Desert travel had become almost routine for the three from Babylon. No matter how hot it got during the day, they knew to stay covered up—their skin needed protection from the burning sun. And by midday—almost every day--the pounding heat and thirst would have them thinking they would die before they reached the next watering hole. But wasn’t that how it always felt?
After a while, the trio actually began expecting the feeling of doom between the springs…so when it came, it was no surprise. As Melzar put it, “It was like the sandstorm came, but I had my hood on and was ready.” Then it wasn’t so bad.
The accidents that are the hardest are the ones that come when you aren’t expecting them.
Melzar and the camels hadn’t expected a midnight visitor. He had been out having a little visit with his four-footed friend as he sometimes did after Beorn and Hathach started snoring. Melzar felt safe then to have short visits before crawling back to his place of sleep again. Teddy would never tell on him.
One night, while Melzar was leaning his back against his tan buddy, he noticed the camel started snarling and baring his teeth.
“Why, what’s wrong? Did I say something…to upset you?” Melzar looked where Teddy was glaring.
He froze. What was it?!
Teddy scrambled to his feet and stomped his hooves, rousing the other two camels from their slumber. Melzar, seeing everything come to life, rushed back to his bedroll and pretended to be asleep. The creature Melzar had seen slipped into the bushes.
Teddy and the other two camels were howling—growling—necks rocking back and forth.. The other two camels had not seen the intruder, only Teddy had; they were just acting like two excitable camels stirred from deep sleep!
Beorn and Hathach were awake by this time.
“What on earth…” Beorn rubbed his eyes.
“Melzar, I think it was your Teddy that started all this. Maybe a bad nightmare? Can you get him to go back to sleep? Until you do, I don’t think any of us will.”
“Right away, sir.” Melzar tried to calm him down. “He’s gone Teddy,” he whispered. “Whatever it was, he won’t bother us.”
“Cush.” Melzar got Teddy to sit down again and gave him a big hug. “It’s okay, Teddy. You were protecting me from that thing, weren’t you? You’re the best. Thank you. Now go to sleep. Shhh. Good night, Teddy.”
Whew. Close call. Melzar slipped into his bedding, and, tired, fell fast asleep.
He did not see Hathach had not gone back to sleep but had wanted to speak with him.
He looked at Melzar’s sleeping face and smiled at it. Melzar had become to him like a grandson. “I guess it can wait until morning…” Hathach said, and went back to sleep.
The next morning, Hathach said he wanted to take Melzar falcon-hunting. Melzar was getting rather tired of the doing the same thing day in and day out, so this sounded like a nice change to simply packing up and heading to the next watering hole.
They had seen Saker falcons in Babylon too. Hathach knew a way to catch them by getting their talons tangled in wire; there was no killing; and not a single feather of the bird’s coat was moved out of place during the “hunt”.
“Are you going to tell me what really happened last night?” Hathach asked, as they picked up the bird they had caught; “I told Beorn we were coming out falcon-hunting but did not say when we would be back at camp.”
“Well…” Melzar looked down at the ground, thinking. Hathach would not believe him, for sure.
“You do not have to tell me,” Hathach said, smoothing the feathers of the falcon; “and we can take this bird to camp right now, if you like. No pressure, Melzar.”
Whew, Melzar thought. So the two went back to camp.
And Beorn thought the two men just went falcon-hunting in the morning, leaving Beorn at home. He didn’t suspect anything, about the night before, right? Really?
But Melzar couldn’t tell Hathach he saw a kitty as big as a lion with a worried look…with lips like it wanted to whistle, but eyebrows that went straight up…and had tassles on the tips of its pointy ears! No, no, no; they would lock him up and throw away the key.
But Teddy had seen him too…hadn’t he? Melzar almost wished the animal would come back again another night and show himself.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Almost, not really. But the caracal didn’t know that. The next night, after Hathach and Beorn were fast asleep, Melzar got up and tip toed over to his desert pal.
The same way he’d talked with Beorn that first night—Melzar lay back against Teddy’s side, looking up at the night sky. He loved it when it was so peaceful and quiet like this.
“All those stars line up to form Aries the ram”…Melzar stroked Teddy’s neck…”and that King star. I am so glad you’re here, Teddy,” he said softly, still stroking him, “and will take me all the way to Judea …” But Teddy’s ears didn’t have soft tufts on the ends of them like the ones Melzar was feeling! Slowly, Melzar turned his head.
That moment, he remembered what Beorn had said about a shepherd boy named David who had come face to face with a huge cat too—except for him, it wasn’t a mountain lion; it was a real big lion, mange and all—what did Beorn say? David prayed for Yahweh God to help him, and he ended up killing that lion and protecting his sheep. That story came to Melzar’s mind in a flash.
Melzar didn’t want to kill the mountain lion, but he prayed to this Yahweh God right away. “Help”, he prayed; “please!” And the strangest calm came over him.
“We’re headed out west, Kitty. You wanna come too?” And he found himself stroking it again. The cat didn’t seem to know how to respond at first—he hadn’t been spoken to like that or pet so much before—but to Melzar’s surprise, after a while, it curled up at his feet and started purring. It’s like a kitten, he thought, only much bigger.
The sound woke Teddy—yes, he had been asleep the whole time—and it took Melzar some doing to calm him down. Of course, by this time, everyone was awake, and they had to be told about the caracal.
“He’s my new friend,” Melzar said defensively. I’m calling him Tassie (because of the tassled ears). Tassie squeezed himself against Melzar’s body with a worried look, asking for protection. (Well, Tassie’s “worried” face only looks that way because of the caracal’s darker hairs near the eyes.)
“It’s okay; nothing’s going to happen to you. Everyone’s afraid of you, that’s all. Show them that you don’t mean any harm, and they won’t do anything to you either.”
Although Teddy and Melzar always had that bond between animal and rider, the loyalty Tassie felt towards Melzar grew as well, and she was always looking to see what Melzar needed. Tassie never left Melzar’s side, and after awhile, Melzar himself couldn’t think of traveling without Tassie.
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