Chapter 3: Monday I

Stephen drove to the front of the church and nearly drove by before noticing the front door was left ajar. He parked, walked into the empty foyer and noticed a door open in the alcove to the left that said “The Fellowship Room” on it.

In and out. A quick chat and I’m out of there.

He opened the door wider and saw Laura, standing by a coffee table, who turned to face him with a tight smile. They stared at each other for a long moment.

“Laura?”

“Stephen. I was hoping you would make it.”

“Am I in the right room?”

“Oh yes, the Fellowship Room. This is the place.”

Laura did not greet him as she would have any other guest, with a warm Christian hug, but instead busied herself arranging and rearranging items on the table. She talked quickly in a nervous chatter, without taking a breath and only stopped when she ran out of air.

“Yes, hello, please sit down; make yourself comfortable, my husband sends his sincerest apologies. He was called away to minister to a sick member of our parish in the hospital who took a turn for the worse apparently, and since we had no way of contacting you, he sent me in his place in case you or any other new member might drop by, since the Monday meeting for new members is advertised on our newsletter and website. I know I am a poor substitute for Reverend Roger and I know you were expecting to meet with him, and I could get his secretary to call you to reschedule a meeting, but I’m afraid it could not be until next week at the earliest. He’s leaving on a five city book tour tomorrow to promote his new book, “Lessons in Life”. Five cities in five days, he always says when he goes off on these book tours. Five cities in five days. He won’t be back until Saturday evening…”

“How exciting,” Stephen said, smiling, as Laura caught her breath.

“Have you read any of his other books?” “Lessons in Love” or “Lessons in Marriage?” Laura asked.

“Catchy titles, but no, I haven’t.”

“My husband is very proud of them. “Lessons in Love”, his first book, was a bestseller among Christian publications. His second book “Lessons in Marriage” is said to have helped many young married couples through some rough patches… Are you married, Stephen?”

Why did I ask him that? It’s none of my business.

“No… I had a girlfriend a few years ago, but never married… Anyway, he seems like a really great guy, Laura.”

“Yes.”

“Do you have any kids?”

“No not yet. But, maybe one day soon. My husband is always saying how he wants to “put a bun in the oven”.

Oh God, why did I tell him that? Too much information.

Laura sat stiffly in a folding chair during the awkward pause in the conversation, with crossed legs and a forced smile.

“Well, Laura, to answer your question, I don’t need to reschedule the appointment. I’m happy to talk to you. In fact, it’s a very pleasant surprise for me. And you are not a poor substitute.”

Stephen stared at Laura and smiled. Trying to escape from his gaze, she turned her back to him and faced the coffee table.

“Would you like a little sweetie, Stephen?” she asked.

Stephen stared at her faded blue jeans that hugged her trim figure, his eyes lingering on the sensual curves of her cheeks.

Yes, Laura, I would like to have a little sweetie.

Images of forcibly taking her from behind on top of the coffee table played out in his mind. Pulling her jeans down her legs, ripping her panties off, coffee cups flying off the table, shattering on the floor, pastries grinding into their skin, grabbing her hair roughly with one hand while pinning her body down by the neck with the other and thrusting and thrusting himself into her over and over and over until… Stephen took a deep breath and adjusted the growing bulge in his pants while her back was turned.

Down boy, be good, we’re in church, for god’s sake.

“Oh, no thank you, Laura.”

Laura turned to face him.

“How about one of these mini-hotdog appetizer thingies?”

“No thanks, Laura, I’m a vegetarian.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”

“That’s OK.”

“Would you like a cup of tea or coffee?

“Oh, no thank you.”

“Are you certain? I mean, it would be no trouble, really, I don’t mind”-

“You’re very kind, Laura, but no thank you,” Stephen said.

Stephen and Laura exchanged a long awkward moment.

“Actually I just dropped by for a moment really. It turns out my job is transferring me to another town back east so I will be leaving California soon.”

Laura’s chest visibly dropped. She seemed to be truly disappointed.

“Oh… that’s too bad. When are you leaving?”

“Well, they said it might be in just a few short weeks from now.”

“Oh... But, I was going to introduce you to all the people here.”

“Yes, well, duty calls I guess. Thank you for the nice chat Laura. I really should be going.”

Stephen turned toward the door.

“Can you stay awhile to talk, if you’re not too busy? It’s just that I’m stuck here until 8PM and it’s only 7:20 and it doesn’t look as if anyone else is going to show. Will you stay and keep me company?” Laura asked impulsively.

“Will I get points in heaven for doing that?”

“Yes, you will.”

“Then I guess I better stay...”

They stared at each other for a prolonged time, as if words were unnecessary between them. Then Laura abruptly broke the stare.

“I know what we can do to pass the time. Why don’t you tell me how you ended up becoming a Christian?”

“Oh, I’m not sure we should go there, Laura.”

“What do you mean? Why not?”

“It’s just that my story is, how shall I put it, uh… rather sexual.”

“Oh. You needn’t feel ashamed to tell me. I’d never judge you.”

“I certainly don’t want to offend you.”

“I’m sure I won’t be offended.”

“You know, Laura, let’s be honest. Do you want to be honest with me?”

“I thought we were being honest.”

“It’s just that if I open up to you now and tell you this story, it may open a door for you, and there is the risk that in going through it, the door may close behind you and you may not be able to find your way back home…”

“Well, wow… I’m not quite sure I know what you mean, but, as I said, you needn’t worry Stephen. No matter what happened, I would never judge you. I know I might look like a prude, but please believe me, deep down, I want you to know, I’m not that kind of person…”

Stephen took a deep breath in and exhaled.

“OK, Laura, I’ll tell you the story I’ve never told anyone before. I’ll tell you exactly how I happened to become a Christian and I won’t leave out a single detail. Actually, it will be good to finally tell someone. I’ve tried to sort this out over the years, with no success.”

“I know we’ve just met, but… you can trust me, Stephen.”

“I know I can. I feel like I can trust you, even though we just met. So, in ninth grade, when I was around thirteen years old, I was cast in the junior high school musical, “Oliver”!

Laura’s eyes widened and she sat up excitedly on the edge of her chair, smiling.

“I love that show! I don’t mean to interrupt, but are you interested in the theater?”

“Oh yes. Very much so.”

“Me too. I’m a Drama Major from Cal State.”

“B.F.A. in Drama from St. Mary’s.”

“This is just amazing. You’re a drama major! I had a feeling we had a lot in common.”

“I did too, Laura.”

“I’m sorry, Stephen. Go on. I promise I won’t interrupt again…”

“Well, a very pretty Latin-American girl, Elizabeth, the older sister of a classmate, came to see me in the musical. She was two or three years older than me, she seemed to like me. We started calling each up on the phone, flirting as kids that age will do. One evening I told her I was stronger than her and she said she was stronger than me and I told her how I could beat her in a wrestling match so she challenged me to do it. Since her parents were away for the evening, she invited me to come over that night. I took her up on the challenge, went to her house and we went down into her basement and began wrestling. Though I think she may have been stronger than me, she let me win after rolling around on the floor and I ended up on top of her, pinning her arms to the floor. I remember it was hot in her basement, I was sweating. I didn’t know what to do, I just stared at her, and that’s when she kissed me, my first kiss. I wrote about it in my journal.”

“You keep a journal?” Laura interrupted, captivated by his story.

“Yes, for years.”

“So do I…”

“Do you tell it all your deep dark secrets, Laura?” Stephen asked, smiling.

I will now.

“Mostly just girlish gossip. I don’t have any deep dark secrets, I’m afraid."

“Do you ever go back over entries you wrote in the past?”

“Sometimes.”

“Well, I’ve always wished I could reread what I wrote that night, but I can’t since I burned that page out of the journal, singeing the hairs off two of my fingers the very next day, in a fit of religious fervor and shame…”

“You burned that page out of your journal?”

“As if it never happened…”

“Go on, Stephen.”

“So, after she kissed me, I felt embarrassed. I had these strange feelings I didn’t understand and never had before. I felt ashamed and ran up the basement steps and out the front door. My school classmate, her brother, Alex, heard me run out the front door. He ran after me and asked what was wrong with me. I told him what happened with his sister and how sorry I was and how guilty I felt about it. Then out of his back pocket Alex handed me a little booklet called, “The 3 Deadly Sins, The 3 Paths of Righteousness”. Born-Again Christianity had been sweeping through our junior high school; Alex had become a born-again Christian, and said that if I read the tract Jesus Christ would forgive me of my sins. As I walked home I read the little booklet. I was thirteen, I liked comic books, and this tract had a colorful drawing of a multitude of sinners in agony falling into a sea of flames who did not accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. The next page showed how those believers who chose to accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior had risen toward the heavens with arms outstretched, receiving the gift of everlasting life.