Twelve Angry Hebrews
by Jack Tracy


JACOB
and Rachael

When we looked at each other we just knew. It wasn't immediate, it took a little time, but when it happened there was no turning back. I didn't think so much about her family and all that, but more just that she and I kind of clicked. Yeah, it was sexual, but it was romance. It was love and beauty and wanting of something more. Something that only more time together could reveal. That was what we had, me and Rachael. When I looked into her eyes I could see and feel her whole body smiling back at me. I knew she fet the same.

I went to her father, Laban. He was already an old man and kind. He seemed to be be well resigned in his life and while not without his agitations, he was a very pleasant person to be with. We became friends.

It was with her mother that I found trouble. Her heart was very strong of love. Upon meeting her I thought that I might be consumed in an ocean of it. So intense was her gaze of love and acceptance that I felt almost owned. This lovingness that emanated from her was by degree in all the family. Their words were bonds of love. Their gifts bonded their love. Their meals together strengthened their loving bondedness as did their chores and their sleeping. I wanted Rachael, but it soon became clear that I was not the only one. She was her mother's daughter and I would find that being parted, they would not part.

I want to tell you now though, about that night. About what happened and how it changed me. I will tell you what she said and what I told her. I don't mean Rachael but her sister, Leah. The one I married.

The Wedding