Historical Setting 561 C.E.
Ezra’s telling me this story, but let me comment here. “I can imagine starting a marriage bringing home a sister-in-law who is the known ogre of village gossip. That would be a bit of a challenge for a new bride. I mean, you said your bride had to leave her own family behind and move into that dumpy old cottage of our neighbor’s.”
“You make me seem a terrible husband, Papa! I fixed the cottage. And I had already promised to build Colleta her own cottage. But you are right. You imagine what had never crossed my mind. I hadn’t the slightest thought that taking in Enola would be a challenge for Colleta. After all Colleta was beautiful and Enola was ugly. Colleta was chosen and Enola assigned. I really didn’t understand.”
“I’ll bet that was a pithy chat for a pair of newlyweds with a spare sister already at hand.”
“Enola was understanding. She quietly left and went out alone into the darkness. Colleta and I argued late into night until we both noticed each had smothered separate hopes and fears in the same bucket of misbegotten angry words. All either of us wanted was to hold onto family. In the midst of our raging I produced your drawing on the rock of us as children and suddenly Colleta took it from my hand and said she knew the girl! Suddenly I was the only one arguing.
“Colleta recognized Eve as the hag’s assistant who came along when her own mother needed help with the difficult birth of her baby brother. Suddenly Enola was the exact person who could quell Colleta’s own unspoken fears of motherhood when her own mother might be far away in the city.”
“So where did Eve run to in the dark that night?”
(find out tomorrow)
Lazarus Ink 