“We must move on to our separate duties,” he said.

The afternoon heat grew as the flocks fanned across the landscape. Soon the last traces of cypress and cedars gave way to scrub and cactus. Jesus climbed up a ridge to scan the flocks. He noted how the sheep gathered in tight clusters around patches of dried grass and wilting shrubs. The mouths of the darker animals, including Anna, hung open as they panted in the heat. The men moved slowly, their faces tucked deep inside their keffiyehs to shade their cheeks from the sun. Jesus, however, did not need to see their features to recognize them. He knew every man by his posture and stride.

Over the last two years, some members of their group had changed. Rahim had been crippled with fever and returned to the town of his birth. A month later, Eliah, Rahim’s nephew, had arrived to replace him. For every shepherd who had left, a replacement had arrived. Except for one.

No one had replaced Judas.

Jesus stepped along a ridge, careful to avoid a tawny cobra sunning itself. As he continued, a raven glided overhead. Tossing back his head, Jesus opened his throat and called to the animal. Displeased with the quality of his call, he prepared to cry out again when he spotted a sheep straying toward the cobra. He loaded his sling and fired the stone at the serpent’s head. But the missile missed its mark. And not by a little. Jesus stared in shock.

He reached for a second stone, but when he did, his arm brushed against a new angle, a different shape clinging to his body. He glanced down and found a nub of soft flesh protruding from his chest. He rubbed a hand across his upper body and easily found its twin.

He marveled at the change. And his failure to notice it. But his wonder quickly transformed into fear.

Was his body going to betray him?

Dropping between two boulders, he tore a strip of linen from his keffiyeh and bound the growing buds of his breasts. He then arranged his tunic more loosely about his torso. He waited for the pounding of his heart to slow before emerging from the rocks. Standing tall, he drew a gaze about his person, assuring himself that all appeared as it should. From now on, he realized, he must take great care.

On the edge of the desert, among men, he would not survive discovery.