(aka Bike, est. 2007) Part 2172 by Angharad Copyright © 2013 Angharad
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“I know, build a women’s refuge, they could do with an extra one.”
“And if the church was still there, they’d be bothering the women to join them.”
“But it won’t be will it?”
“Stella, I don’t know–I’m not sure what I want to do now.”
“Cathy, a moment ago you seemed hell bent on extracting maximum revenge.”
“Yeah, but it gets complicated and starts to involve too many people.”
“Ha, with that sort of attitude you’d be drummed out of the Cosa nostra in ten seconds.”
“Stella, what they do in Sicily is hardly of interest to me as long as they leave Taormina alone.”
“Who’s that when they’re at home?”
“A very beautiful place with a huge Roman amphitheatre and Greek theatre.”
“What’s the difference?”
“A couple of hundred years.”
“What?”
“The Greeks predated the Romans.”
“Duh–even I know that.”
“Good, I need to check on the kids.”
“What?”
“You need a hearing test?”
“What?”
I shook my head and told the girls to get ready for bed. They grumbled–they always do. They would if it was midnight. I checked them and then read to them for a bit
“Mummy?” said Trish.
“Yes, darling?”
“Who’s Stephen King?”
“Someone in your school–oops, um I don’t know unless you mean the American author.”
“Yes, he’s the bloke, can we read some of his stuff one night?”
“Um, not really, his stuff is meant for grown-ups, it’s usually considered part of the horror genre.”
“Oh goody, we could do some for Halloween.”
“Trish, this is seriously horrible stuff–I don’t like it, so won’t be reading it to you, for you or any other way. You’re just going to have to wait until you’re grown up to read it, because until then if I see you reading it, I’ll confiscate it. End of discussion.”
The others accepted my decision but Trish had to have a go at me. “How d’you know what’s in there if you haven’t read it?”
“I know well enough and you’re not reading it until you’re older.”
“I’m not a scaredy-cat like you?”
“And I’m not sitting up half the night because you think the bed is crawling with ants or cockroaches.
“Yeeuck,” she gasped and ran off, since she’d been on my case for much of the afternoon and evening, I felt quite happy to have a breathing space for a few minutes.
She’d picked up on my revulsion of a particular author–well we can’t like everyone, can we?
I remembered listening to him being interviewed on the radio, he was signing books or something over here and he did an interview for Radio 4. He was talking about how the best horror was ordinary stuff that just had something tweaked. He spoke about his mother, and that she chewed gum which she used to stick on the bedpost overnight. Well one night a large hairy moth alighted on the gum and got stuck. First thing the next morning she grabbed her gum and shoved it back in her mouth. I winced–I love big hairy moths, usually because I can identify them, but not to eat–ugh.
I never learned if the story was true or apocryphal, but either way it was a horror story, especially for the moth.
I sat and reflected upon my recent life. Danni wanting to be a girl had thrown me, but then when Billie, bless her, had done the same I spent ages trying to undermine her decision because I didn’t believe it, was history repeating itself and could it teach me anything? I sighed, I just wish I knew what I needed to do except protect her and allow her to find her own level.
It was this tolerance of things different that indirectly led to the attack here the other week and my desire to exact revenge upon the church from which the perpetrators came. I had to admit my desire for revenge was waning, I wasn’t the vengeful sort usually. Sadly, I couldn’t just go there and ask them because the chances were that it would be down to some little coterie who were to blame and upsetting the others would be just as childish as them.
I looked up their website and found the telephone number of their pastor–funny that word always sounded more like what they do to milk than someone running a church.
I shut the study door and dialled up the number. I spoke to a woman who answered and asked to speak to Pastor Miles. She told me he was out visiting some very sick, old lady who was in need of spiritual comfort but she took my number and the name I gave her, just Cathy, and promised me she’d ask him to call me back if it wasn’t too late.
I attended to some emails and then made myself some tea. Simon was watching football with Danni, so I left them alone and went back to my computer. The phone rang and I jumped, then reached over and answered it.
“Might I speak to Cathy?” said a very softly spoken voice.
“Speaking.”
“Good evening, this is Pastor Miles, you asked me to call about something urgent.”
“Yes, I’d like to discuss something with you which is not going to be easy for either of us but I’d be grateful if you would talk it through to its end.”
“Goodness, that sounds pretty serious, are you sure a telephone is the right way to discuss this?”
“Yes.”
“Very well, I shall do my best to help you talk this through.”
“Thank you.” This wasn’t going to be easy, he was far nicer than I expected.
“Perhaps you’d like to start.”
“I will. We don’t know each other directly or otherwise yet two of your parishioners caused me and my family some great anxiety and distress a week or two ago.”
“Oh, I begin to think I know who you might be.”
“Please stay with it.”
“Provided this doesn’t get abusive...”
“I have no intention of become anything discourteous, Mr Miles.”
“I don’t know why I should believe you, but I do.”
“My word is my bond.”
“I believe it is, continue.”
“Would you answer me honestly a difficult question?”
“If I can.”
“Thank you. Did you or your congregation send those two men to upset my family?”
“No.”
“Did you know what they intended?”
“Not as such. I knew they were upset that you seemed to turning boys into girls and thought you needed to be stopped. I told them if they felt that they should be talking to social services or even the police.”
“Curry worked for a child protection charity, did you know that?”
“Yes, and advised him that he shouldn’t become involved himself but get social services to investigate.”
“I’d like to correct your misapprehension, I’ve never turned any boys into girls, just given them space to explore gender roles and let them decide what they wanted to do for the future–always with professional advice and support. I don’t like the abuse of children any more than any other parent.”
“I was only going on what they’d told me but I like your explanation better even though I prefer to believe we are what God makes us from the beginning and that can’t be changed.”
“That’s fine, so if your god made me transsexual or gay, adjusting my life accordingly is okay with you?”
“I think you’re twisting my words.”
“No, I’m expressing a reality as I see it.”
“What if God’s intention was to test you?”
“If that was the case I passed, and live happily trying to make several children happy as well.”
“By changing their sex?”
“The only thing I change is the pronouns I use to describe them.”
“I think we’d have to agree to disagree on that one.”
“You’re entitled to your opinion as I am to mine.”
“Indeed, you see yours as originating in love, mine comes from God, the source of all love.”
“Sorry, we’ll have to disagree there.”
“As you wish, Lady Cameron, which I believe is the correct way to address you.”
“Do you see my children as an abomination?”
“Good lord no. No child is an abomination because they are all made in God’s image.”
“You’ve just saved your church.”
“I beg your pardon.”
“Go in peace, Pastor Miles, and please keep your flock away from me and my children or they may get more than sheared next time.”
“I don’t understand.”
“There are many things in this world which are beyond our understanding, good night.” I put the phone down.
It rang almost immediately. “Cathy, dearest.”
“Henry, how are you?”
“I’d be better if I knew what you were planning to visit upon this church.”
“In short, nothing.”
“What? You had old Seagrave twittering all afternoon.”
“My anger has cooled and I see that revenge would be inappropriate.”
“Cathy, you astonish me.”
“How?”
“You just do, now about leaving my idiot son...”
Comments
well, that was a change up
Glad she checked before taking drastic action. while not "accepting/approving" perse, but about the general feeling of most christian faiths towards the Transsexual community, but NOT the rabid hate of those two idiots, at least it appears so. I hope it wasnt just a red herring on his part.
and i guess Henry will never learn, but its part of his charm i guess, lol.
Terri
Teresa L.
They don't let up.
I was evangelical before they murdered me. And for a while, it was just so fun, even arousing to use the Bible to make them eat their words and suffer with their own hypocrisy. Of course, I'd been on my way to Bible College when my loathsome self began to erode away to reveal the real me, so I knew the Bible well enough to turn it on them and use their hate and meanness like a flamethrower turned on them.
Amazingly, today they are just some entity on the shores of a far distant land, stewing in their own sick ways.
G
It's a good jod Henry owns that bank...
... As it's gonna be a long phone call. ;)
I think I can agree with Cathy on Mr. King's works, although I did like the a few.
I'm not sure that Cathy fully believes Pastor Miles, and I wonder if he was toning down his views while speaking to her.
Opening the call,
and then later,
To me says he has some idea who he was dealing with, and might just have 1 or 2 brain cells more than Swithernbank and Curry.
Just gotta love Henry...
I love this 'test' thing they always throw to 'non-believers'
Everything that does not follow their position is a 'test'.
I guess all T-folks who kill themselves failed that test, eh? Tsk Tsk is what they would say.
I wish them all the compassion that they offer all other people who do not fit their arbitrary crazy world view.
Kim
It was nice to see she gave
It was nice to see she gave them church a chance to redeem them selves
https://mewswithaview.wordpress.com/
Sensible, But...
One can only applaud and agree with Cathy's decision not to revenge herself by closing that silly church and having it pulled down, but as a very atheistic atheist, I was really looking forward to her having them removed and pushed into chaos. It could have been a lovely scrap to read about, with commonsense, or raresense as it should be called, triumphant in the end...
Never mind, I'm sure there will be other battles to be fought, and won.
Briar
I remember going to a youth
group, when I was in 'Roman Catholic' school, it was a non-denominational summer meeting, a chance to socialize. The speaker was a Young Priest that cme out wearing a Hawaiian print robe it was so strange after the year at the school they only ever wore black.
Well the first thing he did was Rile everyone, "We are all called to be Catholic." and there were a lot of teens there that were not Roman Catholic. "Yes Catholic means universal, I did not say Roman Catholic, just that Jesus wants us to Love one another." so he was very good at bringing that mixed group of teens closer together.
Even this young pagan I had been to to circles and found that sharing Love and Light was so good for me. It is important that we have some sort of belief, weather it be Science, cosmic muffin, God or Goddess, for our beliefs guide us, and our love makes us grow. sorry about being so preachy
Goddess Bless you
Love Desiree
Where
d'you sign up for the Cosmic Muffin?
Angharad
Sounds a lot more ...
... yummy than the Flying Spaghetti Monster so sign me up too :)
Robi
The idea
of eating your god if he fails to deliver is a good one - hang about, Christians do that regularly (if transubstantiation works).
The best communion story I heard was of a young woman who insisted on taking communion even though she hadn't been confirmed. She took a sip of the communion wine and lost her contact lens in it - dunno what happened to it, wonder if the officiating priest swallowed it? Apparently the insurance company paid for new set of lenses so obviously didn't consider it an act of god.
Angharad
It would only be an act of God
If the wind blew it out of her eye. Insurance companies consider wind damage to be an act of God. Falling is just nature apparently. Don't ask me where they distinction comes from, but I found it out the hard way when a sign blew off of the front of a building and landed on the roof of my car.
Since it blew down, they didn't cover the damage as an act of God. If it had simply fallen it was covered. I guess gravity is a force of nature, but wind is a force of God?
Dallas
D. Eden
Dum Vivimus, Vivamus
I asked that same question when I was younger.
I was raised as a Lutheran, and as Martin Luther was excommunicated from the Roman Catholic church for pointing out the failings of the church and advocating for change, I found it strange that we still used the phrase "one holy Catholic and apostolic church" when reciting the Nicene Creed.
It was explained to me at that time that the word catholic did in fact mean universal, and that although we still had our major differences with the Roman Catholic church, Martin Luther still believed in one God and one universal church.
As I grew older and married into the Roman Catholic church - not converted, but married a Roman Catholic woman (my ex), I realized that no matter our differences he was right. We all strive for the same basic things, whether Christian, Muslim, Wiccan, or other faith. The importance is to live what you believe no matter what your call, and to keep the evil in the world from perverting your beliefs for their personal gain. Evil runs in all faiths and all religions - it plays no favorites. It is our commitment as human beings to fight evil and make a better place for those around us.
This is what I believe and what I fought for.
Dallas
D. Eden
Dum Vivimus, Vivamus
One thing I learned at a very young age ...
... from my father was not to hold grudges. My maternal grandmother could have hated for England and after my mother died from complications caused by an ectopic pregnancy she never forgave my father. He tried to reconcile for my sake to no avail. It did her nothing but harm and she died an embittered old woman.
I had no idea what sort of stories Stephen King wrote until someone bought me one for Christmas. It started out fine and I quite liked his fiction style but then it got silly and magical and I gave up reading. Real horror is 'The Wicker Man'. It was a free DVD with the Guardian a few years ago and I watched it one evening when my wife was away. I loved the beginning with a seaplane circling and landing (seaing?) by a beautiful Scottish island. It gradually gets stranger until the horrific and unsettling climax. Nothing in the story is something that couldn't actually happen given the right people in the right environment - that's what makes it so unsettling. Stephen King is just silly.
Robi
Nice to see
Cathy react in the way i hoped she would , Whilst its always nice to get a little revenge, Its also very important you get the right person, Imagine how Cathy would have felt if she had discovered more about the church after she had put her plans in motion , Thankfully though Cathy has proved herself to be a better person than Swithinbank and Curry At least she thought before she acted...
Kirri
Forgive?
yes; sometimes ... perhaps oft-times even, but never, never, never forget. A lesson properly learned, is a lesson never forgotten.
Bevs.