He was an embarrassment; he had been ever since he went blind. He would sit there on that mat, tin cup in hand, begging for alms. "Gifts for the poor! Gifts for the poor!" he would cry out in his darkness. And people would step around him, though some would dare to place a coin in his coffer. "Thank you, kind sir! May the Lord bless you for your generosity!" And then his litany would resume again: "Gifts for the poor! Gifts for the poor!"

It hadn't always been this way. The son of Timaeus was born a healthy baby boy. He played with the other children in Jericho, he even attended school. But then something happened; Bartimaeus lost his sight, and became persona non gratis in his hometown. His family put him out on the street, the synagogue deemed him a sinner, and his friends abandoned him…