Juan Ramon Sereno: The Wise Slave

Chapter 10: Distrust and Trust

“Kid, it didn’t look like you were okay when you fell,” I heard Yuyagahor tell me.

I was thinking too deeply that time so I was unable to answer him. I just woke up to reality when I smelled that familiar scent of a kind of perfume coming from the basement. I looked at the door and saw Potiphar’s wife looking like she just came from a wrestling match: her hair disheveled and her dress torn in places. She was holding a torn cloak that I recognized immediately to be Joseph’s.

My eyes narrowed on what I saw. Now I know why I felt like this is going to happen. This is the day Joseph will be framed for frustrated rape on Potiphar’s wife. I already know what would happen next, but I can’t just come out and say that Joseph is innocent. First, I have no idea what would happen if the story somehow changes in this dimension. Second, no one would believe a simple slave like me even if I were to tell the truth. Third, and the most important of all, I don’t have any evidence proving Joseph’s innocence.

I was lost from my concentration when I heard Yuyagahor’s voice once again. “…happened to you? Are you alright?”

Potiphar’s wife didn’t answer him. She immediately ran off from where we are.

“This is not good,” Yuyagahor said as he entered the basement. When he came out, he was carrying the spade and rake I was about to fetch this morning.

Yuyagahor pulled me up and escorted me to the backyard. A while later, he faced me. Because of his size, he had to kneel in front of me for us to see eye to eye. He then held both of my shoulders.

“Listen to me,” he began, “I don’t like what’s happening here in this house, so you need to do exactly what I say, do you understand?”

I know exactly what’s happening this time, but I acted as though I was confused. “What’s happening? Why –”

“It’s only a matter of time before Lord Potiphar would surely arrive. From what I see, someone threatened his wife’s life. We won’t have to wait long before the culprit will be arrested,” Yuyagahor explained. “You weren’t in your assigned station when the crime occurred, so you might be mistaken as the culprit, but I’m here to prove otherwise. But starting right now, you must not leave this backyard because everyone knows that they’ll find you here. Do I make myself clear?”

“Yes, but –”

“Swear it. Swear that you won’t leave this backyard until I get back to you,” he told me.

I couldn’t answer because of all the things he told me. He then let go of me and placed his right hand at the left side of my chest; exactly where my heart is located. “Swear it.”

I also placed my right hand on his heart. “I swear.” But after I said that, “What are you gonna do?”

He took a deep breath. “I need to return to our basement. Lord Potiphar would surely summon all the soldiers just for this. He’ll surely be in doubt if he finds out that I wasn’t there while I was assigned in that place. I’ll be able to get back to you late this afternoon if we’re not going to take that long, whatever he’ll make us do.”

Yuyagahor then left the backyard without waiting for any response from me. If only he knows that I already knows what would happen before it actually happens… I don’t know what everyone would do to me.

Instead of starting to clean the backyard, I just walked to and fro by the fig tree because I really can’t keep calm because of everything that’s happening inside the house. I really couldn’t care less even if I failed to take my lunch or cleaned the backyard. I know that I mustn’t tell that I know of Joseph’s innocence, but I still can’t help but think that an innocent man has been wrongfully accused of a crime he didn’t commit. I know exactly what Joseph is feeling right now because this is an important principle Dad taught me. I saw in my imagination the image of Dad while saying his favorite quote, “Justice delayed is justice denied.”