bedroom galilee clive barker bathroom amy and isabelle elizabeth strout car/walk evening susan minot
office look sharp! joe jackson lilith fair 2, 3 various car more tales from the city [book-on-tape] armistead maupin living room the sci fi channel
brand x the message came from out of the blue: Brand X welcomes you into its clutches.
1999 june 17
like an angel
this was probably the last time anyone willingly listened to me sing.
to pacify my grandparents, we went to church when we were children. i don't remember too much of it, just the special children's sermon given right before the regular longwinded adult sermon. the pastor would call all the children to the front of the church, where we would sit on the same steps i am standing on in the picture. then he'd tell a little story, teach us a little lesson and send us back to our parents, along with a roll of lifesavers. i always thought this was a brilliant maneuver; we were so busy scarfing down the candies we didn't have time to be bored during the sermon. and by the time the sugar was kicking in, the services would be over and our parents, rather than the pastor, would have to deal with us.
when i was about six, my mother had a significant falling out with some of the other mothers, over some overtly racist statements they were making. she refused to return to the church, but allowed my grandparents to drag me and jubilee along on sundays. the boys were too small for my grandparents to deal with so they missed out on all the old time religion. i personally didn't care what we had to sit through because i knew after the services, we would go get something to eat.
if we had been particularly well behaved, we went to the officers' club and had brunch. the place intimidated me with its real linens and fresh flowers in the huge ladies room and tuxedoed waiters serving up the food, but i did so love it as well. i always ordered the breaded shrimp; i can still taste them and the tangy cocktail sauce they were served with.
if we hadn't been so well behaved, we stopped and picked up hamburgers or chicken or some such convenience food. that was fine by me as well; we rarely had fast food as children so it was almost as much a treat as the sit down brunch.
i don't remember why we finally stopped going with the grandparents on sundays. maybe we all got bored with it. or maybe the boys were getting old enough to want to go and the thought of four of us chattering away in the car and at lunch was too much.
i have a doctor's appointment this afternoon. let's all hope he doesn't tell me i am dying from some dread disease.
as it was in the beginning, it now and ever shall be, world without end, amen, amen*, claire
* one of only two hymnlike things i remember, the other being: praise god from whom all blessings flow, praise him all creatures here below, praise him above ye heavenly host, praise father son and holy ghost. amen.
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