Asenath sits watching her two sons playing in the yard. Physically they play well together, but every few minutes, her eldest son Manasseh, comes sobbing to his mother, "Ephraim's teasing me" or "Mom, Ephraim won't give me a turn to kick the ball" or when asked by his mother why he's crying? Manasseh would answer, "Ephraim says my ears are so big, if I run fast enough I'll fly away!"
Asenath thinks back to the time when her father-in-law blessed the two boys, his right hand resting on Ephraim. Joseph was angry at the time and tried to switch Jacob's hands, but his father held firm saying that Manasseh would be great, but that the younger son would be greater. A disappointed Joseph had to accept his father's blessing.
Asenath could see the difference in her two sons. Manasseh was tall and well built but he was no match for the strong and dominating character of Ephraim.
Joseph returned home from his duties at Pharaoh's court. He greeted his wife with a kiss to the forehead and picking some grapes off the bunch she held in her hands, sat down beside her. When they looked his way, he waved to his two boys.
He leaned back against the wall and popped a grape into his mouth. Looking at the boys but speaking to his wife, he reminisced, "They're growing up so fast. It feels like just yesterday we were the same age as they are now."
"Remember how we met. What strange and sometimes difficult days those were."
Joseph rested his head against that of Asenath's. Both closed their eyes and thought back to times long hence past.....
