Yehuda and Yosef stood together on the bank of the Reed Sea, watching their four sons splashing in the water, catching and comparing frogs.

     “They play well together, Yosef. Better than we did.”

     “Four are easier to manage than twelve, especially when there aren’t four mothers to deal with.”

     “True. But I think this next generation will do better.”

     “We didn’t do too badly, Yehuda. It took me a long time to understand that.”

     “Father is as happy as he’s been since your mother died. Seeing you again has put spark back into him.”

     “I know. I feel so guilty not visiting as often as I should. I keep telling him that I’ll spend the next feast day with him, but Egypt is a big place.”

     “Don’t stay away, Yosef. Your father, our father needs you. And so do the rest of us.”

     “ Bringing the boys along on this official state visit was tough enough, Yehuda. And I’ve only got a little time as it is. The bureaucrats are restless in their chariots over there, see them?”

     “Let them be restless. What can they do? You’re second in command to pharaoh; to God.”

     “Don’t ever say that, Yehuda. Don’t even think it. God terrifies me.”

     “Terrifies? You?”

     “Yes. Me. Think what it was like all those years in the dungeon with all those dreams. Too many dreams to ever write down or even tell. And, Yehuda…?”

     “What, Yosef?”

     “I still have the dreams. They never stopped. I don’t like what’s going to happen to us.”

     “How can anything happen to us? Look at the land we have, the herds. We’re more prosperous here than we could ever have been in Canaan.”

     “It’s all my dreams, Yehuda. None of this is real. None of this is forever.”

     “Now you’re scaring me, Yosef.”

     “I should be, Yehuda, I should be.”