Setting #3: A rough, lawless settlement in Rome

It had been a long walk through the dusty streets of Rome. Demas found himself tired and hungry. He sat down in the shade of a building and pulled out his bread and wineskin to take some late lunch.

Then it struck him. He had just passed the rubbish pile and a solitary young man, weak and sickly looking, was digging through the smelly rubbish, looking for something to eat.

Demas got up, bread and wineskin in hand, and headed back the way he came. “If the poor young man is still there, he should have my lunch.”

Near the dump, Demas was stopped dead in his tracks by a battered body spread out on the ground. He immediately recognized the body of the boy who needed his lunch. But he had been bashed up and it looked like his head had hit a sharp stone upon falling to the ground.

Alarmed with compassion, Demas knelt down and checked the boy. He was unconscious and limp, but still warm and breathing. He must be attended to before he bleeds to death.

Demas removed his tunic and wrapped the boy’s head as best he could, lifted him to his shoulder and carried him single-handedly to the hospital, leaving his bread and wineskin for someone else to enjoy.