I’ve gotta get out of here, Ethan thought later that evening. He was sitting in front of the tent again, carving a small half-moon wedge from the bottom of his chunk of wood, shaping the area around it into four legs.

The problem was that all the passersby seemed to be staring at his family. Laughing and talking excitedly about tomorrow’s Festival of the Golden Calf, the strangers paraded up and down the path —except when they paused to look down their noses at Ethan and his family. One man even stopped for a moment to spit on the ground at the edge of their campsite.

Ethan felt like a leper with oozing sores, rejected by everyone. I wish I was going with them tomorrow, he thought. They have a new god now. They’re free to do what they want. The only freedom I have is to be miserable.

Just then Ethan’s father made things worse. Looking up from the sandal he’d been fixing, he announced loudly, “The God of Israel is the only God!” Some of the passersby glared at him.

His mother chimed in, setting down the dishes she’d been cleaning. “What will Moses say when he returns?” she asked loudly.

“He will wonder why our people have become so impatient!” his father said in a booming voice. “He will be angry that we allowed our fears to overtake us and that we couldn’t remain faithful until he returned. He will come to us with words from the God of Israel —the only One who can lead us out of this desert!”

Leah, sitting in the doorway of the tent, grinned. She seemed to not care about the disgust and anger on the strangers’ faces.

Ethan, however, ducked his head. He wanted to crawl under a rock, bury himself in the sand —anything to escape the stares. Even running into Ptah and his gang would be better than this, he thought.

Finally he could stand it no longer. Dropping his knife and wood, he got up. “I . . . uh . . . need to stretch my legs a little,” he said to no one in particular. “Is it okay if I take a walk?”

His father looked around as if he’d just been awakened from a deep sleep. “A walk? Uh . . . yes, that’s fine. Just make sure you head toward the stream and not the mountain.”

I’d head toward the middle of the desert if it were the only way out of here, Ethan thought. He could feel his family’s eyes on him as he walked down the path.

He made his way around a group of women who were twirling and waving scarves. Two small children ran past, singing a song they’d obviously made up themselves about the golden calf.

When he was sure his family could no longer see him, he started running. He thought of the way that man had spat on the ground, and he ran faster. He thought of the men bursting into his family’s tent in the middle of the night, and he ran faster still. He thought of all the rules he’d been obeying for so long, and —

He tripped over the foot someone had stuck in front of him.

As if in a dream, Ethan noticed that his arms and legs were still moving in a running motion as he sailed headfirst across the path. He tried to tuck his shoulder under himself, but it was too late. He landed face-first in a pile of sand just off the path.

“Oww,” he moaned as his brain scrambled to make sense of what had just happened. He heard cackling laughter behind him and then felt a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach.

Rolling over, he brushed the sand from his face. Melki and the four Mountain-of-the-Gods players were standing over him. None of them seemed worried about whether he was hurt. All of them had big grins on their faces.

“You should be more careful, running around like that,” one of the twins said. He held up his foot. “There are a lot of things you might trip on.”

“We saw you coming down the path,” his brother explained.

“You were running like one of Moses’ little lambs,” the biggest boy —Ptah —said. He grabbed Ethan by the front of his robe and pulled him to his feet. “And we told you what was going to happen if we saw you out wandering around.”

“It’s time for a sacrifice!” the fourth boy yelled. Ethan couldn’t remember which god he had been.

Melki didn’t say anything. But he didn’t move to help Ethan either. He just stood there, watching.

“Let’s take him down to the stream and give him a bath!” one of the twins suggested.

“Yeah!” the rest of the boys —even Melki —agreed. Ethan glared at Melki, who seemed not to notice.

Ptah and one of the twins gave Ethan a shove in the direction of the stream. Ethan looked for a place to run, but he knew he wasn’t quick enough to get away from all five of them.

I’m dead, he thought.

“You said you were just taking a walk!” The voice came from the path behind them. Ethan turned to see Leah standing there.

Oh, great, he thought.

Leah didn’t seem to realize what was going on. She pushed her way past Melki and the big guy and stood right in front of Ethan.

“Why are you hanging around with these rebels?” Leah asked Ethan in a scornful voice. She looked at Melki. “Your father helped make the idol, didn’t he?”

“Yeah, so what?” Melki answered. “It’s more than your father has done for our people!”

Leah gave Ethan a disapproving look. “What would Father say if he knew you were here with these guys?” she continued. “What do you think Moses would say if —”

For a moment Ethan forgot where he was and who was around. He forgot about everything except the look on Leah’s face —and he couldn’t take it anymore.

“Moses is dead!” he yelled.

Leah stepped back and looked at him with wide eyes and a wider mouth.

Ethan let fly the words he’d been holding back for weeks, and they felt like little arrows shooting out of his mouth. “He was an old man, and he tried to climb the mountain by himself! His body is probably splattered all over a bunch of rocks at the bottom of a cliff somewhere. And since Moses is gone, his God is gone too. But who cares? The only thing Moses’ God has done for us since we crossed the Red Sea is lead us deeper into the desert and give us more rules to follow. And I’m sick of following rules! I’m not a slave!”

For a moment he thought she might start crying or slap him. But after looking around the group, she started to say something but stopped. Then she shook her head and walked away.

Now I’m really dead, he thought, his heart beating double time. These guys are going to beat me up, and Leah’s going to tell Father what I said.

But when he looked around, he saw that the other boys were all smiling.

“You really told her off!” Melki said with a touch of admiration in his voice.

“That was pretty good, what you said about Moses,” one of the twins declared.

“I liked what you said about rules,” his brother added.

The big guy stepped forward, and Ethan flinched. But instead of hitting him or grabbing his clothes, the boy put his arm around Ethan’s shoulders. “I guess you’re not one of Moses’ sheep, after all,” he said.

Ethan was too stunned to say anything. He’d been preparing himself for pain, not compliments.

“Hey!” Melki said. “Do you want to head over toward the mountain with us?” The other boys nodded.

“Huh?” Ethan said. I can’t believe they’re inviting me to join them —just because I yelled at Leah!

“We’ve got a little game we like to play near the idol,” one of the twins explained.

For a moment Ethan thought about what his father would say. What does it matter? he finally decided. I’m already in trouble. What’s a little more going to hurt?

“Let’s go,” he said with a grin.

On the way to the mountain, Ethan found out from Melki that the twins’ names were Orek and Patek. The big guy’s name was Uli; the other guy’s name was Tovar.

“Shhh!” Tovar hissed when they got close to the dedication platform. He pointed to a group of boulders about twenty paces from where the idol stood. Then he got down on his hands and knees and crawled over to them. Ethan and the others followed.

Peering out from behind the rocks, Ethan could see four large torches on the platform, one on each corner. The altar was covered with the red cloth again, and Ethan recognized the outline of the idol underneath.

In the torchlight Ethan saw one man on the platform, another in front of it, and a third to the left of it. He guessed there were also men on the right and behind the platform, but he couldn’t see them.

The guard on the platform was holding a sword and walking slowly around the altar. The others stared intently into the darkness.

Uli reached into his pocket and pulled out a handful of small rocks. “Everybody take one,” he whispered. “The one who comes closest to the guard in front is the winner.”

Ethan grabbed his rock quickly so the others wouldn’t notice that his hands were shaking. I wonder how many rules I’m breaking right now? he thought.

“I’ll go first,” one of the twins whispered. Ethan wasn’t sure whether it was Orek or Patek —he couldn’t really tell them apart. The boy stood up, threw his rock, and then fell to his knees in one quick motion.

Ethan listened for the rock to land but didn’t hear anything. “Too far to the right,” Orek or Patek admitted.

“My turn,” the other twin said. He stood and threw his rock with the same quick motion his brother had used. Ethan heard it land, but it sounded well short of the target.

“I’ll show you how it’s done,” Melki whispered. He leaned out as far as he could and flung his rock with a quick sideways motion. Ethan watched as the front guard jumped and started looking around at the ground in front of him.

Ethan snorted and tried to keep from laughing. The rest of the guys were holding their hands over their mouths and shaking silently.

After a minute or so, Uli said, “Now it’s my turn.” He stood up and took aim, not seeming worried about whether anyone saw him. After a quick windup, he let the rock go.

Ethan heard the sound of the rock hitting the sand, followed by a loud “Ow!”

“What happened?” the man on the platform yelled.

“Something hit me!” the front guard answered. “I think it was a rock.”

“You must have hit him on the bounce,” Tovar whispered to Uli.

“Where did it come from?” the platform guard yelled.

Ethan peeked out from behind the rock and saw the front guard looking all around. “I’m not sure!” the guard yelled back.

Uli gave Ethan a lopsided smile. “Your turn,” he said.

Ethan nodded and took a step back from the boulder. He brought his hand all the way down to his knee and heaved the stone in a high arc. But as soon as he let it go, he knew he’d thrown it too hard.

CLANK!

“You hit the golden calf!” Melki hissed. His eyes were as wide as his smile. The other four guys were grinning too.

The guard on the platform yelled something Ethan didn’t catch. Whatever it was, it scared the other boys enough to send them running in five different directions.

His heart in his throat, Ethan sprang up and ran too. He could hear the guards yelling behind him. He ran as fast as he could all the way to the main path.

When he got there, he stopped and looked around, panting. A lot of people were standing outside their tents, talking and laughing, but none seemed to be paying attention to him. He let out a deep sigh. After a few moments he headed home with a big smile on his face.

Now that’s what freedom is like, he told himself.

His father, mother, and sister were all in bed when he got back to the tent. In the dark Ethan couldn’t tell whether they were asleep. But no one said anything as he made his way to his mat at the back of the tent.

I guess we’ll talk about things in the morning.

It was not a comforting thought.