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Chapter 1: The Angry Leper
Matthat still had his eyes closed. The sounds of the morning’s activities were beginning to intrude on his sleep, and he was just beginning to wake up. He was vaguely aware of two young girls passing by his window, talking to each other, water sloshing in their jars as they carried them home. The birds were up. He could hear wings flapping as they came and went from the roof, searching for food. As he became more awake, softer sounds, farther away, began to register. A dog barked. Doors opened. Cooking fires crackled. Next door, Jude groaned sleepily as his wife urged him to get up.
“Thank you, God, that I don’t have a wife to nag me,” Matthat said to himself. He always prayed this way. If you asked God to describe Matthat’s prayers, God would tell you, “Even when he thanks me, he manages to get in a good complaint.”
Matthat opened his eyes now, and looked at the dim, early light coming in through the window. It was too early to tell yet if this day would be sunny or overcast, but it wasn’t too early to get up. He would need to be in the barley field soon. He sat up on his mat and rubbed his eyes. Then, without even changing position in his small one-room home, he reached into his bag hanging on the wall and pulled out a barley loaf. He pulled off pieces and ate them, chewing slowly, and occasionally taking a sip from his…