An Instrument in His Hands

Part 1 Chapter 3

Part 1

Chapter 3

What???? I jerked my foot up under my robe. How dare he?

Aaron laughed. He had gotten a reaction from me. ‘Did you know that when I was eight years old my father pointed you out to me, and told me that someday I would grow up and marry you?’

‘Never!’ I hissed.

He laughed again. He was teasing me now, and had won another response.

I bit my lip and dared not speak again.

He chuckled again. ‘I remember when you were small, my brother Himni kissed you and I got into a fight with him for doing so.’

He’d told Himni that I was supposed to grow up and marry him. Gag! I’d completely forgotten. I was only a child then.

‘Where did you learn to climb a tree so well?’ he asked. ‘Surely Miss Deborah did not teach that to you young ladies during school.’

Tree climbing was my one practical skill. We had a large and lovely one stretched over our back yard and I climbed it daily. Otherwise, I was absolutely unequipped for real life. I could not light a fire, nor grow a bean plant, nor mend, nor cook corn bread. In school we were taught to read and write in 4 languages, to cypher, and to pronounce all words precisely. We learned geography, poetry, elocution, dance, and diplomacy. I knew every rule of etiquette in 3 kingdoms, could sit on a chair for hours without wrinkling my robe, and could glide across the room like a feather. But I could not boil beans, skin a rabbit, nor crack open an egg.

Most girls learned those things at home, but  my mother was sickly and required servants to do practical things. I was never encouraged to learn.

And now we had lost our servants.

Aaron reminisced again. ‘Those were good days. I wish all my memories were that good.’

He ruined my memories.

He sat up straight. ‘Surely Miss Deborah would not approve of us spending the night together in a tree. That would not be seemly.’

Then just go away so I can go on home!!!

He stood on his branch so he was closer to me. ’Won’t you come down and be reasonable?’ he begged.

Not with you in the way!

He was silent for a time, and when I at last shifted my weight and peeked, he was sitting back on his lower branch with his arms folded tightly. Then he whispered, ‘You must think of me as a monster.’

I almost laughed out loud. Getting closer… Finally, he was beginning to speak intelligently.

‘I was a monster, and I’m sorry. You must blame me, my brothers, and Alma for your brother’s waywardness.’

Obviously…

‘Yet, Abigail, it was your brother’s choice to follow our example. He could have been courageous like you were. I’ll never forget when you stood over him and chastised us roundly. You spoke the truth, and I wish now I had hearkened to your words.’ He spoke more loudly, but still contritely.

I wish my brother had, but Aaron was right. My brother was easy prey.

‘Abigail, I am so sorry,’ he said humbly.

He was silent for so long that I thought he was done. The breeze blew my branches back and forth under the moon and occasional starlight. I looked over the tops of the government buildings a few blocks away to the distant mountains that surrounded the land. They were outlined with moonlight. I counted twenty clouds that scuttled across the face of the moon before I thought that perhaps Aaron had fallen asleep and I could slip past him and escape.

‘I wish to share with you my conversion experience,’ he whispered, startling me.

Oh! I had heard the story, several times. Did I have to hear it again?

‘Abigail,’ he started firmly. ‘There is a God in Heaven. He is real, and He will help you through your trial. I know this.’

How could it be that this wicked young man was telling me, ME, about God?

‘When the angel of the Lord came to Alma the Younger, I too was there. I saw him. I heard his voice as the voice of thunder, and I felt the earth shake. It was not imagination. It was real. I felt it. There truly are angels, there truly is a God, and there truly is a Judgment Day.’

‘Just so that He gives judgment to you…’ I almost shouted.  I did not want to hear this and almost covered my ears, but he would know that I was listening if I did.

‘I immediately began to repent of my sins and have been attempting to do so ever since. It is a humbling and painful process. But I can never stop trying to undo the harm I have caused.’

I looked up at the moon again and silently begged, 'Well, undo it somewhere else. Please! Please! Please!'

He continued patiently. ‘There are angels all about us. In fact, tonight I prayed to know whom I could help, what else I could do to repair any damage that we had caused, what soul I could seek out and save. God sent me to the market to find you. Do you think I can leave you without doing as God asked?’

I shifted uncomfortably on my branches. I had prayed for help. I had. How could he know that? Why, oh why, did God have to answer my prayer this way? It was SO completely humiliating!

‘Abigail, Jesus Christ will suffer for our sins. He has forgiven me. Can you?’

I could not answer. How could I forgive those boys? They had turned my life backward and upside down!

He sat up. ‘It’s been two whole years, Abigail. You’ve got to believe I’ve changed. I’m not the person you remember. I won’t hurt you.’

He was right. Perhaps I was being ridiculous, feeling scared that he would harm me. Perhaps he would not actually attack me on the way home.

He raised his eyebrows and his voice took on a jesting tone. ‘It is written that he, or she, who does not forgive, has the greater sin.’

Ouch. Not a joke.

He continued, ‘Your bitterness will eat at you.'

Ouch again. He was right, drat him! Dare I give in and let him follow me home?

It took me a minute, but I conceded to him and slowly dropped down out of the tree. It would be foolish to be discovered in that fashion anyway. I dusted myself off and walked down the causeway without a glance back.

Aaron’s footsteps followed behind me until we reached my gate. He was wise enough to keep silent and leave me my dignity, though I had heard a slight snicker when I first jumped down from the tree.

I turned and curtseyed to him with all the grace and pomp and decorum that I had learned from Miss Deborah. Then, taking my empty basket and cloak, I left him and entered my home.

I had not spoken, nor looked at him, and I was safe.

But I was so hungry!