Miriam Searches for Zoe in a Fullery

Miriam, in “The Betrothal,” is looking for Zoe, who’s escaped to Ephesus to avoid being betrothed to her father’s old friend. Perhaps she’s gotten a job in a fullery, a workshop that provides dry cleaning services. The workers, usually slaves, use vats of urine, which, due to its ammonia content, acts as a powerful cleaning agent. They would stomp on the clothes in the vats and beat them with sticks to remove the dirt. Miriam enters one such fullery:

As my eyes adjusted to the gloom, I spotted the vague outline of a hulk coming toward me. He was carrying a sputtering lantern that spat a yellow skin onto the stone floor. Held close, the lantern threw a shadow of his vulturine nose across his face:

“So, what do you want?” His bray split the air and could have echoed across the entire city.

“Good evening, sir. You the owner here?” I tried out my singsong voice, but it didn’t soften his greeting.

“What’s it to you? You want something, spit it out.”

“I want to speak to a woman here.” This time, I kept my voice flat, even cold.

“Can’t.”

“Just for a min—”

“I said no. You heard me. Get lost!”

I fished into my purse for a bronze coin and planted it on my open palm.

It vanished before my eyes.

Is the woman Zoe? And if so, would she return to Alexandria after Miriam tells her that her father’s friend had been found in a sleazy inn, a cleaver in his left temple? Would you? To decide, just click here.