Joseph was rather busy at the moment, having just hit his thumb with a hammer after youths scurrying out of the restaurant caused his ladder to wobble. Gabriel decided to let the pain (and the day) take its course, opting to wait until Joseph was asleep. Appearing to a human during a dream might not have the showmanship of a real face-to-face, but Gabriel knew this was the way to go. Joseph was nearly done for the day, at any rate, and would be stopping over to see Mary then.

Joseph stopped by to see Mary. He noticed the unusual look on her face. He raised an eyebrow at her quizzically. Mary turned toward the window, pressing her lips against her fist. "Joseph," she said, "...I... umm... I don’t know how to say this... but we... umm, we need to talk."

Joseph flopped down into the chair. Even in those days, that phrase, "we need to talk", spelled trouble. Joseph put his head in his hands. He looked up at Mary; her back was still to him. This was it. Mary was tired of him, she met somebody new, she needed space, she ran into her old boyfriend Moe at the bazaar— Joseph didn’t expect any of these from Mary, but he had to prepare for anything. He tried, bravely, to sound cheerful. "So what about?" he asked.

"It’s... umm... weird. How else to say it? Joseph--- I saw an angel today." She turned back to face him, eyes wide. She moved over to him, rested her hands on his shoulders. She stared straight into Joseph’s eyes. "I would never do anything to hurt you, you know that. But what if this angel said I would be giving birth to a baby--- me, a virgin!"

Joseph took it as well as any man might be expected to take it. Possibly better. However, he leapt out of the chair, storming around the room, shouting. "Nice try, Mary! Why not just try to tell me you met someone else !? I’ll just leave. We were going to settle down and have a nice life together, but now, well—that’s it!" He rushed out the door and past Mary’s mother, who ran in to console her daughter.

Now Joseph was not a vengeful man, and not a drunkard. While he had a bit more wine than normal that evening, to help soothe his injured ego, he did not get drunk. He prayed to the Lord, asking forgiveness for his rage at Mary and asking him for understanding. Both Joseph and Mary were devout believers; they knew their lives were constantly before the Lord. This was why Joseph felt so betrayed. The Lord was kind to Joseph and gave him a deep, sound sleep. It was at this time that Gabriel took the opportunity to impart the Lord’s news to Joseph.

Joseph was asleep, knew he was asleep, didn’t awaken, but was entirely conscious. Gabriel flew, in his dream, to Joseph. "Greetings, Joseph. I am Gabriel, a messenger sent from the Great I Am to comfort you. By the way, sorry about the thumb this afternoon. I was going to stop by to see you while you were awake, but I have to follow the Great Plan. I see the Plan is, as always, perfectÖ you see in your heart that Mary is telling the truth as you truly, deeply suspect. You know as well that the Lord is here to provide you with the strength to see the mission through."

Joseph was astonished. He shrugged, his dream-self floating through the bustling marketplace of Nazareth, each incident mentioned by Gabriel appearing like a small film loop in the place it had occurred. He looked around incredulously, his gaze finally resting on Mary’s mother’s house. He saw himself burst out the door and into the street. He saw Mary crying into her palms. Mary’s mother had her arms around her. "But how?" asked Joseph.

"Like I told Mary, anything is possible with the Boss! What you need to do is to marry her and raise this child as your own. He should be named Immanuel, ‘God With Us’, and you may call him ‘Jesus’. He’s the Messiah you’ve waited for. We’re counting on you, Joseph." Gabriel smiled and held out his hand. "You have a big mission, friend. With His help, you’ll do fine!"

"But, Gabriel—how am I supposed to raise a King? I’m just a woodworker!"

Gabriel’s image started to speed away. The vivid scenes of Nazareth faded to black. "Follow the Plan, Joseph! Everything you need to do will be made known to you!"

Joseph sat up with a start, beads of sweat crawling down the small of his back. He looked around. It was his simple bed-chamber, lit dimly by the half moon. He laid back down on the bed, but could not sleep for a long time.

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