to the bench under the tree, I began to write.
After writing about half of the letter, I looked up and saw mother with my two sisters standing at the gate. I almost fell off of the bench. “What a surprise! I was just writing a letter to you. I was going to send it down to you with Jacob or Joel.”
“Well now you can just tell me your news. On second thought you don’t have to tell me. I can guess what you were writing. You were telling me that our party will include a wedding. Right?”
“How did you know?”
“It was obvious. I just looked at the two of you, and I thought that you could not say good-bye again. So, here we are. We brought along some extra things for the wedding. We will have a day before the others arrive. Now I want to meet Sharmila’s mother.”
I took mother and the girls into the house. Sharmila couldn’t believe her eyes. She ran to mother for a big hug. Mother said, “I want to meet your mother, and I see by your happy tears that you have been talking about something important.”
Sharmila turned to her mother and said, “Mother this is Keziah, Naam’s mother.”
“And you are Pidray. I am happy to meet you.”
I said, “I was writing my letter, and I looked up; there they were. My mother had guessed that there would be a wedding and decided to come early. Perhaps she senses these things because her father was a prophet.”
“No,” said Pidray. “We just know our children. She did not need to guess.”
After all of this my sisters, Elissa and Ruth, already had introduced themselves to Huraya, and the three of them ran outside to plan their activities.
“We will get them to help us after we know what we need to do,” said mother. “However, it is getting late, and we won’t get much done today. But we have tomorrow, and the rest of the women and children will be here the next morning. I don’t expect the men until later. Sharmila and Naam, you had better take a walk and catch your breath. I will help Pidray with supper, which she started before the two of you interrupted her preparations.”
Sharmila and I went out side and walked over to Tamar’s. We sat on one of the terrace walls in the garden. We were both praising our mothers’ intuitions and their willingness to help. I said, “We thought this was going to be a big problem, but everything just fell into place.”
“Our mothers are sensitive and in touch. We should have known that they would help us. I am happy, and soon we will really be together.”
As I kissed her I said, “I can’t wait for that moment.”
“I think we can wait, but perhaps not, if you keep kissing me like that, and it is getting dark. We should invite Joel and Jacob for supper and walk back.”
When we got back to the house our supper was ready. In fact the girls were already eating, and mother and Pidray were getting to know each other and having a friendly conversation. We sat down at the table, and the girls began to tease us. But as soon as Jacob and Joel came in their attention was turned to them. Mother and Pidray made some remark about getting some food ready for the “love birds.”
The next day everyone had a job, but we also had a lot of fun. We cleaned both houses and both yards. Joel helped us with the work, but Jacob had to go to Jerusalem, and he was instructed to tell Sarah and Tamar about the wedding. In the afternoon we all helped mother and Pidray with a lot of baking and cooking. Joel and I gathered wood, carried water, and brought onions and herbs from Tamar’s garden. By evening we were all tired. I did not sleep much because I was too excited, and I wanted to write something for Sharmila.
In the morning the women from the academy arrived early. This was the first day of the party. Sarah, Tamar, Deborah, and Naomi came with the children, and everyone carried some of the supplies. They wanted to get things ready, and Sarah said, “The men will be here later; they claimed that they had work to finish. We left some heavier things for them to bring. Jonathan said he would bring a donkey to carry the wine.”
“That sounds like a good idea,” mother said.
Everyone was introduced to Pidray and Huraya. The new arrivals were ready for a rest before they started their preparations. Sarah said, “We were told yesterday that there was going to be a wedding. Is that the case?”
“That is right,” said mother. “I came a day early, because I just thought that this might happen.”
“Keziah has always been correct about such things,” said Naomi. “She knew that Magon and I would marry, and she also knew that Tamar and Khety had wedding plans.”
Rachel and Samuel came immediately to Sharmila and me, and Rachel said to Sharmila, “I am jealous. I thought Samuel and I would have our wedding first, but we will have to wait until Samuel’s folks can come to Jerusalem.”
“My folks will be leaving in two days for Beth-shan. We had to do this now,” said Sharmila.
“I suppose so, but I thought that Naam must have pressured you for a quick marriage.”
“No. It may have been the other way around.”
Then I said with ironic denial, “I hate to interrupt your conversation, but we did not pressure each other. Yes, we were under pressure, but it was as if we had a fever. It may have been those mosquitoes at Beth-shan or some love-bug.”
Rachel said with Samuel smiling, “I don’t believe a word of that, but we are happy for you.”
Rachel and Sharmila hugged, and Samuel said to me, “Those two are going to have a good time in the years to come.”
8
It looks like this is going to be a long book. I did not plan to give so many details leading up to our marriage, but the story has a way of taking over.
So, the party was fun for all of us. The men arrived in time for lunch, which I am sure was no coincidence. Jacob and his friend Joseph were with them. Jacob and Joseph had decided to go to Beth-shan to work for Abdi-anati. All the men were eager to sit down at the long table that we had constructed under the tree. I don’t think the children ever sat down for lunch, but they had been snatching a bite here and there as the food was being put on the table. But the adults all sat down and enjoyed the great picnic. We had bread, several kinds of cheese, honey, cold lamb, yogurt, sliced cucumbers from Tamar’s garden, raisin cakes, and wine. Before we began to eat, Khety stood up and said, “As you know, I am from Egypt, and today we have guests from Beth-shan. The Egyptians ruled Beth-shan for many years, and people of Beth-shan acquired some Egyptian tastes. Hence the people from Egypt and Beth-shan love their beer. So for this great occasion I have made some beer, and I hope you all enjoy it.”
Everyone gave Khety a cheer, and Pidray announced that for our evening meal we would have her lamb stew along with Khety’s beer and after dinner some melon from Beth-shan. Everyone had plenty to eat; some of the folks looked sleepy, but the conversation was too rich and kept the sleepy ones from nodding.
At one point father said, “King Saul’s capital was at Gibeah, which is only a short walk north of where we are sitting. I suppose that these two estates furnished a lot of food for Saul’s table in the past.”
“But it was probably not
