F³ WIP Weird Date

            For a wonder, Nikki was waiting for me in the parking garage by a car. Instead of her usual gowns, she wore pants that hugged her, but did not constrain her, and what looked like bulletproof vest if it had been designed to mold to a woman’s curves like a corset. A black backpack, looking distinctly military, rested on the rear fender of the car.

M³ Foreign Influence

            So, the story is actually over, but we need to deal with this on another level. How did this story come about? What happened to Israel since the time of Joshua that they have changed so much. With Moses and the 10 Commandments, they’re on the verge of becoming a civilization, an empire. They are establishing laws, justice, and identity by the time Moses passes on, and Joshua takes up the reins and actually gets them into the Promised Land. They enjoy prosperity for a time.

            By the time the book of Judges begins, however, the landscape has changed. Israel is an occupied land with Philistine overseers. The Philistines will continue to be there until David is able to oust them, which will take several years.

F³ Not Iron Man

            I rubbed at my temples to clear the last of the guy’s screaming from my mind. He was silent, but not because he had overcome his fear. In fact, he was probably terrified beyond his ability to speak or even scream. I was fine with it.

M³ WHY?!?!?!

            So, when I first became of aware of this story in grad school, my professor asked the entire class a very simple, very crucial question: “Why is this story in the Bible?”

F³ Off With Her Head

            At the forty-five minute mark, hell broke loose in the form of a screaming girl. She drew every eye on the plane, and a flight attendant immediately rushed over. It was the little girl across the aisle from me. The mother was frantically trying to shush her, but she sobbed and wailed, holding most of a doll. The doll was missing her head. The head was in the possession of the boy, who bounced it like a ball from hand to hand until the mother snatched it away from him.

            “Ma’am, is everything all right?” Amanda, the flight attendant I had seen when I boarded, asked. It was a question she was required to ask, bu tit was clear that there was very little a flight attendant could do.

            The mother had stood up and physically separated the two kids by sitting between them. The boy protested to being manhandled by Mom, but she wasn’t having any of it. The girl’s wails became muffled as she climbed up her mother and buried her face in Mom’s blouse.

            “Ma’am, is there anything I can do?” Amanda asked again.

            The mother’s head whipped around, completely startled by Amanda’s presence. “What? Uh, I don’t know. God, I wish my husband was here to help. Tommy, don’t kick the seat!”

            The boy stopped, but he had a look, a look I knew too well. This wasn’t over.

            “And how do you know this?” Nikki interrupted. “I apologize, but you are not exactly up for parenting awards.”

            “Hah! Well, you’re right on that. I know it because I was a boy who grew up and I had a brother who could be a real pain. We fought a lot. We had a flight once to a family reunion. On the flight out we sat as close together as possible to be a family. On the return flight, Paul sat with Dad ten rows away from Ma and I. You can’t lock a couple of boys in a tin can for hours without trouble.”

            “I see.” She smiled into her coffee. “I did not appreciate your propensity for attracting trouble from even an early age. It does much to explain who you are now.”

            “Yeah, well, I notice that my being a trouble magnet brings you by, too.”

            “Oh, but I am not near you because I am trouble, far from it. I simply delight in the excitement generated by its attraction to you.”

            Her smile had become sweet innocence, while my face had become annoyed because she had gotten the better out of that volley.

            “Anyway, the kid was trouble. . . .”

           

M³ The Solution

            Okay, so Israel puts Jabesh-gilead to the sword, including women and children. But! But, how does this solve the problem? Benjamin will die out, so what does this accomplish? We’re not done yet with the worse.

            Sorry.

            See, there were more instructions.

F³ WIP Creative Expenses

            The drive from DeGradi to the office wasn’t very long, and I mostly thought about what I would say to Cassie. No inspiration came, though. In the end, I had to just shoot for raw honesty.

            “I’m going on another stakeout,” I told her.

            “Cool. Where we going?”

            “Me, not we,” I said.

M³ Yes, It Got Worse

            So, we have to set the wayback machine before the war on this one, which is exactly how chapter 21 of Judges begins. See, it feels the need to tell us some of the details regarding the (air quotes) “justice” (/air quotes) they swore against the Benjamites. In particular, the beginning of this chapter wants to call out how all of those who gathered to strike back against the Benjamites swore, “no one of us shall give his daughter in marriage to Benjamin.” Cuz, y’know, they done bad.