The day Moses ran away was one of the worst days of my life. Mother sobbed for so long that she fainted from dehydration. She recovered later, thankfully. Father didn't speak to me, which wasn't unusual. But it felt like a forced silence. I had no one else.

In a fit of loneliness, I went on a long walk. I walked so far that I ended up in Goshen, weaving my way between Hebrew houses. In my journey I found a woman crying. She sat out in the dirt instead of in her home. I wasn't thinking and approached her.

She gasped when she saw me. I managed to get pretty close without having been recognized. The woman knew who I was without a second guess, and got up to her feet. I thought she might say some kind of apology for not having gone to bed at an appropriate hour, but she didn't. She hugged me instead. Her tears were cold on my skin. "Oh, he's gone! He's gone!"

I didn't try to push her away. I didn't even ask her why she was upset over the loss of a man she didn't know. I just stood there and let her speak. "Moses, oh Moses! What was he thinking? He didn't have to do that!"

She looked up at me, her arms still entirely around me. "You wouldn't have punished him, right? Would you-"

"Make it like it didn't even happen." I interjected.

She smiled weakly and let me go. "Why aren't you crying too?"

Without even realizing it, I too burst into tears. "This had been such an awful day."

She and I sunk to the ground. The woman hugged me again, and I hugged her back. No one had shown me any kind of affection all day. "Will they find him?"

"I don't know. I hope."

She wiped some tears away with the back of her hand. "You two were close as can be."

I sobbed harder. "Even closer than you could imagine."

The woman matched my sorrow. "Oh, I can really only imagine!"

Without many more words, we cried it out. We sat in the dust for so long that I thought the sun might come up before we were through. But I grew weary and she did too, so we parted ways. I feel bad now, reflecting on that night. Perhaps she was more comfort to me than I was to her.