The Famous, Unknown Servant Girl
by
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I awoke to a loud “THUMP!” at the old, creaky wooden door of our small, humble home. I try to rub the sandman’s handiwork out of my eyes. I squint to see a dim orange glow by the door.
“Must be a little before sunrise,” I surmise to myself.
The faint smell of burning wood wafted into our one bedroom home.
“Momma must be up early baking some of her delicious biscuits,” I think to myself.
“Mmmm, I love her biscuits!” I whisper.
Joshua, my brother, stirs and mumbles, “Did you say biscuits?”
My eyes become clear enough to actually see what is in our home with us.
“Josh, look!” I scream in horror.
Smoke is rolling along the ceiling like a flash flood of dark muddy water and begins to engulf us. I try to scream, but only coughs come out. I pull the wads of sheep’s wool out of my ears to hear if Papa is awake. I had been using them to sleep. It’s always hard to sleep with crickets chirping and Papa snoring. To my dismay, I could now hear all the haunting sounds. I wish I could put the wool back in. The first sound to my ears is a deep roar from the hungry flames crawling up the door, as if they are looking for something else to devour. Then, I hear faint noises from outside of our two room, stucco looking brick, abode. I recognize the screams and crying of my friends next door. Men are yelling. The thumping of horses hooves on the hard clay roads in the town of Dothan, grow louder then fainter, as they gallop past our home. I cover my face with a part of my robe. I finally get enough clean air in my lungs to blurt out as loud as I could.
“Papa! Fire!”
Papa wakes with a jolt and echoes, “FIRE! Get the water buckets!”
We had no water left in the buckets. It was too early for me to draw any from the town well.
“Plus, it’s Joshua’s turn to get the water.” I rationalized to myself. “But, none of that matters now.”
The smoke is burning in my lungs, and is stinging my eyes so much, I start to cry. Through my tears, I see our door come crashing in off its rusty hinges. It flies toward us.
“Oh no! It’s going to crush me!” I panic, and look for my pillow to cover my head.
Without hesitation, Papa leaps and shoves Josh and me out of the way. The door scrapes his back as we slide into a semi-safe corner.
“Papa!” This time Momma screams as two, giant like soldiers come jumping over our now door-less threshold. With swords drawn, the men begin to flail around in the fire lit smoky room. Papa ducks...
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About the Book
This is an intriguing, fictional account, one meant to stir the imagination of anybody, especially of an Old Testament reader. So many times we read a verse, and go right on to the next, and never meditate on what we have just read. Much of this story is fiction, imagined from meditating on two such verses. II Kings 5:2,3 mention a servant girl of Naaman's wife. Neither are ever named. However, the girl is brave enough to tell her mistress of a prophet in the country of Samaria, which is in the Kingdom of Israel, who is able to heal Naaman of his leprosy. Naaman was the captain of the Syrian Army around 850 B.C. In the account of the war between Syria and Israel, as recorded in I Kings 15, God gave Captain Naaman the victory over Israel. In II Kings 5, it is written that Naaman was a mighty man of valor, but was a leper.
So who was this servant girl, and where did she come from?
This is a story, and only a story. Let your imagination flow with the possibility of what might have been...
About the Author
Brad Towle has worked with teens in his church youth group for more than fifteen years. He has been published in Primary Treasure by the Pacific Press Publishing Association and has written many articles for the local newspaper The Suncook Valley Sun. He has also written and established many town ordinances, and has written state statutes. He enjoys writing fictional stories, because he can let his imagination run with an idea. He finds it more pleasant to write stories than official documents. Brad has a wife, Susan, who teaches first grade at a Christian school, and has two sons, Brandon and Jacob.