"Hm!" from Peninah, "Craziest thing I ever heard, sending a young child away from his family like that. He'll grow up bad, you mark my words. Children need their mothers, especially when they're so young. And he was only - what? two years old, wasn't't he - when you gave him away?"
There was an uncomfortable silence. Yudah looked at his Imah, his eyes big. Did they really give Sami away? Did that mean they might give him away, too?
Channah saw the anxiety on her son's face. She felt a wave of anger at Peninah's thoughtless words. Unkind words, for she knew very well that what she said was untrue.
"We didn't't give him away, Peninah," came Elkanah's voice, quiet but stern, "You know that. The LORD gave him to us and we lent him back to the LORD. The women of the Temple care for him very well and he is growing up in the service of the LORD God. What could be better?"
Peninah smirked, but she didn't't dare argue with her husband.
The journey to Shiloh was tiring for Channah, but uneventful. She was rather worried about Yudah. He had been abnormally quiet all the way. She wondered whether he was getting ill, perhaps.
She was reassured by a return of his excitement as they drew near to the meeting place. She felt in herself the deep joy she had every year on the way to see her firstborn son. In fact, it was heartrending to have to leave him again after a week. Yet Channah knew in her heart that they had done the right thing, and she was comforted.
As they drew near to the place, Channah, squinting against the sun, made out the figure of a young boy standing near the entrance of the building.
"There he is, Yudah," she called, "there's Sami! Run and meet him!"
Yudah needed no second urging. He leapt away like a young goat and she saw the boys embrace wildly. Elkanah helped her dismount from the donkey and Samuel was in her arms and everyone was talking and laughing at once.
Channah caught sight of Peninah's face, wearing its customary sneer, but she was too happy to care. Peninah's children took turns hugging Samuel, for they were all fond of the quiet, gentle boy who was so much like their Abba.
© Emmie Goodenough, 1999
"Hm!" from Peninah, "Craziest thing I ever heard, sending a young child away from his family like that. He'll grow up bad, you mark my words. Children need their mothers, especially when they're so young. And he was only - what? two years old, wasn't't he - when you gave him away?"
