Previous Challenge Entry
Topic: Satisfied (10/11/04)
|
TITLE: The Father's Mercy By Geri Rosser 10/12/04 |
 LEAVE COMMENT ON ARTICLE
SEND A PRIVATE COMMENT
SEND ARTICLE TO A FRIEND
|
Since Benjamin left I have to do everything. I can’t believe he just took off one day, after making a scene with Dad and asking for his inheritance. You could see the dismay in Dad’s eyes . . . and yet he quietly went to the money drawer, pulled out everything he had there, and gave it to Benjamin. Benjamin lit up like a comet and ran out of the house and down the road without hugging even one of us. I thought Dad would die of the pain of seeing his youngest son leave with hardly a word.
Not that I’m bitter, but it doesn’t really seem fair that Benjamin gets to just up and leave, putting all responsibility in our hands. I don’t get it?! He didn’t even talked to me about it before he left. Visitors stopped by about a week before he left and talked about the “big city” being so wonderful. I admit, it did sound appealing, but I didn’t think there was any way to get there, short of Dad dying.
BENJAMIN: I can’t believe I’m here! The stench is about to kill me, and my stomach’s swallowing me up with hunger. Tending pigs is NOT the way to fame and fortune. What am I saying? I had the fortune, for a short time. With money, anyone was my friend for a day or even a month. But without it, they just pretended I wasn’t there. The picture those visitors back home painted was beautiful, but you need money and more to survive the city. And its joys are so short-lived.
Man, I miss home! Maybe if I pretend that this corn husk is some of Mom’s special lamb, it’ll actually taste like it. What have I come to?! Eating husks of corn—even less than the pigs get!! Why, even Dad’s servants do better. I’m so stupid for leaving home. I had everything I needed there, but I took it for granted. I thought the big city would satisfy me more than living with my father. Was I wrong!
I wonder if Dad would take me back as a servant. I could tend the pigs there, since I know all about it now. At least I’d be well-fed and have a decent place to sleep. That’s it! I’ll go home and ask him—No! I’ll throw myself at his feet and beg him to be a servant on his estate! Maybe he’ll have enough mercy in him to let me be a hired hand.
LEVI: What’s that you say?! Benjamin’s home? Well, he came groveling home at last! No?! Dad took him back as a son? How could he possibly have done that? I’M his son! I’M the one who stayed and toiled and trudged through the work every day. You say he ran to Benjamin on the road and embraced him? He put a ring on his finger?! And a robe on his back?! How does my brother get away with it? How does he take all his inheritance, squander it away on fine, fun living, and I don’t get so much as a bovine roast?! Where’s the equity in that?! Where’s the satisfaction? Where’s the reward?!
BENJAMIN: It’s unbelievable! I was quite a ways from the house, and Dad started running toward me. I tried to kneel before him to ask to be his servant, but he pulled me up and gave me the biggest hug I’ve ever had. We both were crying, and we embraced and danced and then he said to his right hand man who had come running behind him, “Go get this boy a robe to put on, and a ring for his finger! Get shoes for his feet, and make a feast for him of our finest bull! For you see, Benjamin was dead and now he’s alive! My son was lost and now he’s found! We’re having a party!”
I know I don’t deserve the mercy of my father, but being home makes me more satisfied than I ever was out in the world. I can’t thank him enough for welcoming me back as his son!