Sunday, January 5, 2014

Are you Jealous?

“Are you jealous?” I tease him. “I can’t believe it!”
To which he roars, “You do nothing, you! You cook, you hide. Coward! Aha, coward you!”
He takes one step forward; I take two back. The arrows slung over his shoulder clink against each other. It is a steely, menacing sound. With one blow of his hand, he smacks down the canvas; and, on the double, the entire tent is flattened into a lopsided mess, collapsing upon itself; its pegs flying clear out, bouncing over and over, over the soft sand. 
He gets in my face; we are standing nose to nose. The moment I have dreaded all my life is suddenly upon me, and there is no way to withdraw. I have to face him, which forces me to examine him closely. 

Yankle in A Favorite Son 


This excerpt is in Yankle's voice, and captures the beginning of a dialog between him and his twin brother Esav, who is coming back from a day of hunt utterly famished, and tested to the limit of his wits by the smell of the lentil stew. 



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