the teenager advanced a few steps, stopping finally two paces in front of Nancy. The latter then got up from her throne and stepped down from the dais, to face the girl from up close. She put one hand on the girl’s forehead and closed her eyes, concentrating. She stayed like that for a good two minutes, while the parents and uncle of the girl sweated profusely as they waited nervously for the result of her mental introspection. Nancy’s face was severe when she stepped back from the teenager and looked at the uncle.

‘’Do you still hold to your side of the story, Hassan Eid Dinn?’’

‘’I…I do, Overseer.’’

Nancy then looked at the father.

‘’And you, Yusuf Haram?’’

‘’I still hold my daughter to be a whore and a thief, Overseer.’’

‘’And you, Mariam Haram? Do you still hold your daughter to be guilty?’’ The woman in her forties was about to answer, fear evident on her face, when she hesitated and swallowed hard. She then fell apart and lowered her head.

‘’No, Overseer. My daughter is innocent: we accused her to cover the dishonor brought to her by my brother and to be able to erase our financial debt to him.’’

‘’Will you shut up, you foolish woman?’’ raged her husband, as gasps went around the crowd of spectators. Two policemen present started taking out their riot batons as Nancy shouted at the father.

‘’NOT A WORD MORE, YUSUF HARAM! What I saw in your daughter’s mind exonerates her fully of the charges against her. You are the one who lied to protect your

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brother-in-law, who abused and raped your own daughter. You are thus as guilty as Hassan Eid din and will suffer a similar punishment.’’

As exclamations and comments went around the crowd, and with policemen stepping forward to grab and handcuff both the father and the uncle, Nancy returned to her throne and sat back before speaking again in a firm voice.

‘’Hassan Eid Dinn, I find you guilty of perjury, rape and abuse of a minor, and condemn you to ten years in jail. Yusuf Haram, I find you guilty of perjury and complicity in the rape and abuse of a minor, who was your own daughter no less, and thus condemn you as well to ten years in jail. Mariam Haram, your late confession and the fact that your husband probably pushed you into this will save you from the same sentence as your husband. Instead, you are condemned to one year in jail for perjury and for unjustly causing the imprisonment of your own daughter. May you reflect on your morality while you serve your sentence. Aisha Haram, I declare you innocent of the charges on which you were unjustly jailed for a year. Those charges will be erased from your file and you will receive a monetary compensation of 10,000 pounds from the state for the time you spent in jail. Furthermore, as you are now eighteen years old, you are now considered an adult and will be free of any family bond from now on. You will live as my guest for the next three months, so that you may have time to rebuild your life and find a job. I have thus spoken!’’

As the parents and uncle were led out of the courtroom by policemen, Nancy looked gently at Aisha Haram, who was now crying profusely.

‘’I will come speak to you later in private, after I am finished with today’s cases, young Aisha. We will then speak about your future. My aide will now lead you to a suite which will be yours for the next three months.’’

‘’Thank you, Overseer. Thank you so much.’’ could barely say the girl, still crying. One of Nancy’s secretaries then stepped to near her and led her out through a back door.

The crowd of spectators was now quite subdued when the second and last case of the day was called up. This time, it was a straightforward case of murder, with a young woman having been murdered by her parents in a classic case of so-called honor killing, after trying to marry a man the family had not approved. While the parents and dead woman were Muslims from a nomadic Bedouin tribe, the accuser, who had been the prospective groom and lover, was a young Jewish man living in one of the new

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European refugee settlements in the Negev Desert. In a sense, the case was open-and-shut for Nancy, as the parents of the murdered young woman had not even denied killing her, pleading instead that Islamic law and traditions gave them the right to kill her daughter for bringing dishonor to her family. Nancy listened first to the story given by the distraught ex-groom, then to the family of the murdered girl. Her blood was close to boiling as the father and brother of the victim ranted on about their right to cleanse the dishonor brought by the dead young woman. She finally slammed her fist on the right armrest of her throne.

‘’ENOUGH! You keep talking of that poor woman as if she was nothing but a piece of furniture to be disposed of according to your will. Well, let me remind you of a few facts pertaining to the current laws of the Holy Land. First, all the persons in the Holy Land have equal rights and privileges, irrespective of their age, sex, race or religion. Second, no person can be owned or be considered to be owned by other persons, even a child in relation to his or her parents. Parents have the responsibility to care for and raise their children, but that does not give them the right to kill them, for any reason whatsoever. Third, marriage is a fully-agreed union between two consenting adults, not some kind of business deal where the child is given away according only to the will of his parents. Fourth, there can be no honor in murdering someone else. Even in the Koran that you keep mentioning, there is no written justification for an act as vile as killing your own child or sibling…’’

‘’SO, WE WOULD HAVE HAD TO LET MY SISTER MARRY A JEW!’’ shouted the brother of the deceased, interrupting Nancy. ‘’AND WHAT WOULD YOU KNOW ABOUT THE KORAN, YOU INFIDEL!’’

Many in the spectators gasped as Nancy shot up to her feet, her eyes glaring at the young Bedouin man.

‘’SO, NOT CONTENT WITH BRAGGING ABOUT BEING A MURDERER, YOU ALSO DISPUTE MY AUTHORITY AS OVERSEER? YOU ARE TRULY AS STUPID AS YOU ARE WITHOUT SHAME OR HONOR. THERE IS ONLY ONE PENALTY IN THIS LAND FOR PREMEDITATED MURDER: DEATH!’’

Pointing her right hand at the father and brother of the dead girl, Nancy threw in quick succession two plasma fireballs which incinerated the two Bedouins with the loud cracks of thunder. As the horrified mother looked at the ashes that were all that was left of her husband and son, Nancy stared hard at her.

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‘’Leyla Mohsen, I should also put you to death for what you did, but you still have two young children in your care. I will thus let you live, so that you can care for them, and not because I approve of your conduct. May you raise your remaining children with more true maternal love in the future. Now, go!’’

The few reporters present in the crowd wrote notes frantically as the distraught Bedouin woman was escorted out by two policewomen. Nancy, still calming down, looked severely around the crowd facing her.

‘’Let it be known from now on that arranged marriages made without the free and express approval of both the bride and groom will be considered null in the Holy Land. Those who may not agree with that rule are free to leave the Holy Land and never return.’’

As Nancy declared the court session closed and then left, a visiting British reporter wiggled his hand while glancing at a nearby Jewish colleague.

‘’Wow! Justice is rather swift here in the Holy Land.’’

‘’Yes, but it is also more just, with no fancy technical arguments by lawyers to cloud the facts concerning capital crimes. I believe that the English kings and queens of the past had the same kind of powers of high justice, no?’’

‘’Like the other past monarchs of Europe, yes.’’ agreed the British reporter. ‘’All turned on how just or fair the monarch in question was in his judgment.’’

‘’And how would you rate the fairness of our Overseer, then?’’ asked the Jewish reporter, bringing a forced smile on the British’s face.

‘’Should I really tell my mind on this, here?’’

‘’Here, only the truth will do.’’ replied the Jewish reporter, very serious.

04:11 (Jerusalem Time)

Monday, October 18, 1943 ‘B’

Infirmary of the Government Administrative Tower Jerusalem, Holy Land of Palestine

‘’God! Why do all births have to happen at impossible hours?’’ said a nervous and tired Mike Crawford ‘B’ while sipping on yet another cup of coffee. Ingrid Weiss ‘B’, also sipping a coffee in the small waiting lounge of the tower’s infirmary, made a weak smile to him.

‘’Maybe it is the way for women to get revenge at having to endure childbirth.’’

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Mike chuckled at that. Both he and Ingrid had been anxiously waiting for hours while Nancy went into contractions, watched by an obstetrician and a nurse. The worst part was that Nancy had ordered her obstetrician from the start of her pregnancy to not tell to herself, Mike or Ingrid what to expect. Mike thus didn’t know if a boy or a girl was coming, or even if only one baby was expected, and was by now a nervous wreck. The door of the waiting lounge suddenly opened and Nancy’s obstetrician entered, still wearing surgical garb now stained with some blood and amniotic fluid. The doctor gave a big smile to Mike, who had risen to his feet, like Ingrid.

‘’Congratulations, Mister Crawford: you are now the proud father of a boy…and a girl.’’

‘’YAHOO!’’ shouted Ingrid, overjoyed, while Mike’s heart missed a beat.

‘’Nancy had twins?’’

‘’Healthy ones, in fact.’’ answered the obstetrician. ‘’Your wife is also alright and gave birth naturally, without the need for a cesarean section. She is tired but able to see you and your adopted daughter now, with her two new babies. If you may follow me, please.’’

Mike and Ingrid didn’t waste time in following the doctor to a small private room where Nancy lay in a semi-reclined bed, two small babies in her arms and a tired smile on her face. Mike kissed first his wife, then admired the two newborns in her arms.

‘’They are beautiful. Thank you for such marvelous gifts, Nancy.’’

‘’They are indeed lovely, Mike. I may be dead tired, but this is about the most beautiful day of my life. It seems that both of the names we had chosen in advance will be used, after all.’’

‘’You are right about that, Nancy.’’ said Mike before caressing the heads of the sleeping newborns. ‘’Welcome to the World, Patrick and Suzanne. Little Eli will be pleased to have someone to play with.’’