Jago (Part Two)

I cared as much about Jago as Eve did.  He made us laugh and had such a peculiar way of looking at life in these times, that you had to wonder how the world would get on without him.  The clay jar in my hand was still almost full back then.  It contained the most wonderful, serendipitous concoction, created by a one in a billion chance from a rock that fell from the night sky.  The medicine didn’t evaporate burn or separate and its consistency was similar to mercury.  I took this potion to make me well after being ill for many years and I wasn’t always called Joseph.  After ingesting the potion (or medicine as we fondly called it) I became Joseph – reinventing myself.  My name was D’Ardo before the change and it’s the only name that I haven’t spoken out loud in many years.  It was the name my parents gave to me and the name I left buried underwater with my people.  Eve’s name in the beginning was Helen and she too was from Greece --- like Alexander.  She has remained beautiful and perfectly preserved because of the ‘medicine’.

Jago hovered near death with fever raging and his breathing was more labored as dehydration began to wither his body and his will to live.  Yet he had enough strength to smile when he saw Eve and enough humor to raise his thick black eyebrows to silently suggest ‘hubba-hubba’ when my wife approached him.  We loved him as a parent would love their child and felt compelled to take away his pain and hopelessness.

“Jago,” I drew closer to him and saw that his breathing was very shallow and watched him struggle to inhale, “I have something that would either make you better or kill you in a most painful way.”

He stared up at me blankly through half opened eyes while on the makeshift cot  inside of our tent and let out a low grunt to acknowledge what I said.

“Do you want to take that chance?”  I asked.

He blinked his eyes in acceptance and gave a faint nod to tell me ‘yes’.

I looked up at Eve with hesitation as she gave a slight but undecided gesture of encouragement for me to be brave and save Jago’s life. I recalled what had happened to another young man we tried to save and the trauma of watching helpless as he was consumed in pain while drowning in his own fluids, finally suffocating to death.  I keenly remember the look of terror on his face, making the recollection of his death even more horrifying.

I made my decision.

“Jago”, I said as I lifted his head and shoulders upright, “just take one small sip of this.  I pray this will not harm you, my friend.”

I gently laid Jago’s head back on the cot and he gave a small whimper, followed by a loud gasp that jerked his chest upward. Eve had a look of panic on her face and ran to comfort the man, as he began to writhe and then stiffen where he lay. 

“Jago, I’m sorry!” she cried. “Please forgive me, forgive us.”

“No, it’s alright.” I said with excitement. “This is what happened to you when I gave you the medicine.  Keep watching.”

The young man slowly began to calm and relax back onto the cot after the seizure.  Eve went to wipe his forehead but backed off when something strange began to happen. 

“Joseph, what’s going on” she asked, with her eyes opened wide.

“He’s going to live Eve, that’s what is going on!”  I said with excitement.

A thin film of liquid formed over his skin and steam began to rise from every part of his body.  The smoky substance hovered on Jago and didn’t rise, but settled around him from head to toe.  It also gave off a sweet smell like honey and roses.

“This is what happened to you, my love. You were covered in smoke for about an hour, almost like you were being cooked in a stone oven.  When the substance subsided you awoke very hungry and energized.”

“I don’t remember anything.  I just remember eating and going back to sleep for a long time . . . but I felt very good with no normal aches or pains.” 

After a while, Jago eventually sat up slowly and asked for a drink and said he was starving.  Eve fed him two whole chickens and he drank a skin of wine.  And like Eve when she had taken the potion, he lay down and slept for three more days.

(TO BE CONTINUED . . . .)