As I read through the Bible, I sometimes wonder about background details or different sides to the stories included. What was it really like? What would a minor character have said or done? What if...? I hope you enjoy.
Eutychus tugged his buddy's elbow as they climbed the last flight of steps. "Who is this guy, again?" Claustus and Mykon had heard that everyone was gathering to hear some foreigner speak, so after a big dinner and plenty of wine at their favorite hang-out, the trio decided to join the crowd - if it was still going on.
"His name is Paul. He's uh - I dunno - came up here from Judah or - " Claustus answered.
Mykon chimed in from behind Eutychus. "I heard it was Rome."
"Really?" Claustus turned to look down at his friends. "Whatever. Let's just see what this 'good news' is that he's talking about."
Voices carried out into the third floor hallway. They weren't too late. The door had been left open as people wedged in. The Grecian summer left the room stifling, so someone was trying to get air moving between windows and doors.
"By the grace of God, it was a miracle," the man was saying from deep in the room. Claustus squeezed in, pulling Eutychus, who gripped Mykon's wrist and dragged him along. They were pinched between the wall and some men in front of them. Over the shoulders and between the heads of the men in front, they could see a round-faced man sitting on a cushion that had been placed on a table, talking animatedly to those around him. His eyes darted from those seated on the few chairs, to those who'd found room to sit on the floor near him, and his gestures included the ring of onlookers crowded in clumps and rows lining the edges of the room 3-deep.
It was full dark outside, and this guy wasn't showing signs of fatigue. "Will he just talk all night?" Claustus muttered. "We could take bets as to when he'll finish," Eutychus suggested in a whisper. They smiled at the joke, but a man in front of them turned a frown on them, stifling their smiles. "This is really very interesting." Mykon said, "I'd listen all night."
The wine from dinner was beginning to hit them. "I need some air," whispered Claustus and he started edging his way toward the nearest window, the others close behind.
Eutychus soon found himself seated in the corner of the window ledge, with Claustus at the other side. The night wore on. A summer breeze drifted in the pre-dawn and paired with Paul's continued droning monologue to soothe Eutychus. He closed his eyes and relaxed into the wall of the window frame behind him. A tune seemed to float on the breeze and he felt himself sway with the ethereal tune. He was falling...
"Whoa! No-no-no!" Claustus cried out.
Eutychus had a moment of wide-eyed clarity before the ground smacked him hard in the back of his head.
The speech ended as everyone looked toward the window. Those nearby peered out into the darkness, horror at what they saw growing on their faces. In the dim starlight, Eutychus' body could be seen immobile on the ground below. Panic coursed through the crowd and those nearest the door hurried down. A lamp had been lighted in a first floor room, illuminating the ground outside. Claustus and Mykon - unable to access the doorway - watched from above as a trio approached Eutychus. One man bent close to his body, touching, moving an arm. Then he looked up to the 3rd-floor window and shook his head. "Dead." The word sounded foreign on Claustus' lips and a tear rolled down Mykon's cheek. He'd been so interested in the words of this Paul that he hadn't noticed his friend fall three stories.
The sky was lightening to grey in the east as they carried Eutychus' limp form up to the room where Paul had been speaking. There was more room now, as some had taken the disturbance as an opportunity to go home.
Paul was kneeling in prayer in front of the table, so they laid Eutychus out on it. After his prayer, Paul looked up at Mykon's worried face. "There's still life in him," he said without looking at the body. "Morning is coming. Send for some bread and meat. Let us break our fast together." The table with Eutychus' body on it stood behind him, apparently ignored.
Those who had remained looked around at each other. One of them ran out to see to the food. A man placed a hand on Claustus' shoulder. "He's the teacher," he said. Claustus boggled. That explained nothing, but he went along with the crowd in preparing to eat together.
Breakfast seemed to last forever, with Paul carrying the conversation along, his back to the table. He had placed Claustus and Mykon near him so that they could not see their dead friend. Claustus didn't know how to act. He heard a groan at one point and turned, surprised to see some movement from Eutychus' form. He nudged Mykon, but Mykon was caught up in conversation with Paul.
Claustus stared around his friend to look more closely at this man. He hadn't even looked at Eutychus. How had he known? Maybe there really was power in all he'd been saying.
The mood lightened in the room as those with a straight view of the table behind Paul saw the movement and relaxed. When Eutychus was fully conscious, he ate a few bites with them, and they all left. Claustus and Mykon kept their arms around Eutychus as they walked down the street, comforted by his solid presence after the stress of the night.
Reference: This mention of a man named Eutychus falling asleep and out a 3rd-story window during one of Paul's long speeches is shared in the book of Acts, chapter 20:9-12. As usual, I have taken certain liberties. This makes me think of one of my college professors who could always put me to sleep in his evening lecture class!
