Trotting toward the well, Anna spotted the silhouette of a lone, dark figure. The person was rocking back and forth, eyes glued to the sky.

“Zahra?”

“Oh!” the old woman cried, losing her balance and tumbling against the stones. Her breath came ragged and quick. Her pale gray eyes were wide with fear.

“What is wrong?” Anna asked, helping her up.

“Daughter, you must go from here. I am done.” She tore open the top of her robe and lifted a chain that hung around her neck. A solid copper medallion slipped along its links. Zahra turned to Anna and threw the chain over her head. She quickly tucked the medallion under Anna’s robe and pressed her hands along the girl’s shoulders. “Tell no one,” she urged. “Tell no one you have this.”

“What is it?” Anna asked, lifting the medallion.

“No! Keep it hidden!” Zahra hissed.

“But what is it?”

Zahra grew angry. “Go away! You must not be here! Go away and do not look back!”

Anna reached for the old woman, but Zahra slapped away her hand. “Leave me! Leave now!”

Anna cradled her hand. It stung from the old woman’s slap. Not wanting Zahra to see her tears, she turned and fled into the night.

After an hour of searching for her father, Anna prepared to give up. It had been a long day and she was tired. On her way home, she passed by a dwelling on the outskirts of the village. She heard men grumbling inside. Curious if her father might be among them, she hopped on a rock alongside the dwelling and peered through a crack in its wall. Through the narrow gap she saw her father, her grandfather, her neighbors Daniel and Ishmael, and many other men seated around a fire.

“She has great power over our women!” Anna heard her grandfather say. He was angry and the spit from his lips hissed in the flames.

“She is a keeper of the old ways and speaks against the Lord!” another man shouted.

The men mumbled among themselves.

Ishmael rose to his feet. “What say you, Yoseph?” he asked.

Yoseph wiped tears from his cheeks.

Anna gasped. She had never seen her father cry.

“I have asked … why me?” Yoseph said with difficulty, his voice weak with grief. “I am a good man. I have remained clean. I have kept myself in the eyes of God.”

The men nodded.

“Why then have I been left childless? Without the honor of a son?”

Anna started at his words. Baffled.

Father! You are not childless. You have me! she wanted to yell. But something inside her told her to keep silent.

Yoseph continued to speak. “Tonight, my brothers, during prayers, I was given the answer. God, in His infinite mercy, has shown me the error of my ways. Through His grace, I now understand why He is angry and has punished me.”