5-year old Simeon scrunched into a little ball and bent down to look under the back door. Leah was in labor. Simeon hoped it would be a sister. He remembered a time when a group of Ishmaelite traders came to visit. That day his dad allowed him to try his first pomegranate. He took in too many seeds and choked. The little girl that was with them slapped him on the back and saved him. Even though his back hurt, he always remembered going up to his mother and saying, “Mom, can we get a sister?” Leah laughed and said, “I’ll see what I can do”. Leah wasn’t laughing now.
Simeon opened the door a peek. He could only see Leah’s feet and Bilhah saying something he couldn’t hear. Suddenly he felt as if someone was behind him.
“SIMEON!!” Simeon looked behind him and saw Ruben standing over him, clearly upset. Little Levi, who had just learned how to stand, was waddling toward the brothers. He was only 3 but he was very interested in spectating tussles and scuffles that occurred between the two brothers. Simeon didn’t want Levi seeing him lose to Reuben again. Simeon un-scrunched himself and stood up as tall as he could.
“What?”, He answered.
“You’re not supposed to be spying on Mom when she’s in labor. Zilpah warned us she would beat us if we did”, Reuben said. This is where Simeon decided that his older brother had a point. Leah’s servant was frightening, especially when someone in the ever growing tribe was receiving new life. Simeon turned away and followed Reuben to the stairs.
“I just wanted to see if it was going to be a girl like I wanted”, Simeon justified himself once again. Just because Reuben was 7 didn’t mean he could make Simeon feel bad.
Reuben ignored him and said, “Auntie is getting things for Mom’s baby. Dad is on the roof and he’ll make sure you don’t get into trouble.” Simeon didn’t want to be in trouble with Zilpah and he loved Dad’s stories about Great-Grandpa and his adventures. He followed Reuben up the stairs to the roof.
“Besides, I’m tired of Levi following me everywhere.” Simeon stopped and looked back. Sure enough, Levi, was following them up the stairs on all fours. Levi looked up and gave Simeon a goofy grin. Simeon smiled.
“At least someone likes me…”
