Mere Happenstance

Mere Happenstance

Gloria loved to browse for antiques. She spotted a street vendor’s cart, piled high with old items. She was compelled to stop by some irresistible force.

“This never happened before,” she muttered as she began to look through the items. Eventually, she came across two stone vessels. They had rag stoppers and looked ancient. Unable to resist, she pulled out each stopper and smelt them.

“Frankincense? Myrrh?” she said in a whisper. Without another thought, she purchased them.

She carried them home in her tapestry bag and set them on her bookcase between a woven palm cross and a figurine of Jesus dragging his cross. She was weary and went straight to bed. Her dreams were both awesome and awful.

She was present all through Jesus’ trials. Gloria wept as they took him down off the cross and took him to his gravesite. She watched as the women prepared him for his burial, the smell of the traditional spices used strong in her nose.

Gloria saw that the containers that held the spices looked like those that she had purchased from the pushcart. The smells were so strong, they woke her. Throwing on a robe, she ran downstairs to check the mantle.

Picking them up, she felt how heavy they’d grown. Removing the stoppers, she looked inside each one. They were full to the brim. She resolved to do something with the contents of both.

The next morning, she went to a hospice and volunteered. She would visit those in the direst condition with her large handbag. Mixing the spices from the vessels in her hands, she applied them to the feet of each person.

Miraculously, it seemed to ease their passage. Even more unbelievably, the vessels never emptied. She continued her merciful ministrations for a long time.