Scarlet Robe Creations

  They bypassed her.   The hood of her twenty-year-old Dodge was raised in the air, advertising her unfortunate situation.   Maybe the steam wasn’t noticeable.   The four ways were flashing, competing with the bright sun of the new morning.   A car approached from the direction she had come.   The passenger glanced, a woman, blond, maybe in her early forties, or late thirties.   It appeared as if she looked right through the broken-down vehicle at the side of the road, not taking notice of the elderly woman wearing a light blue dress and a white sweater.   They were on their way to church.   They were late. She watched the shiny dark blue sedan turn into the parking lot of Saint Stephen’s a short distance up the road.   It wasn’t a cold morning for early September, still she wrapped her frail arms around her body to keep warm.   The state road was rather quiet, not containing any of the dangers of a high-speed highway.   Mild...

I was traveling a road some of my associates had warned me about.  But I had business to attend and felt the risk was not too great.  They told me the road was filled with thieves, that vagabonds ambushed the unwary travelers daily, especially those who traveled alone.  I did not consider myself careless as I set out over the rocky roads toward Jericho. They approached me from behind, three of them, muscular and unruly.  The hungry and destitute of the land.  Some commit crimes to survive, others because of their hatred for fellow men.  I offered the little gold I had, a handful of coins with Caesar's image.  They struck me anyway, wanting my money, the cloth I wore and my blood.  When they left me by the roadside I thought death was near.  I faded into a world of darkness.  I asked God to be compassionate toward me, to keep the animals from gnawing on my bones.  Through a mouth tasting my own blood I prayed for deliverance. I h...