Monday, June 16, 2014

You and Brunhilde at The Dead Salamander


[The fourth of six vignettes in the publication The Withered Grape which describe picture scenes in navigating self denial and self control through the seas of legalism and freedomism.] 

Orlando stood at the counter. You hoped he would join you at your table by the window. Then you saw her - Brunhilde Smythe.

Worse! She saw you!

Her eyebrows popped up. She tapped on the glass and motioned for you to meet her outside.

“Really,” she says as you approach. “This is very disappointing. I heard you had been seen here, but I hoped it wasn’t true.”

You open your mouth. She continues, “There are people who look up to you; and for you to be seen in a place like this creates confusion.”

No one contradicts Mrs. Smythe. That’s why you are surprised at the sound of your own voice.

“As a matter of fact, Ma’am, Jesus confused folks about where he hung out, too.”

Undaunted, she presses on. “Jesus is Jesus.”

“True, but Jesus told a lot of us not-Jesus folks to follow him. Seems like he would have said something about making real-life contact with sinners being an exception? And, I have friends from church and we watch out for each other.”

“I’ll overlook your rudeness,” she sniffed. “You’re young, after all."

“You will not overlook it. You never overlook anything that doesn’t fit into your picture of the way things should be. And you're only forty-something. Mr. Reynolds is sixty-two and he's a deacon and he encourages me to..."

She sniffs. “I tell things the way they are."

“No, ma’am. You tell things the way you think they are. That isn’t always the same thing.”

Her head goes back. She looks down her nose. “I see being here has already taught you to be disrespectful.”

“Reading my Bible has taught me not to bow to something that’s not true just because somebody tries to bully me. I’m sorry you don’t approve of my being here, but, honestly, when I open my Bible every morning I don’t ask God to show me your will for my life.” 





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