John The Forerunner

John the Baptist walked out of the scrub, chafing the palm of his hand on his nose. Five weeks in the wilderness!  What he needed was a bar of locust bean chocolate and a good shower. Then he would slip into a pair of jeans and an old flannel shirt and a little sandalwood aftershave. A grin passed over his austere visage as he thought of the excuse he had given his wife: job rehabilitation.
     'Make your roads straight, you scum bags,' he said to the Judaean settlements which he could just discern in the glare of the midday sun. 'Lay your roads straight and your sewers deep. There's a lot of hogwash gonna be running in the gutters come Friday night!'