The First Christmas.

[NightskyeB4Dawn]

Inside, the kings, Wise Men and Shepherds were all milling around talking to each other and the smell of the stable had altered,
the sheep were all crammed  into the pens and Tibbs remarked that at the very best, the warmth had improved.
Joseph pushed his way through the crowd and placed an arm around Mary's shoulder, his wife was now standing and rocking
the baby in her arms.

Boy In A Dress seemed distracted with something close to the ground and Ninurta spotted a lamb rubbing it's head against the
Man-Girl's shin.

Joseph asked for quiet and waved his arms to request the group to sit down. Murmurs and groans followed as the old men bent
creaking joints and sore muscles. BIAD knelt down and lifted the small animal up during the settling of the audience and ignoring
the lamb's fearful bleating the soft stroking of the hermaphrodite's long-nailed hand calmed it's concerns.
Ninurta watched both scenes from near the door with only the occasional glance at the outside surroundings.

"My..." Joseph began and looked at the leaning Gunslinger for confirmation, "...Missus?..." Ninurta nodded with a confident look
in his eyes - "... my Missus and I would like to thank you all for making the journey here and we give thanks to the Lord for sending
his... " again the glance at the tall man, "...young 'un to save us"

Even though Tibbs stood only two-and-a-half feet tall, the feeling of fury came off him as if he were a giant.
Over the again-misted up spectacles, the dwarf stared at Ninurta and as he waded through the sitting crowd, Ninurta pondered if
punting him into one of the animal stalls would be classed as a congruous angelic objective.

The little man's voice remained low as Joseph went on with his speech and yet every word dripped with anger.
"You taught him this...?" he growled, "...don't you understand that your history will now be corrupted with your boorish and
unschooled slang words?"
Tibbs stood like many of men who had thought themselves superior to Ninurta and it looked as if this Vithian was going to end up
making the same mistake.

Ninurta's steely gaze drifted from the softly ranting Tibbs, up to the joyous Joseph and then panned his gaze over to lost-to-the
-world Boy In A Dress -who had climbed ungainly -and unashamedly, into the sheep pen and was now attempting to reunite
the lamb with its mother.

With a smile that showed content happiness, Ninurta whispered "Yeah, yer' right... I stand corrected" and Tibbs stepped back
in shock at the tall man's response. The Gunman's smile widened as he watched the bare-legged Boy In A Dress place the
pretentious lamb down beside a wary-looking parent.

Tibbs gulped and whether he thought Ninurta was bluffing and in actuality was about to swing him around by his beard, he
remained silent. In a rare occasion, the Vithian was genuinely speechless standing there in the shadow of the GunMan and
if any further reproach had come to Tibbs' mind, we'll never know because what happened next stole the show.
...........................................


Joseph had spoken of the scriptures and of Herod's fear of the arrival of a Messiah, he had thanked the people for their gifts and
assured them that one day, the Lord will reward them for their kindness. Then with a slight pause and a dramatic intake of breath,
Joseph came to the child's naming.

"As you know, the Lord was good enough to send us his Angels and as you can see we have the most formidable of them"
Joseph pointed at Ninurta stood tall and mysterious at the doorway to the outside. The Carpenter went on, "He sent us wisdom..."
the crowd looked at the bewildered Tibbs "... and he sent us someone to deliver the child into this world" added Joseph and peered
over into the shadow of the pens. The carpenter presented a weak smile as he reluctantly pointed towards Boy In Dress with his back
to the Nativity.

Joseph's voice lowered as if confiding in the surrounding group and Ninurta and Tibbs had to lean forward to hear the words.
"The Lord has sent his only son to us and my wife Mary has agreed with me that we shall name him after one of his holy guards"

Tibbs dropped to his knees and moaned in despair, Ninurta turned to hide the sudden surge of laughter that began to wrack his
frame in shudders. BIAD -totally unaware of the proceedings, carefully made his way back to the pen gate.

"...And so it my honour -and with the a whole-hearted agreement from my wife, that we name the child after the Angel that
delivered him unto the world!"
The crowd stood and roared with approval, the baby cried out with the sudden uproar and with several of the sheep panicking at the
loud brouhaha, the usually-bewildered Man-Girl was ungainly shoved towards the stall's gate.

Ninurta -like the sobbing Vithian, was now also on his knees, the braying of laughter was lost in the cacophony of sound and for the
first time in a very long time, tears rolled down the gunman's face. Tibbs moaned louder and shook his head and stared-up at the
dark space in the eaves of the barn. In another country and another time, he'd have rubbed gravel into his hair in penance.

As the congregation cheered their rapture, Boy In A Dress clapped and shouted two 'hurray's' although he really had no idea what the
applause was for.

When the crowd eventually  became quieter and as Mary had moved closer to stand beside Joseph, the proud father called for
BIAD's first name. Of course, the hermaphrodite had lost interest by then and focused on making sure the enclosure's gate was
secure.

The whole stable awaited the name of the next Messiah and the air was electric with excitement. Ninurta still struggled to breathe
through his unusual bout of mirth and the bearded-dwarf was still lost in his woeful vocation of history-changing.

In those few seconds, The unaware Boy In A Dress looked down at his shoes and realised what he had stood in.
There was quite a lot of it and he guessed he'd need a good stick to get most of it off.
...........................................


"Jesus!" the Man-Girl muttered and again, the crowd went wild. The shepherds hooted and clapped, the Wise Men nodded with approval
and the three beaming Kings threw their jewelled crowns in the air in unison and cheered. Joseph kissed Mary's cheek, whilst the swaddled
boy-child squirmed due to the loud noise.

Ninurta was laid on the floor and was gurgling strangely, the diminutive Vithian was wailing and banging his fists onto the straw-strewn
cobbles and the now-fabled Boy In A Dress was trying to scrape his shoe against one of the barn's uprights.
History was underway and scribes of the future would have a lot work to do.

Meanwhile, back in the barn, finally ridding his stiletto of the ordure, BIAD became aware of Tibbs' amulet on the barn's floor.
The usually slow-thinking Man-Girl straightened his dress and headed towards the shiny trinket.

Ignoring the pats on the the back and the attempts to shake his hands, it suddenly dawned on the pummeled hermaphrodite what
he needed to do. Tibbs must have dropped it during the organising of the crowd -BIAD guessed and he snatched it from the dirt
with his red claws.

The Kings hugged BIAD as he passed on his way to the manger and later he was sure it was Melichior who had patted him on the
rear in his passage. The act of the Wise men -all putting there thumbs up in the air to confirm their agreement with the name-decision,
should've really put Tibbs and Ninurta over the edge of sanity -that if they'd torn themselves from their own personal dealings with
the situation of how Jesus really acquired his name.
But they didn't

"I... er, I need the baby to help us" BIAD said to Joseph, the long fringe and the large grin showing nothing but assumed mental disorder.
Joseph's eyes showed his fear and distain in being so close to such a strange-looking creature, but produced a smile to accompany his
nod of approval.

Ninurta's breathing still hitched, but the pain in his chest had subsided, he rose onto his elbows and watched between the nobbly knees
of the Wise Man called Calisto. Tibbs lifted his small glasses, rubbed his tear-filled eyes and mouthed his first-ever prayer for forgiveness.

Boy In A Dress held the dangling amulet over the swaddled baby and the leaned his face close to the child he'd unwittingly christened.
Only Mary heard the words from the odd-looking Angel and kept them to herself for the rest of her life.

"Can you 'un-oops' us lickle Jesus?" BIAD whispered and noticed the movement from under the small blanket.
Creeping out from the baby-smelling warmth of the cover, a small pudgy hand reached for the dangling bauble and as the child's soft
fingers touched the small sphere in its cracked-centre, BIAD managed to utter a "thank you" as the familiar white-blue flash happened
once more.

They were gone... again.

The End and don't forget, have a very Merry Christmas!

I have no words.