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Hadassah's arrived!

I’ve been in the house of women 2 weeks now. It’s not like I thought at first. You know, that the King would line us up, pointing with his fancy stick thingy and going “picky picky ponky, father had a donkey….” Lol! Actually it’s very different. I like it.
Hegai, the guy in charge of the women, a very tall imposing and serious man, actually seems to like me, a lot!

Why, within hours of arriving at the palace I was assigned to the best suite. I was also assigned seven handmaidens, handpicked for me by Mr. Hegai himself and given the very best of anointing oils and cosmetics.

At first I was a bit wary of the guy, wondering what his angle was. But with time I realized he was quite genuine. Being friends with cousin Mordecai, he’s send for me whenever Mordecai came by to check on me, as he wasn’t allowed in the house of the women. Not to mention he’s a eunuch!

Whenever he comes to see me, cousin Mordecai always reminds me not to reveal that I am Hebrew. I don’t quite agree with that. That is like being ashamed of who I am! I’m proud of my heritage.
“As I am.” he said. “Just obey, child. Like I’ve taught you to. Things will reveal themselves in time, Hadassah”

“Ok. I will. Give my love to my cousin and nephew. I miss them. And here, take these oils to the lovely Mrs. Mordecai. Hegai has been spoiling me with far too much!” “I am sure she will love them. God bless you child” he says as he kisses me on both cheeks.

***

Its dinner time.

I am sitting at Hegai’s envied table. Doesn’t make me too popular with the other girls, but, hey.
Soft music is playing in the background of the huge dining room. There is a hum of conversation through the softly lit room as ladies eat and talk.

Not another belly dancer!

Someone announced that there will be some entertainment tonight. “It’s probably another belly dancer” I whisper to my friend Hanna next to me. Hanna and I arrived at the palace on the same day. She comes from a far province in King Xerxes Kingdom

We formed a fast friendship as we waited to be settled into our quarters. And we were pleasantly surprised when we were put in adjacent suites.
“Not another belly dancer!” Hanna whispers back. “We get the hint already! All those moves she be making!”
I laughed out loud. “For goodness sakes we’ve already had belly dancing lessons and we know it, the king loves a good belly dance!” We giggled uncontrollably and we got a look from Hegai.

“You know what we need?” Hanna appears shy but she’s mischievous and sassy. “A male dancer! With no shirt on and with cubes and everything!” This time Hegai’s look stopped our giggles in their tracks!

As the belly dancer did her thing, Hegai addressed the 9 ladies at his table.
“So, ladies, today is the last day of the myrrh, huh? How do you feel about that?”
“Yaay! I can’t wait for the myrrh to be over” I mean I loved the daily spa and massage and stuff but after 6 months, I cannot smell that stuff one more time!
I was all ready for the Sweet-Oils rubdown! 6 months and it would be time to meet the King. One night, then you would be sent to the second house.
There you would wait until the King asked for you by name. In the 6 months I was there, that had NOT happened. You would think he’d want to take a second look at  at least one of these beauties!

Sometimes it really makes me wonder about my chances. What!!!

End of part 2

Footnote:

Inspired by the Book of Esther: 2

 I began writing this story on Sat, 19th Nov 2011. I had been reading the book of Esther for the umpteenth time. But this time I was inspired to write HER story. So as I sat in a church in town waiting for my friend to come over so we could go somewhere… The story just poured out of me.