Tough Conversations
Since the day they were born, I always worried about telling the girls what happened. The first six years went by with no questions, until one afternoon Adah came to me with a question. I was washing the dishes in a nearby lake while Shem taught Elijah how to swim. Adah walked over to me and tapped me on the shoulder.
"Mama, why are we alone?" She asked me.
Her question took me by surprise. I looked to Shem for help, but he was too busy with Elijah and Evi.
"Because that is what the Creator wanted." I told her.
My answer was not much, but it was sufficient enough for her and she went back to playing with her siblings.
About three years later, at the age of nine, Evi came to Shem and me with the same question; why were we alone? I gave her the same answer I had given Adah, but it was not good enough for her. Shem told her there was a terrible storm many years ago and when she was older. I could tell Evi wanted more but instead she went over to her sister and the two ran off together.
"I do not know what to do?" I said to Shem, exasperated.
"I think we need to tell them the truth." He replied. "Once they are older, of course."
The girls were thirteen when the truth finally came out. I was pregnant with Micah, which had led me to have nightmares back to my pregnancy with the girls. I had gotten them with my past pregnancies, always towards the last few months, when the stakes on the ark were very high. I had woken up crying and Shem quickly tried to comfort me.
"Sh, it is alright Ila. We are on land and we are all safe. The ark is gone and he is not going to kill them." Shem told me.
"What is going on?" Evi asked, walking into our room. "Who isn't going to kill anyone?"
"What are you doing up?" Shem asked her and Adah, who was at our doorway. "And why are you eavesdropping?"
"What are you keeping from us?" Adah asked quietly.
I beckoned for them both to come in and Shem and I told them everything. We told them about Noah's dreams, about Methuselah blessing me, and about the ark. Once they had taken all that in, Shem told them the task Noah believed he had to carry out. Evi cried into her father's embrace while Adah got up angrily and stormed out. It was not like her and I went to go after, but Shem stopped me.
"Let her deal with this the way she wants to." He told me.