The Tower... (pt 1)

1^st day of the hot months

My name is Rebecca. I am twelve years old and I am writing this as an account of my days, so that people who see this can know what I was like and what I did. It was my brother Adam who taught me to read and write. He said that he will not have a brother-in-law who will be inconvenienced by having an illiterate wife. I think he just wanted to show off his skills of writing because I will not be married for a long, long while. And in marriage, you do not need to know writing, only a little reading and math for going to the market.

My father is a very smart man. He loves his family very much, and always tries to do what is best for us, but when he is angry he is rather unpleasant to be around. I will tell you about Mother later, because it is busy in the house now as we are going to leave for a place called Shinar soon and we are packing up.

3^rd day of the hot months

 I am sneaking in a moment before bed to tell you of my mother. She is the loveliest woman I have ever seen. I am no good at describing faces, so I will not try, but I can describe her lovely hair. Her hair is almost calf-length and she wears it in a thick bun every day, and takes it down only at night. O, how I love to watch her take down her hair in the evening! It is one of my favorite things to do!

My baby brother Caleb is a sweet boy, almost two years old. He looks most like my mother, for my other brother and I look like Father, who has brown hair, gray eyes, and is very tall. I now need to blow out the candle, as it grows late.

5^th day of the hot months

 We are settled in Shinar, after a very long day of travel. Our tent is kind of small, with only one room for sleeping and cooking. There is plenty of food around to eat, though, so we are not hungry. My friend Abigail lives in the tent next to us and I like to play with her too. We chase each other around and play games. There are plenty of flowers and we make chains of them to wear, though Adam says that is vain. I do not see anything vain about wearing God’s creation.

7^th day of the hot months

 Mother has forbid me to go outside after dark. She says there are evil people lurking about. Father goes out at night, but I know not what he does. It scares me when he goes out because I think he might not come back, but I know he can take care of himself. I asked Adam what Father did when he went away at night, but he said, “Little girls shouldn’t be so curious,” which means that he will not tell me. I wanted to ask Mother but she gets troubled when I ask her such things. Also she is busy unpacking and talking with the other women. So today I just kept out of the way of unpacking and played with Caleb.

10^th day of the hot months

Today my grandfather told me some stories of Noah and his adventures in the Ark. It does not seem possible for the whole world to be flooded, nor for the whole human race to be annihilated. Of course, God told Noah that it would never happen again (the whole world being flooded, that is) and put a rainbow in the sky. I have seen the rainbow but I did not know the story very well. It is an amazing story!13^th day of the hot months It is not fair! The whole family went to a meeting and I was left behind to watch Caleb! I think the meeting is to talk about where to travel next. Mother said, “It is only a short meeting, Rebecca.”

I wore my most unpleasant expression and coaxed to be able to go, but after a while Father looked at me angrily and said, “That is enough sulking, Rebecca. Stop this instant.” I did not want him to be angry with me, so I put a smile on and waved as they left.

Later

I am so astonished!

Mother and Father came home from the meeting arguing. Adam would not tell me what happened, but again said, “Little girls should not be so curious.” After I went to bed, I could hear them talking by the coals of the fire. “I think it is a wonderful idea. We should be making our mark on the world,” Father said. He sounded angry. Mother said something about it not being pleasing to God and then Father raised his voice. “I do not care! God has been so quiet lately that I am not sure if he is real!” I feel so sad. Father does not love God anymore?

14^th day of the hot months

Now I have learned what the meeting was about. Mother told me sadly that we are going to be making bricks for a tall, tall, tower. She said that one of the men got up at the beginning of the meeting and excitedly shouted, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth!” Everyone at the meeting thought it was a good idea, except I think for Mother. They divided the work evenly, so the men will be building it, which means Father and Adam, and the women will be helping with the bricks. I love the idea of a big, big tower.