The next day, there was a lot of commotion surrounding the events of the previous day. At least there was amongst the slaves. The Egyptians were agitated and began to question everyone whether they knew this Moses or where he had gone. They searched all living spaces as well as any other buildings in the area. After they searched for half the day, they decided that he had fled and died in the great desert. After lunch, it was back to building the great tomb.
The tomb was not much different from the others that had been built before, but it was much larger. The stone needed to be sent up the river from the quarry many miles away. Once it got to the building area, it was unloaded and prepped for installation. Some of the rougher stones were used on areas that would not be seen when it was completed. The nicer ones were saved for the outside of the great building. These were the stones that Efram and his crew were installing. The main part of the tomb had been completed, and now it was the outside walls that needed finishing. That would still take a while, one maybe two growing seasons. The design of the building was very simple. It started out at the ground as a big square, then as each level went up, the square got smaller until eventually it came to a point at the top. They had already put the last stone on the top and were now filling in the ramp from the top to the bottom. This was a little difficult as the ramp was sloped, but the stones needed to be flat. They had solved this issue by cutting a smaller stone at the angle of the ramp and placing it on top of a square stone. As they moved down the ramp they removed these stones and placed square ones on top. It was very tedious work, and a slow process. At sunset, they had only replaced one stone the whole day. The Egyptians were angered by the slow pace of the slaves. There would be no dinner tonight.
When the tomb was completed, Efram was 15, and very strong because of the work that he did. He never heard from or about Moses since that brief encounter 3 years ago. People had started to say that he was not real and that Efram and his buddies had made it all up. Efram and his friends were the laughing stock of the whole slave camp. Except, there was a young girl named Rachel, who believed Efram and his friends. She was one of the daughters of Baal, who was a carpenter slave. Baal did not like Efram and because he didn’t believe him about Moses. He thought Efram was just trying to get everyone excited about maybe leaving this horrible place. The truth was that Baal thought that being a slave wasn’t that bad. They got free food and shelter, not much, but it was free. They were able to try and grow a few crops to sell during the growing season for a bit of money to buy some provisions. He always told his daughter that the only people who didn’t like being slaves were those that caused trouble and were whipped for it, so of course they wouldn’t like it. Rachel didn’t think the same way her father did. She thought that the slaves were destined for greater happiness and prosperity. She liked Efram and wanted to be his wife, but she was still two years from being eligible for marriage. Besides, her father would never agree for her to marry Efram. She had two years to win her father over and marry Efram.
Efram began working on a new tomb for the king’s son. It was not as grand as the king’s, but Efram was sure that would change once the king died and his son started to rule the land. Sure enough, one year later, the king died and his son changed the design to be even grander than his father’s tomb was. He almost doubled the size and wanted a lion to guard the entrance to his tomb. As work started and the stones brought from the quarry, there were rumors of a man asking for the slaves to be freed. This, of course, caused everyone to get excited and work a little slower. This, in turn, outraged the Egyptians, and made everyone work longer and harder than ever before. Efram was elated and began to think about life away from the slave drivers. What would he do? Would he be a farmer? A shepherd? A carpenter or a mason? All of a sudden, there was a terrible stinging in his back, and he was roused from his daydream. The slave driver that whipped him yelled “Stop your dreaming, you’re never going to be free”.
That night, around the fire, there was much discussion about these rumors. Baal got up and spoke. “These are only rumors. Who would have the nerve to go to the king and ask for our release? If anyone had, he surely would have been killed before seeing the king.” This all made sense. No one was allowed to see the king unless he requested a visit. Then Efram spoke without thinking. “What if was Moses from many years ago?” Everyone laughed and told him to be quiet. The Rachel spoke. “How can we be so sure it isn’t?” Everyone around the fire was dumbfounded. Here was a woman questioning the men. Baal was enraged and went to strike his daughter. Efram got to her first and deflected the blow from her father. Baal was shocked! How could this young man defy tradition and defend this girl from her father. Baal lunged again, but was easily bested by Efram. With that, Baal said to Efram. “If you want to protect her that much, she’s yours. I want nothing more to do with her.” Rachel was elated, but Efram was shocked. He did not want to marry yet. He did not know what to do. The group then dispersed and everyone went home. Except for Efram and Rachel. After a few minutes, Efram decided that they should go to his parent’s house and explain what had happened. When they got there, word had already reached his father as to what had happened. While his dad was outraged, his mother was ecstatic and welcomed her in at once. For tonight, she would sleep with Efram’s sisters, then in the morning, they would find a suitable arrangement. Efram did not sleep that night; He kept going over in his mind the events of the night. All he did was try and protect a woman from a beating, and now she was going to be his wife.
I hope that you like it. I'm going to keep writing it and trying to explore my more creative side. Here's a picture of a painting that I just completed.
I hope that you like it as well.
Thanks for taking the time to read this.
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