An interview with Ruth

 So, it's my birthday and I'm turning 16! Yahoo!!! So, how about I give you guys a small, but from-the-heart present for my birthday?

 This is an interview I 'made' with Ruth (the one from the Bible). It was a writing assignment to imagine conducting an interview from someone in history or fiction, I think. Dad suggested a woman from the Bible. Pretty cool idea, huh?

 One more thing before the interview 'starts'. I will be really happy if you like this story and overjoyed if you think it good enough to share with anyone. But I'd really, really ask you to always mention my name in there (meaning, don't let anyone think you wrote it). I'd also really appreciate it if you commented and left a link if you shared it anywhere, just for me to know where my story is going. Thanks a lot. And here goes...


   Ruth, the Moabitess, a widow and the wife of Boaz, was in her house baking bread as I entered. Ruth is a beautiful woman with a bright smile and clear shining blue eyes. The customary insides of the house make her seem like an ordinary woman, but everyone in town knows that she is a woman of noble character.
   “Ruth,” I began, “how did you feel when you left your country to come live with your mother-in-law in her land?”
   Ruth looked up from the bread for a moment. “I was still in grief for my husband… And I felt confused. I remember wondering why God took him, what He had in mind. Then Naomi said she was leaving and, oh, I couldn’t bear it, I couldn't!” Her hands beat the dough with unnecessary force. She drew a deep breath and continued. “Orpah, my sister-in-law, and I both wanted to go with Naomi wherever she went. But Naomi persuaded Orpah to go back to her own home. She couldn't persuade me, though.” A slow smile crept to her face. She crossed the room and flopped down beside me.
   “So you journeyed with her?”
  “Yes, and as we went we comforted each other. I knew she had it harder than I did, since she had neither husband nor sons anymore. I tried all I could to make her life easier.”
  “Tell us how you met your future husband Boaz.”
  “Well, one day after we settled in I asked Naomi if I could go to the fields and pick up the leftover grain. She let me and so I went. Clearly it was God’s will that we meet each other, for I did not know it was Boaz’s field I was working in. Later that day, he returned from Bethlehem, where he had been, and he noticed me working in the field. I was so surprised!” Her voice filled with awe. “He told me to continue gathering among the sheaves of his field. He treated me nicely and he was such a kind, godly man!”
   “What happened later?”
   “When I told Naomi of him, she was glad. She mentioned that he was one of our kinsmen-redeemers. So I continued gathering in his field. Then one day Naomi told me to go lie by Boaz’s feet when he slept. I did. When Boaz woke up in the middle of the night, he asked me “Who are you?” I answered him and implored him to redeem me. To my dismay, he said there was another kinsman-redeemer closer than he was. But he promised he would ask the man and if the man wouldn't do it, he would. My heart trembling, I waited.” She paused.
   “I take it, that the other man wouldn't redeem you.”
    “No and, oh, I’d never been so happy in my life, never! Boaz was going to marry me! He was going to marry me!” She paused for a moment to catch her breath. As she did a tall, muscular man came into the house with a five-month-old baby on one of his arms. He smiled and reached with the other arm to lift Ruth up and hug her. She laughed. “Soon after that I gave birth to our son, Obed. He’s a beautiful child, isn't he?”
   “Yes, he is. The Lord has blessed you, Ruth.”
   “Yes. Yes, He certainly has.”