suggested.
Hilda slipped the beads over her head, setting them just so on her blouse.
Noah grinned. “You’re a pretty girl, Hilda. The amber suits you.”
Tears welled, for she thought of Gog, that they were to have been married . “I’m sorry,” she said, wiping her eyes.
Noah smiled, patting her hand . For a while, they rocked in silence.
Hilda felt safe here . Despite his fearsome appearance, his legendary strength and force of will, Noah was gentle in a way that only the truly powerful seemed to be.
Later that evening, after supper, as Hilda cleared the dishes and brought out a blueberry pie, her father brooded . Yorba and the others had already excused themselves from the table.
“ Hmm, very good, Hilda,” Noah said.
“ Yes,” her father said, mechanically. Beor shoveled down bite after bite, hardly chewing, just swallowing pie as if it were a chore to get over with.
Noah seemed to inspect her father . Hilda watched the interplay between the two. Noah wasn’t like any man she knew. How could he be? He’d lived for almost seven hundred years! Compared to the rest of them, it practically made him immortal. He had seen so many things, had lived at the height of the Antediluvian Era. Great Grandfather Ham always seemed so knowledgeable, so filled with hidden things and experiences. Noah was much more so, a mystery wrapped in an enigma.
At times , she wondered if Noah could read her mind. He always seemed to know what she was thinking, seemed to understand her moods better than Great Grandmother Rahab ever had. Hilda shivered. How awful if Noah were evil. She tried to imagine a world filled with powerful, long-lived men, with centuries of knowledge to draw upon and strong with youthful vigor. What if Noah should rise up, if his white hair bristled and his blue eyes blazed with wicked wrath? What terrible deeds and malevolent plots could he devise, plans they couldn’t even conceive of because they were so youthful and innocent, not stepped in centuries of experiences and hard-won understanding. The feeling passed, and he seemed to simply be old Noah again, scraping his wooden dish with his fork, pressing the tines onto the pie crumbs.
Her father scowled . He was bigger than Noah, even though Noah was a large man. Her father glanced sidelong as the patriarch scraped his chair around to study the fire. Her father opened his mouth and then closed it.
“ Babel troubles you,” Noah said.
Her father glanced at Noah in wonder.
Hilda hid her grin. She had the feeling that Noah perfectly understood her father.
“ The Tower particularly disturbs you. You wonder at its purpose.”
“ If only half of how they described it is true than the Tower will take years to build,” Beor said. “The question becomes why? Why expend so much effort when there are so many other things to do?”
“ The Tower is intriguing,” Noah said. “It excites interest. Perhaps therein is the reason for its construction.”
Beor considered that . “Clearly they wish to draw others to Babel. At Festival, didn’t Nimrod invite everyone to join them?”
Noah sighed. “Those who rebel against Jehovah always want others to join them. They are never secure unless the world does likewise, unless the world agrees with them. Worse than the Tower, is the angel, the one that claims to control the sun.” Noah stroked his beard. “Man’s great foe moves openly once again, which is strange. I had not thought humanity ready for that. Events move faster than in Antediluvian times. How is it that we have descended so quickly?”
Hilda wasn ’t sure what Noah was talking about.
“ When you speak of man’s great foe,” Beor said. “Do you mean the Serpent?”
“ Long ago, what did he promise Eve?”
“ Eh?” Beor asked.
“ In the Garden of Eden, the devil made Eve a fantastic promise. Your eyes will be opened, and you will be like Jehovah, knowing good and evil . All Eve had to do was eat of the fruit of the tree of
Hilda slipped the beads over her head, setting them just so on her blouse.
Noah grinned. “You’re a pretty girl, Hilda. The amber suits you.”
Tears welled, for she thought of Gog, that they were to have been married . “I’m sorry,” she said, wiping her eyes.
Noah smiled, patting her hand . For a while, they rocked in silence.
Hilda felt safe here . Despite his fearsome appearance, his legendary strength and force of will, Noah was gentle in a way that only the truly powerful seemed to be.
Later that evening, after supper, as Hilda cleared the dishes and brought out a blueberry pie, her father brooded . Yorba and the others had already excused themselves from the table.
“ Hmm, very good, Hilda,” Noah said.
“ Yes,” her father said, mechanically. Beor shoveled down bite after bite, hardly chewing, just swallowing pie as if it were a chore to get over with.
Noah seemed to inspect her father . Hilda watched the interplay between the two. Noah wasn’t like any man she knew. How could he be? He’d lived for almost seven hundred years! Compared to the rest of them, it practically made him immortal. He had seen so many things, had lived at the height of the Antediluvian Era. Great Grandfather Ham always seemed so knowledgeable, so filled with hidden things and experiences. Noah was much more so, a mystery wrapped in an enigma.
At times , she wondered if Noah could read her mind. He always seemed to know what she was thinking, seemed to understand her moods better than Great Grandmother Rahab ever had. Hilda shivered. How awful if Noah were evil. She tried to imagine a world filled with powerful, long-lived men, with centuries of knowledge to draw upon and strong with youthful vigor. What if Noah should rise up, if his white hair bristled and his blue eyes blazed with wicked wrath? What terrible deeds and malevolent plots could he devise, plans they couldn’t even conceive of because they were so youthful and innocent, not stepped in centuries of experiences and hard-won understanding. The feeling passed, and he seemed to simply be old Noah again, scraping his wooden dish with his fork, pressing the tines onto the pie crumbs.
Her father scowled . He was bigger than Noah, even though Noah was a large man. Her father glanced sidelong as the patriarch scraped his chair around to study the fire. Her father opened his mouth and then closed it.
“ Babel troubles you,” Noah said.
Her father glanced at Noah in wonder.
Hilda hid her grin. She had the feeling that Noah perfectly understood her father.
“ The Tower particularly disturbs you. You wonder at its purpose.”
“ If only half of how they described it is true than the Tower will take years to build,” Beor said. “The question becomes why? Why expend so much effort when there are so many other things to do?”
“ The Tower is intriguing,” Noah said. “It excites interest. Perhaps therein is the reason for its construction.”
Beor considered that . “Clearly they wish to draw others to Babel. At Festival, didn’t Nimrod invite everyone to join them?”
Noah sighed. “Those who rebel against Jehovah always want others to join them. They are never secure unless the world does likewise, unless the world agrees with them. Worse than the Tower, is the angel, the one that claims to control the sun.” Noah stroked his beard. “Man’s great foe moves openly once again, which is strange. I had not thought humanity ready for that. Events move faster than in Antediluvian times. How is it that we have descended so quickly?”
Hilda wasn ’t sure what Noah was talking about.
“ When you speak of man’s great foe,” Beor said. “Do you mean the Serpent?”
“ Long ago, what did he promise Eve?”
“ Eh?” Beor asked.
“ In the Garden of Eden, the devil made Eve a fantastic promise. Your eyes will be opened, and you will be like Jehovah, knowing good and evil . All Eve had to do was eat of the fruit of the tree of
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