The Kingdom

Kuri just smiled and eased back against a log more comfortably. I looked away from him, not sure what to think of his question, let alone what to ask.

Staring into the flames Kuri spoke, "In the beginning El Elyon fashioned man after His own image and out of the man He fashioned the woman, together the two are one. So by having stated that, I hope you can see that there's nothing wrong with the desire within you to be one with the other half of your creation. It's a natural, even Creator attributed, function of being a man."

"Benaiah?"

I glanced over to him and met his gaze as he said, "There's nothing wrong with you and I certainly don't disapprove of you fulfilling your created function and the desire intended for you to experience from the union. There is only one thing that I will caution you on. Your desire should only be fulfilled with the other half of you, which means I want you to wait until you find that woman. Don't be like the men who visited your mother or, for that matter, the Kingdomer's who have a wife at home but visit brothels every chance that they get when away from home."

I nodded and looked down. I had a question and I asked it, "How do you know when you've found the other half of yourself? The girls that I've seen…… well…… I was attracted to a lot of them. How do you know which one is the right one?"

"It's easy to say, but hard to explain Benaiah. You'll know her when you see her. The important thing is to wait for her and that can be a very hard thing to do as a man."

I gazed into the fire, privately acknowledging the truth of those words. I wondered how long I would have to wait. I glanced at Kuri to see him fire gazing as well.

I had another question, but I didn't know how he'd take it. His eyes left the fire to come to mine and I realized that I might as well ask my question anyway as it was common knowledge now.

"Did you ever find your woman or are you still waiting?"

He spoke slowly, as if seeing a scene from the past play out into the present moment, "I was engaged to be married, but she wasn't ready. More simply put, she didn't want me. So I guess you could say that I'm still waiting."

I stared at Kuri incredulously. What woman could possibly pass up on a man like him?

I swallowed nervously as I contemplated how slim my own chances might be at finding the right girl based on his luck. Hesitantly I asked, "So what are you going to do? Are you going to find another woman who will want you?"