Short Story: A Found Treasure Part 1

In Search of Expansion

I was heading to meet my friend Jude today, who swore he’d stumbled upon an amazing opportunity for expansion—one that could change everything.

I was getting excited at the potential opportunity, I had been in the market for quite some time looking for new plots of land to expand my orchards. The demand for figs was going through the roof as the Romans who oversaw my Galilean territory were beginning to recognize the superior quality of Galilean figs. Citizens as far as the western reaches of the empire were searching me out so I could ship them my figs. The demand had outgrown my supply and I needed to find more land fast. But my figs were the best for a reason and I had high standards of soil quality with the right amount of moisture that was the secret to a sweet juicy fig. I had struck out a number of times when inspecting land that was for sale as the fields were not up to my standards.

My friend Jude was a farmer too, he grew wheat on his land. Jude wasn’t seeing the same type of success I was, his wheat was not growing well these past few years due to a disease that spread to his crops. He was also getting crippled with the Roman taxes and he was falling behind on payments as his wheat sales took a hit. But Jude was a good friend and knew I was in the market for new land, and having kept his ears open for any new opportunities, he heard of this sale through one of his relatives. It wasn’t being advertised anywhere yet and we were the first buyers to see it. 

I met up with Jude on the outskirts of town as this plot of land was about a mile walk outside of town. He waved at me as he saw me approaching. 

“I really hope this is finally what you’re looking for Eli,” Jude said.

“I know,” I replied, “I’m starting to get nervous that there aren’t any other good pieces of land in the region up for sale.”

“Worst case scenario, you can always look at some surrounding towns like Magdala or Cana. I know it would be hard to manage other orchards outside of town but it’s a possibility.” Jude replied.

“I know” I agreed, “I had thought of the same thing. But I’m hopeful that Adonai will show me His blessing on this field we’re going to look at.”

“Yes, I hope so too!” The good hearted Jude agreed, not even bringing up his own frustrating situation of his own farmland. I didn’t have the heart to ask him about it as I knew it would just bring him down. 

The rest of our walk, we fell into our usual conversation, catching up on life and our families. Jude and I were not yet married and we had plenty of pressure from our parents to start courting some of the ladies in our area. We laughed it off but knew our time was coming to settle down and get married. 

A Sprawling Orchard

“Here it is,” Jude finally said as we came up to the property. A small house sat in front of the large orchard, smoke rising from its thatched roof and dried herbs hanging from the front, making it appear that people lived there. The orchard stretched behind the house as far as the eye could see, the edge of the orchard a few yards clear of the house’s backyard. There were two men standing at the front of the orchard to the right of the house, waiting for us. 

We walked past the house and up to them as they greeted us.

“Ah, Jude, what a pleasure it is to see you,” the man said.

“You too, Uncle Issac,” Jude responded.

Jude’s uncle Issac introduced us to the other man, “This is Habakkuk, my long time friend. This is his field which I told to you in passing, Jude.”

Jude shook Habakkuk’s hand and then introduced me, “This is Eli, the friend I told you about who’s in the market for a new orchard field, he’s been searching far and wide for a good piece of land.” 

“Wonderful to meet you,” Issac said and Habakkuk nodded his head in agreement. 

“Thank you so much for being willing to show me this field ahead of putting it on the market,” I expressed to both Issac and Habakkuk. 

“Absolutely,” Habakkuk exclaimed, “anything for a friend of family! Are you ready to go see it?” Habakkuk asked me. 

“Yes!” I replied, excited to see if this field was the one I was looking for.

Issac and Habakkuk led us to the back of the house where I could better inspect the trees. This field was already being used as an orchard, growing almonds, but the trees planted could easily be grafted into fig trees. I grew more excited as I could tell this land was well taken care of and had the soil I was looking for. I knelt down to get a better look at the rich, dense, loamy soil. 

“How much experience do you have with orchards?” Habakkuk asked while watching me kneel. 

“More than I ever wanted!” I said, “My whole family line grew figs for as long as we’ve been in this region.”

“I understand,” Habakkuk replied, “My family has owned this orchard for as long as I can remember. But we moved out of town and rented the house on this property but now we really don’t have the capacity to manage it well.” 

“That would make more sense that you’re selling it,” I said, “ because otherwise, I wouldn’t understand. This land is amazing, some of the best soil I’ve seen. And these almond trees are huge!”

“Yes, the tenants are long time family friends and they have done their best to help but it’s too much for them to manage as a favor.”

“What are the tenants going to do once this land sells,” I asked, now standing up to get a better look at the trees.

“The family is actually a widow with her children, I believe she is going to look for a smaller place anyway now that her children are grown. They understand our predicament.” 

“That also makes sense,” I added as my eyes trailed up one of the almond trees, taking in its many branches. It was early spring, so the first of the green leaves on the tree were beginning to sprout.

Jude was also seemingly distracted by the trees as he was looking further into the plot through the trees at something I couldn’t see. I really wanted to hear his thoughts on this plot of land, trusting his advice.

“Would it be okay if Jude and I walked further into the field?” I asked.

“Sure, sure,” Habakkuk said, waving us on. “Issac and I are happy to wait here as you look around.”

An Unexpected Encounter

Jude snapped out of whatever he was trying to look at and followed me deeper into the orchard, far enough out of sight of the two men who I could hear beginning to talk in low voices and laugh. 

As soon as we were far enough out of earshot, I asked, “so what do you think of this field?”

Jude was once again distracted, looking deeper into the plot, his eyes searching for something and didn’t hear me. 

“Jude,” I asked again, “what do you think?”

“What?” Jude asked, refocusing his eyes back on me. 

“What do you think of this land?” I asked again.

Jude ignored the question, snapping his eyes back to the same spot further into the orchard. 

“I think someone else is here in this orchard,” Jude said suddenly.

“That would be odd,” I said, “Issac and Habakkuk didn’t mention anybody else being here.”

“I swear, I keep hearing someone out there and something inside of me is telling me to go look.” 

I didn’t see the point of searching out some supposed stranger in this orchard while I was contemplating an important sale, but I humored Jude as I have not seen him this unsettled in a long time. 

“Sure, we can go check it out if you want,” I said, “I did ask Habakkuk if we could look around anyway but I really just wanted to get your opinion.”

“Just let me just do this first,” Jude said, “I really can’t focus on anything else for some reason.”

Shrugging off Jude’s weird behavior, we ventured further into the line of trees. 

“This is crazy,” Jude said, “But I think I just heard someone call my name.”

Now Jude was starting to sound like he was losing it because I didn’t hear or see anything. But that man has been under a lot of pressure recently so it was understandable. But this was so not the appropriate place to start spiraling. 

Jude didn’t even acknowledge me and walked past me to continue going deeper into the orchard. 

“Jude!” I called out, rushing to follow him as he made quick work towards the direction of what he supposedly saw and heard. 

I lost him in the dense thick of the trees, calling out his name as I started to search out where he could have possibly gone. 

Why was he acting so strange? I couldn’t believe I lost him in this orchard. It was a big plot of land for sure but not so big for him to completely disappear.

After going down a few rows of trees, I glimpsed the edge of his robe on the other side of a particularly old and big tree. 

“Jude!” I called out again, running towards the other side of the tree.

Getting to the other side, I came face to face with a man who was standing there talking to Jude. I was captivated by this man, something about his face drew me in, in a way I couldn’t comprehend. 

“Ah, Eli!” the man said. “I’m so glad you found us. I had such an enlightening conversation with your friend Jude.” 

Jude looked at me, his expression mixed with wonder and disbelief. He seemed entirely lost for words, as though the situation was playing out in front of him but he couldn’t quite piece together what was happening, no matter how hard he tried.

“Who are you?” I asked, so taken aback by him that I didn’t realize my abruptness in speech. 

“There are so many layers to that question, you can’t even imagine,” the man said. “I’m sure Jude can fill you in as we had a great talk, isn’t that right Jude?” The man said.

Jude was still stunned, clearly lost in awe of this man and what they must have talked about. Jude just swallowed and nodded. I had only lost Jude for a few minutes, so I couldn’t imagine what they had talked about that had affected Jude so much.

“Well I do have to get going,” the man said, “it was such a pleasure that I got to see you too Eli,” he said. 

“Goodbye Jude,” he said, addressing my friend, “I will see you soon.”

The man walked away, deeper into the orchard. I had no idea where he could possibly be going.

I Can’t Explain It

I turned back to Jude, the color now slowly returning to his face. 

“What was all that about,” I asked Jude.

“I need to buy this orchard.” Jude blurted out. 

“What?!” I said, “That makes no sense. Remember, we were here because I was interested in buying this plot of land.”

“I know,” Jude said. ‘But I must.” 

“What did that man say to you?” I asked, “Did he try to manipulate you or scam you in some way?” 

“Of course not,” Jude replied back, “I just realized how valuable this field is and I would do anything to buy it.”

“I get that this is good land,” I said, “but with what money could you possibly use to buy this field?”

“I think I’m going to have to sell all my other land and properties to buy this field if the price is what I remember it to be. I think I might have to go beyond that, I may have to sell my other belongings like my clothes and furniture to have enough money to make this sale happen.” 

I didn’t know what to say, I was so baffled about such a sudden turn of events. Jude was my best friend since we were little boys learning the Torah at the synagogue. I wasn’t so offended by this sudden act of competition but more so, his abrupt decision and change of heart after talking to that stranger.

“You know, if you really like this orchard, I’m more than happy to write you into this deal somehow, maybe we can start some joint farmland operations together,” I said, trying to satisfy his request. 

“No,” Jude said, “Just me. I need this field. I can’t really explain it.”

I sighed, hitting my limit for the day. What the heck was happening? 

“Okay,” I said, “let’s go back and talk to Issac and Habakkuk.”

We made our way back to the edge of the orchard where we came in. Jude was completely lost in his own thoughts as I also processed his strange behavior. In all my years of knowing him, I have never seen him act this way and I was concerned.But I also knew him well enough to let him have the space he needed to snap out of this strange mood.

Issac and Habakkuk were happily chatting on the edge of the property where we had originally started. 

Habakkuk looked up and saw us approaching. “How did that go?” He asked. 

“Well things took a surprising turn.” I started saying as I was trying to find a way to cover for my friend’s momentary lapse in judgement. 

“I want to buy this field,” Jude declared. 

Well that didn’t work, I thought. 

Issac’s eyes furrowed. “Jude are you sure that is the best decision?” Implying he knew too well of Jude’s financial state. 

“I need to,” Jude replied, “I’ll do anything to buy it.”

Habakkuk also looked confused and glanced at me to try to judge my reaction to this news. I just shrugged at him as I was just as perplexed about Jude’s newfound zeal for this orchard. Jude conveniently left out his encounter with that stranger.

“Well my young man, I did say I was willing to sell this land to friends, or friends of friends,” Habakkuk said, gesturing to me. “So my offer still stands if Eli is okay letting you move forward with the deal instead of him.”

Jude looked at me with intense desperation in his eyes, pleading with me to give him this deal. I knew I needed to let Jude see this through.

“Of course,” I said, “If Jude really wants to make this land his, he is more than welcome to pursue the sale instead of me.”

Jude let out a sigh of relief as if it were the best news he’s ever heard. What would have made him think I would have done otherwise?

“Amazing!” Jude said. “I need a week or two to settle all of my affairs and come back with the money for this field but I will buy it,” he emphasized. 

Habakkuk just nodded his head as he, along with the rest of us, had become speechless over this whole ordeal. 

Regaining some level of composure, Issac shook mine and Judes hands, “Thank you both for coming out, I told Habakkuk this was the right meeting to sell his field. Little did we know it would go the other way around but it’s all very exciting!”

Habakkuk took a steadying breath and smiled, “yes, very exciting indeed,” he added, “Thank you for coming to the far edges of Nazareth to check out this land!”

Jude and I nodded and then turned toward the road and started our long walk back into town.

TO BE CONTINUED…