“Dad, can I run and get some dates? I’m all done with my meal”, Judah jumped up, obviously eager to leave.
“Me, too!” Judah’s eyes rolled.
Jacob looked over at Dan who clung to Judah’s foot. He smiled, “Take Dan with you. He wants dates, too.”
Judah turned, “Dad! Not Dan. He doesn’t even like dates. He just wants to annoy me. He’s not even my brother.”
“Don’t ever let me catch you speaking like that again! He is just as much your brother as Reuben, Simeon, and Levi. Now, go take him to get some dates!” Jacob watched as Judah reluctantly grabbed Dan’s hand and took him out to the grove.
Judah muttered angrily and pulled Dan rather roughly to the grove. Dan looked up, “Jumpy, I don’t want dates! I want figs! Please! Can we go to figs?”
“No. You wanted to come and dates. Remember? That’s what you told Dad. So, hush up”, Judah said coldly. He was not happy one bit. Reuben was off leading herds, Simeon and Levi were best friends, and who was he stuck with? A little 5-year-old tattletale who always yelled, always whined, and always called him Jumpy.
“And stop calling me ‘Jumpy’. It’s embarrassing” Judah pulled him along, “Now, if you don’t want dates, then you’ll sit there in the shade and wait for me to get some, okay?”
Judah began climb up the tall trunk. He held himself steady with one hand and with the other he reached for some dates and placed them in his bag.
“Jumpy! I’m hot! Hurry, I wanna get figs!”
“Stop whining, Dan! I’m almost done!” Judah jumped down and started climbing the next tree. Suddenly, he felt like they weren’t alone. He jumped down from the tree and looked around.
“YAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!” Something jumped at Dan from behind a tree and sent him tumbling to the ground. Jadon emerged and laughed.
“Look, the children are far from home. What are you doing in my orchard?” Jadon smiled in a mean way. Dan got up and ran behind Judah.
“Half of the orchard belongs to Father. This is his tree, h-his dates” Judah nervously. Grandpa’s sons were scary and mean to them, especially when Jacob wasn’t there. Jadon was the meanest.
“Jacob is a thief. He stole this orchard, just like he stole our goats, and sheep” He took a step forward, and Judah took a step back. He took another step back. Something was off.
“Where’s Dan? ” Judah thought as Jadon pushed him to the ground.
“Give back my orchard, Jumpy” Jadon taunted Judah but all Judah was worried about was were Dan was.
“Jadon!” Dan said. He appeared pulling Jacob into the orchard. Jacob was very upset when he saw Judah down.
“Jadon!” Jacob yelled, “Get off my property! Stop bothering my children!” Jacob was running now and so was Jadon, away from the orchard. Dan ran and tried his best to pull Judah up.
“Jumpy, I’m sneaky!” Dan giggled.
Judah smiled, “You sure are.”
