Week 7 Story: Bad Brunch

 

(Found on Needpix, brunch spread to represent setting of story"

"Esther you are just so old school!" Bathsheba joked.

"You may think it's old school, but I think it's respectable," Esther said in an effort to defend herself.

"Bathsheba, don't make Esther feel bad. I'm a little old school too and I don't think that's a bad thing at all," Sarah chimed in.

"You're trying to tell me that you, Sarah - formerly Sarai - is old school? Tell that to Hagar!" Bathsheba fired back.

Sarah knew she had a point, but she was still extremely offended. How dare Bathsheba bring up her past like that! 

"Okay, can we just change the topic of conversation, please? This is getting annoying now," Sarah said in an effort to spare her feelings.

This was supposed to be a reunion brunch, not a drama fest. Sarah, as she was the oldest, called all of them together to catch up. It had been fifty-something years since they were all together, and a lot had happened since then. A lot of kids had been born, people's lives had been saved, and affairs had been made public.

"I mean, I think we should talk about the Hagar situation," Bathsheba said, not wanting to hold anything back. "When is the last time y'all talked? Do you ever see the kid? Like what's up with that?"

This is exactly what Sarah was scared of. Her past haunted her, and she knew that she had made some bad decisions, but that didn't make her a bad person. Right?

"Fine, Bathsheba. We can talk about it. To answer your question, I haven't talked to Hagar since I went by Sarai, so it's been quite some years. And no, I never see her child. That situation is for her to deal with. But Abraham and I are very happy together, and I think that is all that matters," Sarah explained with confidence.

"Oh, well I mean as long as you're happy," Bathsheba responded, but with contempt in her voice.

"What is your problem with me?" Sarah asked, finally to her breaking point.

"I just think it's kind of ignorant of you in all honesty," Bathsheba said, not holding anything back. "As someone who is in the same shoes as Hagar, hearing you talk about your situation as if nothing bad happened is extremely frustrating. Just because you changed your name from Sarai to Sarah doesn't mean Hagar didn't have a child with your husband."

"Bathsheba! You didn't have to say it like that," Esther exclaimed.

"Uh, yeah, I did, Esther. We can't all just be chosen by a king as the most beautiful and have the best life ever like you. Welcome to reality," Bathsheba defensively answered. 

Bathsheba looked to Sarah, waiting for her to respond with something of substance. Nothing.

"Look," Bathsheba said, realizing she had polarized the conversation. "All I'm saying is that ignoring what happened only makes things worse. I was a mistress. I had his kid. I should know. If I could change what happened to me, I would. I just think that you should give a little more grace to Hagar and understand we all have weird paths in our lives."

Again, Sarah knew she was right. But was it also too far gone?

Author's Note: I wrote this story based off the Women in the Bible stories that I read in Week 4. I only used three characters from the story, and I chose these characters because they
all had very strong backgrounds. In-depth descriptions of each woman can be found at my blog posts for Part A and Part B. My inspiration behind this story was to try and intertwine their lives even though they lived hundreds of years apart in the Bible. I only gave brief insight to each of their personal stories in my story, but I wanted to keep it short and brief so that any background knowledge the reader may have can carry their imagination. I had a lot of fun writing this story and I hope y'all like it too!