The only sign they had of where she’d gone was her frantic scream - “I’m the queen! Tell the palace! Get help!” - to two of the so-called “willing women” as she was carried away wrapped in a bolt of cloth.Įventually, she knew from eavesdropping, someone from the court would have to ransom her if she wasn’t rescued. That is, if they even knew where she was. They were probably very frustrated with her right now, and she couldn’t blame them. She knew they were looking - the queen’s safety was their entire career. She wondered if her bodyguards were close to finding her. But can’t I go back to yesterday? She visualized herself turning a page backward in a book, undoing her part in the events of the previous evening. Shulamit had the same numb feeling she had gotten two months earlier, when they’d first told her that her father was going to die. Especially if that young queen had ditched her bodyguards and snuck out by herself. But a skinny woman of barely twenty - even one who had been queen of Perach for two whole months - well, that was a different story. Queen Shulamit was sure that plenty of men went in and out of such places every night without so much as losing a hair on their heads. Once upon a time, in a lush tropical land of agricultural riches and shining white buildings, there was a young queen who spent the night tied up in a tent, panicking.Īpparently, a visit to a bawdy house got you kidnapped. Inc., PO Box 2545, Round Rock, TX 78680.įirst Torquere Press Printing: August 2013ĭedicated to my good friend Anastasia “Ducky” Bower, and in memory of my father.

Vincent, Lecturer in Jewish Studies, Department of Theology & Religious Studies, University of Chester, UKĪll quoted literature sourced from the public domain.Īll rights reserved, which includes the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever except as provided by the U.S. Vincent, Lecturer in Jewish Studies, Department of Theology & Religious Studies, University of Chester, UK, Esther 7:3 as translated by Dr.

Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental and beyond the intent of either the author or the publisher.

Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously.

The second mango by shira glassman