Sarah: Women of Genesis: 1 (Women of Genesis (Forge)) Read online

  “I have two virgin daughters,” Lot said. “I know some of you have tried to court them. Let me bring them out to you now, and you decide among you which of you should have them to wife. You can have them tonight, with their dowries, whichever men you choose.”

  The girls clung to their mother.

  “This is monstrous,” Qira said.

  One of the visitors spoke mildly. “Your daughters are safe.”

  “What do you know about it,” said Qira.

  Outside, they had apparently considered Lot’s offer. “If we wanted your daughters,” said the spokesman, “we would have had them already.”

  “Bring out the spies,” someone said.

  “Let’s see how fast they can run!” cried another.

  “Let’s see how many riders they can carry!” cried another, and there was much laughter.

  “You can do as you see fit with my daughters!” cried Lot. “But you can’t have my guests! I gave them the shelter of my roof!”

  “We can have what we want!” shouted the spokesman. “Listen to how this Lot talks to us! He came here as a foreigner and we gave him the hospitality of our city, and now he thinks he can judge us! He thinks he rules in our city!”

  The crowd roared its disapproval.

  “Stand out of the way, Lot,” cried the spokesman, “or we’ll deal worse with you than we do with your precious guests!”

  “The king won’t tolerate you harming me or anyone in my house!”

  “The king!” shouted the spokesman derisively. “The king knows our sport, you fool. He plays with us, and he’s tired of you, just as we are! We’re done with talking!”

  Something slammed against the door.

  “They’ve killed him!” cried Qira.

  “No they haven’t,” said one of the visitors. “The Lord won’t allow it.”

  “The Lord the Lord the Lord!” cried Qira. “I hear him talked about, but he never does anything!”

  Again and again the men outside slammed against the door. The bar couldn’t hold much longer. It was meant to keep out a thief, not an army.

  The visitors walked to the door and raised the bar.

  “It’s about time you gave yourselves up,” said Qira angrily. “My husband could have been killed out there!”

  They opened the door. The men outside looked hungrily at them.

  “Come out and join the sport,” said the spokesman. “We’ve been waiting for you.”

  The visitors said nothing as they stepped out.

  Lot was being pressed against the wall by several men. One of the visitors reached out his hand toward Lot.

  “Yes,” said the spokesman, “let him go. The king likes him. It’s the only reason we haven’t used him up years ago.”

  They let go of Lot. He staggered to the visitors. “Don’t do this,” he said to them. “Please.”

  “I told you,” said one of the visitors. “They have no power over us.”

  The other visitor ushered Lot inside.

  The one who remained outside the door raised his hand. “You cannot harm what you cannot see,” he said.

  Qira could see the faces of some of the men outside. Could see how their expressions changed, how their eyes darted around, how they began to reach out as if they were in a fog, trying to feel their way toward the door. “Where is he!” “I can’t see!” “Get them!” “Where are they!”

  The visitor stepped inside and closed and barred the door behind him. The shouting in the street turned into wails and weeping and howling for help. There were arguments as blind men trod on each other or bumped each other, and curses as they fell, screams as they were trampled.

  “You struck them blind,” said Qira. It had never occurred to her that Lot’s talk of God might actually mean something. These men really had power.

  But the visitors ignored her. They spoke only to Lot. “Do you have any family besides these? Sons-in-law? Sons? You have time enough to warn them and bring them with you. But there’s no time to take any of your possessions. Leave everything and flee this place. Don’t come back for any reason.”

  “How far?” asked Lot.

  “Into the hills southeast of the city,” said the visitors. “God will not delay the destruction of this place. If you stop for any reason, you’ll be destroyed along with Sodom.”

  Destroyed! The words sounded absurd to Qira. “If Chedorlaomer could not destroy Sodom, what makes you think—”

  The man looked at her, saying nothing. But she fell silent all the same.

  “Go find your family in the city,” said the visitor. “Leave this city at the first light of dawn. Anyone who isn’t with you then is lost.”

  “Thank you,” said Lot. “The blessing of God upon you.”

  “And upon you and your family,” said the visitor. “All of them who will accept it.”

  Lot unbarred the door.

  “No!” cried Qira.

  “There’s no danger from blind men,” said Lot. He went out into the darkness.

  “You don’t really think,” said Qira to the visitors, “that we’ll be gone long, do you? I mean, how much clothing should we take?”

  They looked at her like she was crazy. “Take the clothes you’re wearing, and enough wine or water for a few days. You’ll have your lives. That’s more than anyone else in Sodom will have.”

  Their words frightened her. “You really mean it? Everyone will die?”

  “Has there ever been a city so wholly given over to evil?” asked the visitor. “There’s not one man or woman here who is not complicit in the wickedness. There’s not one child here who has a hope of growing up without being destroyed by the wickedness. The adults will die in order to face the judgment of God. The innocent children will be taken up in the mercy of the Lord.”

  “But why should we lose our home?” said Qira. “We’ve done nothing wrong!”

  “It’s for your husband’s sake that the Lord offers to spare you, mistress,” said one of the visitors.

  “Are you saying I’m as wicked as—well, I don’t think the city is that wicked! These patrols, they’re out of hand, yes, we’ve got to put a stop to that, but the women of Sodom haven’t done anything wrong!”

  “None of you is innocent,” said one of them.

  “The fiery stones have already been flung from the heavens,” said the other. “There is no stopping them now.”

  They turned away then and returned to the room where they had been closeted with Lot.

  Qira took her daughters to their rooms. “Gather two gowns each, and your jewelry,” she said. “I suppose we’ll have room for nothing more than that. We can take one trunk, I’m sure.”

  She went to her room and busied herself choosing. She finally settled on four gowns, because she just couldn’t limit herself to two.

  Hours later, Lot came back alone. “They won’t come,” he said, dejected. “Our brilliant sons-in-law vilified me, and our daughters condemned me for not obeying the patrols tonight. They paid no attention at all to my warning.”

  “What did you expect?” said Qira. “It’s not particularly believable. If I hadn’t seen them strike those men blind I wouldn’t believe anything they said.”

  “Well, they did see it,” said Lot.

  “They were watching?” asked Qira, surprised.

  “Our sons-in-law are as blind as any of the others,” said Lot.

  “Oh, you’re always saying that everyone in Sodom is blind, as if you’re the only one who knows anything,” said Qira.

  “I mean,” said Lot, “that our sons-in-law were among the men struck blind as they gathered at our door.”

  Qira was stunned. “They must have been passing by. Mere chance.”

  “Believe what you want,” said Lot. “Why are you putting those dresses and jewels in that trunk?”

  “You don’t expect me to go naked, do you?”

  “Who’s going to carry the trunk?” asked Lot.

  “The servants, of course,” said Qira.<
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  “I’ve already dismissed them all,” said Lot. “With a warning to tell every other servant they know—be out of Sodom before dawn, and head for the hills southeast of the city. I don’t know if any of them believed me. But there’s no reason the slaves should die for the sins of the masters.”

  “You’re—you’re fomenting a revolt among the slaves!”

  “They won’t be slaves when God has slain their masters,” said Lot. He slammed shut the lid of the trunk. “We’re taking nothing with us but wine to drink. It will take all our strength to carry that, and still make good enough speed to reach the hills in time. Now go to sleep, so you can keep up with us in the morning.”

  Sleep! Oh, that was rich. She’s supposed to sleep, when he’s talking about leaving everything behind? The things these Hebrew men thought they could get away with, ordering women about as if they had no minds of their own. If he’d stupidly sent away the servants, then he’d have to carry the trunk himself, unless he wanted everyone to see the shameful spectacle of his wife and daughters carrying a trunk with their own hands through the city.

  By the time she had packed her things, the girls were asleep. They had chosen their gowns and laid out their jewels before they went to bed—they knew which parent had their best interests at heart!—and it took a while longer for Qira to fit everything in the trunk. In the end, she had to settle for only two dresses for herself after all—she hoped her daughters would appreciate her sacrifice.

  Nothing was going to happen anyway. These men might have the power to blind a crowd of half-drunken soldiers, but burning stones from heaven? Stones couldn’t burn, and they didn’t fall from the sky. How stupid did they think she was? Tales to frighten children. She’d go along with her husband’s madness because what choice did a woman have? But then they’d have to come crawling back to town, humiliated. Well, she wouldn’t have it. They’d have to stay away for at least a few weeks, to pretend they were visiting Sarai—no, Sarah, that stupid vanity of changing her name, what was that about, anyway?—they’d say they were visiting relatives and no one would know about this embarrassing delusion.

  No, of course they’d know. Lot had sent the servants around to stir up trouble everywhere! That was a crime, didn’t he know that? There were laws. What if they couldn’t persuade the king to forgive him for that? Inciting slaves to run away, that was unforgivable.

  Even after Qira finally got to bed, she could hardly sleep for worrying about how they might solve the problems that this madness of Lot’s had caused. No one would be more hated in Sodom than they were. They could never come back. It was that simple. All was lost. Sodom might or might not be destroyed, but one thing was certain—Lot had destroyed her and her daughters! They’d have to start over again in another city, but who would have them anywhere? They’d be no better off than lepers.

  She must have slept because Lot was shaking her awake. She could barely open her eyes. It was still dark outside.

  “Go away,” she said.

  “It’s first light,” he said.

  “Not to me,” she said.

  “Get up, woman,” said Lot rudely. “Your daughters need you.”

  It was the most horrible morning. Lot was a tyrant. He refused to carry the trunk. She had to get the girls to carry one end while she carried the other, all the time making sure Lot knew how shameful it was that he allowed his womenfolk to do manual labor like this in the streets, it was a good thing it was so early in the morning that no decent person would see them doing it. Lot, who was burdened with carafes of wine for them to drink, ignored her at first, but then turned back and took the trunk out of their hands.

  “It’s about time,” said Qira.

  Lot raised the trunk above his head and dashed it into the street. It broke open on the stones, spilling gowns and jewelry.

  Qira shrieked and knelt to pick up some of the fallen pieces of jewelry. “Look what you’ve done, any thief could come along and—”

  But Lot dragged her to her feet, slapping the jewels she was holding out of her hands. “We have no time for this.” Brutally he pulled her along. The girls were crying now as they followed after. “You’re hurting Mother!” they cried. But Lot was merciless. The man had no pity for anyone. His true nature was revealed now.

  Right through the streets of Sodom he dragged them. “We’re poor now, did you think of that?” said Qira. “All we have is those stupid sheep and cows out in the desert. Nothing left to show that we ever lived in a city. Did you ever think of that? How will the girls find a husband now? What dowry will you offer? Cows?”

  “Cows are what I paid for you,” said Lot.

  She wasn’t sure what he meant by that.

  They were outside the city now.

  “You can let go of me now,” she said. “You’ve made your point.”

  But he dragged her along anyway. The girls joined in her complaints. “Father, you’re hurting her. There’s no reason to act like this. You’re just being mean now.”

  He paid no attention. Not until they were in the foothills did he finally let go. Her wrist hurt so badly that she cried as she rubbed it. “I hate you,” she said to Lot.

  “Tell me something new,” he said. He handed her a carafe of wine. “Sling this over your shoulder and carry it yourself now.”

  “I’m not a servant,” said Qira.

  Lot ignored her as he put carafes of wine on the girls. It broke Qira’s heart to see her beautiful daughters carrying burdens as if they were beasts. But she took her own carafe of wine then, to show them that she, too, would submit to the rule of this cruel man. They were not alone—their mother was with them, and somehow she’d make this all right.

  They hiked another hundred steps up into the hills when Qira stopped. “Enough of this. We’re in the hills southeast of the city, just like they said. Let’s not go any further, so we don’t have so far to go when we return.”

  “We’re never going to return,” said Lot.

  “We did what they said,” Qira responded patiently. “They told you we wouldn’t have time to get this far if we delayed at all. Well, here we are. I don’t see any destruction, do you?”

  “It will begin at any moment,” said Lot.

  “We made very good time, with you dragging us. We have plenty of time. In fact,” said Qira, “it’s still early enough that I’ll bet no one has found our trunk. It was foolish of you not to let me bring at least a few of the nicest pieces. Those are very expensive and it will take years to find others just as good.”

  “You’re not going back,” said Lot. “If you do, you’ll die.”

  “Is that a threat?” said Qira. “Are you threatening to kill me?”

  “I’m warning you again of what the Lord is going to do to anyone in Sodom.”

  “I can go and come back again in no time,” said Qira.

  “I forbid you.”

  Qira looked at him and assessed his intentions. He was talking very firmly, and yet he did not take a step toward her to restrain her. He had lost some of his resolve, she could see it. “You can forbid me all you like, but am I not a free woman?”

  “Don’t leave your daughters motherless,” said Lot. “They’re already going to lose three of their sisters.”

  “Pay no attention to your father,” said Qira. “Come back with me, girls.”

  Now Lot moved—to grab hold of the girls. But with his hands occupied holding them, he couldn’t possibly stop her now. He’d have to let go of someone.

  “I’ll be back soon,” said Qira.

  Then she turned back to the city.

  “Mother!” cried her daughters, but when Qira glanced back, she could see that Lot was dragging the girls farther up into the hills. Finally he had come to his senses and realized that his wife was the daughter of a king, and not someone to be dragged about like a disobedient child.

  If she hurried, she could surely reach the jewels. Even now, the sun was just beginning to cast light on the tallest buildings in Gomorrah, whi
ch was not so close to the hills in the east. No one was awake at this hour, surely. Though Qira couldn’t be sure—she had never awoken so early in all the years she had lived in Sodom.

  She was distressed to see how many servants were out on the streets already. Not crowds, but enough that someone was bound to have noticed the trunk. And slaves were such natural thieves that they were bound to steal at least one piece of jewelry. She began to run. She had to get there before it was all gone. She had to salvage something of her life in Sodom, didn’t she?