Nephi Story

Okay, I’m posting again sooner than I planned, but I just have to share this story. Ishmael, one of Dad’s business partners, dropped by today. He wanted to talk to Dad about something but wouldn’t say what. He looked a bit nervous. Hopefully it’s not anything that will get in the way of our journey to Egypt.

Anyway, that’s not the funny part. The funny part came while Ishmael and I were visiting. Nephi returned home after finishing work for the day (he works for Hiram in his smith shop), and he was pretty filthy because smithing isn’t exactly the cleanest occupation. Now Ishmael brought his son, Hoshea, and two of his daughters, Zilpah and Rebekah, along with him. Upon entering the house, Nephi looked over at Ishmael’s family and went beet red. I’m not sure whether Zilpah or Rebekah was the cause, but it was clear he’s totally crushing on one (or both?) of them.

Hoshea invited Nephi to come sit with them, but the only open spot on their couch was between Zilpah and Rebekah. Nephi stammered out something along the lines of, “Uh, I don’t want to get dirt all over the ladies.” Hoshea responded, “I’m not asking you to lie with them, just come sit next to us!” Everyone laughed except Nephi whose eyes shot wide open and face went another three shades of red deeper than I thought possible. Nephi then practically ran out of the room mumbling something about how he had to go. Hoshea and Zilpah laughed even more, Ishmael jokingly said, “I guess there goes my future son-in-law,” and Rebekah was now blushing a little bit too.

Timeline of Nephi's face

After they left, I tried talking to Nephi to find out which of Ishmael’s daughters he has his eye on, but I think he’s still too embarrassed by the whole thing to talk about it. Poor kid. He’s a good kid too, but he’s very direct and doesn’t always know how to comfortably handle social situations. He’s not too adept at taking into account other people’s emotional reactions to his statements, and so I wonder if he also struggles to handle his own emotions. He’s nearly finished apprenticing for Hiram, so I’m sure marriage is on his mind, and the combination of infatuation, shock, and fear were probably too much for his brain.

Anyway, I really need to get back to work. I’ve almost got Dad’s records all cleaned up, and he’ll probably be arriving sometime today.