Piety (standard:drama, 1113 words)
Author: SMFV	Added: Apr 27 2001	Views/Reads: 3341/2239	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
Jonah is betrayed by Leah, his village, and God

Jonah dragged his feet wearily through the plains that lead to the
mountain he would climb.  Beside him was his fiancé, taking the same 
weary steps.  Leah was her name.  Jonah loved her and she loved him 
back. 

Jonah thought now of the words his mother spoke when he announced that
he would marry Leah.  “Why would you marry her?  You know that she is a 
tramp!”  Jonah knew that his mother was right, but there was nothing he 
could do.  Leah was with child and he must do what was right.  And so 
he trudged on toward the temple that lie on the flat mountain top, with 
his pregnant bride to be. 

They had only discovered her pregnancy six days before they left.  The
toothless old soothsayer had informed them.  They said that she knew 
God’s will and could see his plan for them all in the village.  She saw 
that Leah’s belly had begun to swell.  The news came as a shock, but 
was not all that surprising.  Jonah had lain with Leah nearly six weeks 
before and several times after that first time.  He could still 
remember holding her naked flesh for the first time.  The memory was 
one of the few he actually was glad to have. 

The further Jonah traveled the more he wondered why they must make their
journey.  When he had first begun he had been on a holy quest to seek 
God’s advice and counsel as well as forgiveness for the sin he had 
committed with Leah.  This is what the others in the village told him 
to do.  They quickly found out about Leah’s child, because the 
soothsayer went and told them all.  The elders came to Jonah and told 
him that he must seek forgiveness from God.  Then they said that while 
he was there that he might as well ask for a little advice, it couldn’t 
hurt. 

After the first day, Jonah was just going to see the temple on top of
the mountain.  The first day’s walk had left his feet blistered and 
sore and had left him exhausted.  He was even more exhausted by the 
incessant chattering of Leah.  She talked about everything under the 
sun.  First it was the gossip back home.  Then she began gushing about 
what she would say when she actually spoke to God.  She seemed confused 
as to how to address God.  There were so many epitaphs out there and 
she couldn’t decide which one was more flattering to God.  Finally, she 
settled on Lord Almighty.  In her mind it made God a lord which meant 
he was powerful.  But, not only was he Lord he was Almighty, which 
meant that as lords go, he was one of the most powerful.  When she fell 
asleep next to the cooking fire Jonah was glad.  He wanted to savor the 
silence but he decided it would be better for him to sleep as well. 

On the second day, Jonah had nearly reached the base of the mountain. 
By now he had concluded that it was too late to turn back without 
finishing his journey.  The next day he would reach the mountain and 
climb it and speak with God.  But then he started thinking about he 
concept of climbing a mountain to speak with God.  God is all powerful, 
right?  Why should he climb the stupid mountain when God could just 
come down and talk to him?  If God were really watching us all he would 
come down a lot and talk to people.  He would give them advice when 
they asked for it and He would stop them from doing really stupid 
things.  He could kill all of the bad people.  It would be great if God 
would just get up off his corpulent ass and start helping out around 
here.  Needless to say, Jonah’s feet hurt quite a bit from the blisters 
he had. 

Leah was quieter that day, but mostly because Jonah’s thoughts on God
were spoken out loud and were directed at her for some reason.  Leah 
didn’t mind.  She thought she was supposed to listen to the man who 
would be her husband like a good wife.  That’s what women did.  They 
listened when their husbands had a bad day in the fields and they took 
care of the children until they were old enough to get married and take 
on their roles in the circle of life.  The boys would become farmers 
and would complain to their wives.  The girls would become the wives 
that listened.  It was a great system. 

Leah hoped she would have a little boy.  She could just picture him
coming home from the fields and complaining to his wife about how 
terrible his life was and how he couldn’t stand another day out in the 
fields with the other morons.  Leah pictured his pretty wife who would 
listen while cooking dinner and who would, occasionally say, “It’s all 
right,” or “Tomorrow’s another day.”  Leah prayed to God as she walked 


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