The Steal pt. 1

“WE’RE MOVING?!”

Jacob spun around to look at thirteen-year-old Dan. With a exasperated sigh he said, “Yes, Dan. For the 800th time, yes. We’re moving.”

Dan buffered for a bit before coming up with, “Why?!”

Jacob walked out of the house but not before sending back a final word, “Get packed quickly and help your siblings!”

Dan ran out the back door and bumped into Bilhah, sending all of the things in her basket tumbling to the ground. Dan dove after them, “Oh, Bilhah. I’m so sorry. Lemme help you.”

Bilhah smiled and bent down with the basket, “That’s okay, love. Just put them in the basket. Have you finished packing?”

“No, I was going to go do that… Hey! Aren’t these Grandpa’s?” Dan said, lifting up a little gold statue.

Bilhah cut him off, “Go pack, Dan. Don’t snoop.” Bilhah took the figurine out of Dan’s hand and stuck it in her basket and began sticking the rest of the statues into the basket.

Dan stood up and scowled. “I was just trying to help. Sorry, Bilhah.” Reuben ran past Dan with Gad and Asher on his heels yelling, “Reuben! Reuben! Wait! Help us pack! What’s going on?”

Asher tripped over a bent Bilhah and rolled into the house. Gad laughed at him before stopping to pick him up.

Dan sighed, “Everyone’s going mad. What’s going on here?”

Inside his Rachel’s house, he started pulling out stuff from his drawers. Rachel rushed in and began folding laundry.

“Hi, Mom,” said Dan.

“Hey, sweetie,” Rachel smiled, “Need help packing?”

“No, I’m good”, Dan sighed and pulled out things from his drawer without looking.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa. You’re not taking that, Mister. You throw that outside, right now. That’s why all your clothes have been nasty!” Rachel whipped a towel at Dan playfully.

“But, Mo-o-o-o-om!! I have to take,” Dan stopped to look at whatever had to be thrown outside, “A dusty pile of twigs? What’s this doing here? I’m not taking this!”

Rachel laughed, “That’s what I said.”

Asher, covered in dust, ran in the back door and grabbed the twigs out of Dan’s hand. “My lucky sticks! I can’t forget this. Thanks, Dan!”

Rachel stopped folding and sat down. “Dan, have you seen Bilhah and your brothers, today?”

Dan chuckled, “What, all 10 of them? No, not yet.”

“You know what I mean,” Rachel said.

“Well, Naphtali had a sleepover with Judah, so he should be at their house. I think I saw Zilpah tending to Joseph this morning. Although, that was 4 hours ago. Who knows where he is now,” Dan mused, “I bumped into Bilhah recently. She was behind Dad’s storage house.”

“Well, you know, my sister is a lot better at organizing households than I am. Let’s see if we can round them up.” Rachel moved out of the house calling for Bilhah. Dan tied his travel bag shut and then made his way to Leah’s house, asking anyone along the way if they’ve seen Joseph.

Simeon was preparing the donkeys for travel and Joseph was sitting down outside the fence looking at the enumerable feet. Dan called out, “Simeon! What’s Joseph doing here?”

Simeon laughed, “The kid likes donkeys. What do you want me to do about it?”

Dan ran over and picked Joseph up. He winced as Joseph began to cry. “Be quiet, will you? Mom wants a good image of our family in front of Doh-dah*.”

Dan opened the door to Leah’s house and immediately Joseph was taken away from him. Judah held Joseph, began cooing and bouncing the baby on his hip. “Hello, baby. How was your day? Did Simeon take you to see the donkeys? Do you like the donkeys?” Joseph stopped crying. He giggled and reached to pat Judah’s growing beard. Judah laughed and sat down with the baby on his lap, “Do you like my beard? Just like Dad.”

Dan looked at Leah, “Doh-dah. Is Naphtali still here?”

“Yeah. No. She left. I mean, he left! He went back to his house to pack. Everyone’s going and coming and running and bumping and…” Leah mumbled to herself as she pulled the blankets off the beds.

With a sigh, Dan took Joseph from Judah and went back outside. Joseph began to pull Dan’s hair. He ran past the donkeys and back to his house with Joseph at arms length.

*doh-dah(דודה) is a respectful way to refer to your aunt in Hebrew

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Part 2 of The Steal will come from Naphtali’s point of view.