Chapter 20: Revelation

August 22, 1981, West Monroe, Ohio

"What do you want to do today?" I asked Becky as we walked to my car.

"Anything you want."

"Anything?" I smirked.

"Like saying that was really a risk?"

"You never know," I chuckled. "What if it's all been an act?"

"HAS it all been an act?" she asked in a silly tone as I opened the passenger door for her.

"Of course not!" I said, closing the door.

I walked around the car, got in, started the engine, and backed out.

"Not implying anything," Becky said quietly, "but would it be so terrible?"

"What?"

"Me. You."

"I hadn't really thought about it," I said. "How about we get some coffee?"

"Sure," she said, then after a short pause, asked, "Do you think I'm pretty?"

"Yes."

I pulled into the lot at the coffee shop in West Monroe, and we went inside and got a booth. The waitress immediately filled our cups, and we declined food, then continued our interrupted conversation.

"As pretty as my sister?" Becky asked.

"I think you're asking the wrong question."

"What do you mean?"

"There's WAY more to attraction than just being what my friend Dale calls a 'sex bomb'."

"Like Raquel Welch?"

I laughed, "There is NOBODY like Raquel Welch! Well, maybe Brigitte Bardot!"

"Not Marilyn Monroe?"

"Well, it may be that Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, but I think those other two are sexier. But that's just me."

"So, what do you mean by 'more to it'?"

"Would YOU have sex with some random hot guy who asked you to?"

"Of course not!"

"Why?"

She laughed, "Never mind. I guess not all guys think the same way."

"Actually, we do! It's a question of acting on it or not!"

"Interesting. You thought about doing it with my sister?"

"I thought she was hot until she started talking. That kind of killed it for me."

"I need to figure out what makes you immune to her and develop a vaccine!"

"I have standards," I said firmly.

"So, what does a girl have to do to go to bed with you?"

"Are we talking hypothetically here? Or did I totally miss something?"

"Would you just answer the question, please?"

"I never thought about it in quite those terms. It's always been more about whether I would do it with this person or not. For me, unlike your sister, apparently, the usual answer is 'not'."

"Usual?"

"I'm not a virgin. I won't say more than that because it's not appropriate."

"I understand. But how do you decide?"

"I guess it's a combination of physical, emotional, and romantic attraction. And obviously the willingness of the other person. I'd be concerned about motives, too."

"Motives?"

"You remember I said I broke up with my girlfriend because of church?"

"Yes."

"She offered to have sex in an attempt to keep me, or get me back, or whatever you want to call it. But if I had done that, she would have assumed that meant we were a permanent couple and would eventually marry."

"Which you couldn't do because of church. But that's weird! She'd have sex with you but not go to church with you?"

"I hadn't quite thought of it that way, but that does distill it down to the basics."

"Those priorities seem mixed up!"

"Yes and no. You go to a Bible church, right?"

"Yes. Well, a Baptist one tomorrow morning."

"Finish your coffee, and I'll take you to my church. I'm pretty sure you'll see my point."

"It's open?"

"I have a set of keys until tomorrow morning. Ever since I could drive, I've been going to church early so I could set up for services. Then I assist our pastor."

"I can't think of a much safer place to go than a church!" she laughed.

We finished our coffee and headed to Holy Transfiguration. We went in the side door, and Becky wrinkled her nose.

[

]

"What's that smell?"

"Incense. Everything here smells like that."

I led her into the nave, and she gasped.

"Whoa!" she said in a loud whisper. "This is, well, I don't even KNOW what it is!"

"Overwhelming? That's the usual thing we hear from Protestants when they visit."

"I don't even know what to say! Can you explain?"

"I'll try. Let me light a votive candle for my friend Jocelyn first."

"Huh? What good does THAT do?"

I ignored Becky's question and went to the stand in the back of the church, dropped the proper donation in the box, then went through the process of lighting the candle from the eternal flame in the altar and quietly saying the prayer for the sick. I went back to stand next to Becky in the middle of the nave.

"Do you pray?" I asked.

"Sure."

"Me too. That's what I just did. The candle is symbolic."

"But you put it in front of that picture," she pointed. "I guess that's Mary? You prayed to her? Why?"

I smiled and answered gently, "I prayed WITH her, not TO her. She and I prayed to God together."

"What?!"

"I asked her to intercede on Jocelyn's behalf. What better way to communicate with a nice Jewish boy than asking his mom to convince him to help?"

"Get out of here!" Becky laughed. "That's hilarious!"

"And it's also true. Mary can't do anything more than I can — ask God to honor our prayers. But even then, it's not that simple. The most basic Orthodox prayer is the 'Jesus prayer' — O Lord, Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner. It's not asking for ANYTHING other than God's mercy. That's our usual way to pray. If we pray for the President, for example, we ask, 'Lord have mercy'. If we pray for healing, we ask, 'Lord, have mercy'. That's the normal Orthodox mode of prayer."

"And all these pictures? And candles? And the incense?"

"The pictures are called icons, and I'm sure you'll know this phrase — they represent the 'great cloud of witnesses' that surround us. The incense and candles symbolize prayer. And I don't pray to an icon or worship an icon. I reverence them like you saw me kiss the icon when we came in."

"But that's idolatry!"

"Is it?" I asked gently. "I know the person represented isn't God. Let me ask you a question. Do you babysit?"

"Sure; that's how I earned my spending money back in Grand Rapids."

"Did you ever see a baby kiss a photograph of his mom or dad?"

"Yes."

"What was he kissing? The photo? Or the idea behind it?"

"I'm not getting your point."

"The baby doesn't know anything other than that piece of photographic paper represents his mom or dad. When he kisses it, it's like he's kissing them. Only later on is he taught differently. That it's 'just' a symbol. But in Greek, 'symbol' means something close to 'put together'. So, the two realities are brought together. Mine, in the present, and the Saint in the past AND the future."

"This is kind of mind-blowing. My pastor back home would have a field day with this! It makes the Roman Catholic church in our old neighborhood look downright Protestant!"

"The Roman church used to be more like this before they changed everything with Vatican II."

"How do you know all this stuff? Are you a minister?"

"Not a chance! I learned all that in Sunday School, from listening to Father Herman's homilies on Sundays and from studying to be a catechist — a teacher. And reading the prayers throughout the year. I do help out, but I'm not ordained or tonsured."

"Tonsured?"

"A ceremony to make you an official Reader. It's just a blessing and a snip of your hair, but they used to really cut your hair in a significant way. Reader and subdeacon are minor orders. Then come deacon, priest, and bishop. I'm what's called an acolyte. I just help out by doing whatever I'm told to do. Well, and I teach, too, but only with the priest's permission."

"I think I can see why your ex-girlfriend refused to come here."

"Then I've made my point. Ready?"

"No, actually. It may be overwhelming, but I'm still trying to take it all in. Five minutes?"

"Sure."

I stood quietly while she walked around the nave and looked at the icons, the chanter's stand with the service books, the candles, and everything else. She walked up to the icon screen.

"What's behind there?"

"The altar. I can't let you in because only Orthodox men are allowed in there."

"Men only?"

"Yes. But I bet you anything you care to wager, your church only has male pastors."

"True. But what's with the curtain behind those doors in the middle?"

"It's open during the services. It's like the temple in the Old Testament that was veiled except for the priests. Come tonight, and you can see."

"I think my dad would have a heart attack if he even knew I was here just checking it out."

"Then we won't tell him," I said.

We left the church and got back into my car. I headed for Rutherford, as that was where anything we might want to do would be.

"That was totally weird. But it was cool, too. You've gone to that church for your whole life?"

"I was baptized in that church, and there's a good chance I'll be married in it. I've known the priest since I was about five. The priest who baptized me died when I was five, and then Father Herman and his wife came to our parish."

"Wife?"

"Unlike the Roman Catholics, we ordain married men, and they have children. After all, doesn't the Bible ask how a man who can't shepherd his own family could shepherd the flock of God?"

"They always told us Catholics, and I guess they would lump you in with them, didn't use the Bible."

I laughed, "I hate to break this news to you, but the Bible you have is the one collected and arranged by the Orthodox Church. Well, minus the books that were removed during the Reformation."

"Removed? There are only 66 books!"

"I think if you do a bit of reading, you'll find that's not the case. Do we REALLY want to spend the morning discussing theology?"

"No! But it's just I've never seen anything like that before in my life!"

"Visitors are always welcome. I'd be happy to take you when I'm home if you wanted to check out a service."

"I couldn't tell my dad, though. Does the girl you're seeing come to church with you?"

"No, but again, we're not at that point. She's not opposed, though."

Which was true about Emmy. And Jocelyn, of course, had already agreed. The more I thought about it, it really did have to be a criterion BEFORE I got even reasonably serious with a girl. The point was moot if things with Jocelyn worked the way we hoped. The same was probably true about Emmy. And, of course, Tasha wasn't an issue at all. I wondered how I could raise that issue with a girl early in our relationship. Well, assuming I actually dated in McKinley, which was, as I'd said to Emmy, something I hadn't really thought about.

"So what do you want to do?" Becky asked.

"I thought I'd leave that up to you."

"I figured you only had a few days left and might have something in mind."

"Not really. Want to play mini golf?"

"OK."

I headed to the mini-golf course, and we had a blast playing. Becky was WAY better at mini-golf than she was at pool, and it was a close game. I managed to eke out a one-stroke victory on a purely lucky shot on the second-to-last hole. When we finished, we went to Wendy's for lunch and then headed back to West Monroe, where I walked Becky home, then went into the house to take a quick shower and dress for Dale's party. I let Mom know I was headed out again, then drove to Emmy's house to pick her up and then to Dale's.

"Did you get him a gift?" Emmy asked as I parked along the road in front of Dale's house.

"Yes. I thought about a case of rubbers but decided on a new calculator. He broke his the last week of school. I made sure his mom knew I was buying it for him."

Emmy laughed, "A case of rubbers?"

"I think Dale will find MANY willing partners in Madison."

"Why?"

"Every year, they have kids who graduated within the past couple of years come back and talk about college and living away from home. You know, so you have an idea what it's going to be like. If half the stories are even half true, college students have a LOT of sex! Dale's a nice guy, and I guess he's decent-looking. What do you think?"

"He's not bad, I guess. Is Stacey going to be here?"

"I think so. He was holding on until the last second! With everything that's been going on in the last week, I haven't had much chance to talk to him. He's been busy with family stuff. You know, seeing relatives, that kind of thing, because he's going to be gone. I'm hoping he can go to Columbus with me on Tuesday afternoon."

"Can I come see you on Wednesday?"

"Sure. I'm leaving the house around 9:00am. Just come before then, and you can say 'goodbye'!"

"And you'll be back for Labor Day?"

"Yes. I'll come home on Sunday, so if you want to go out Sunday night, we can. And then on Monday."

"My dad is grilling out on Monday. I need to be there, but Mom said I could invite you."

"What time?"

"1:00pm."

"I'll be there!"

"What about seeing Jocelyn?"

"Until I talk to her on Tuesday, I won't really know any details. But I can manage to drive up to see her from McKinley pretty often."

"How long will she be in the hospital?"

"I have no clue."

We got out of the car and walked up the long driveway to the house, then along a brick walk to the backyard, where a couple of dozen people were gathered. I recognized some of the guys from school, but most of the rest appeared to be relatives. I saw Dale talking to a couple of girls about our age, and Emmy and I walked over to them.

"Mike! These are my cousins Jen and Beth, from Indiana. Jen, Beth, this is my best friend Mike and his girlfriend Emmy."

"Hi!" Emmy and I both said, and I handed Dale his present.

"My mom spoiled this," he said. "I was going to buy a calculator last week, and she stopped me. Sorry."

I shrugged, "We gave up believing in Santa Claus a long time ago! When's the last time you were REALLY surprised by a present?"

"When I was six, I think!" he laughed. "Parents are pretty predictable. I'll just put this inside. Grab some drinks and snacks, and have fun!"

Emmy and I went to a table and got some chips, then got pop from a cooler and went to talk to Al and Frank, two guys who graduated with us that Dale and I were friends with. I saw Dale and Stacey back talking to his cousins.

"All set for medical school?" Frank asked.

"In about four years! I have to finish my undergrad in biochemistry first. How about you? All set for the University of Maine and playing hockey?"

"I AM going to get an education!" he laughed. "If I thought I could play in the NHL, I'd have gone to Canada a few years ago. Some kids get drafted out of college, but the NHL is like 80% Canadian, and a lot of the US guys who play went to play in Canada at some point. Hockey is just my way of not racking up debt like a madman while getting my degree in accounting."

"Or a future doctor," I sighed. "Al, I forgot where you're going."

"Harvard. Pre-law. My dad is an alum, so I could get in fairly easily, and there is money available. Otherwise, it would be OSU or WHTU."

"Where's April?" Frank asked.

"We broke up right after Prom," I said. "This is Emmy. We've been dating for a couple of months."

"Oh, uh, sorry," he said, looking down.

"Why?" Emmy laughed. "It's no secret Mike was dating April! And I'm here with him, not her, so what's to be jealous about?"

"Nothing, I guess. I didn't realize you two were a couple."

"Don't worry about it! I don't think Mike took out an ad in the paper or hired a skywriter! Though maybe he should have!"

"Don't get TOO full of yourself, Miss Nelson!" I teased.

She giggled, put her lips close to my ear, and whispered, "Just wait until October!"

I shook my head and put my arm around her. It was a bit of a juggling act with my RC and chips, but I managed. We hung out until just before 5:00pm, when I hugged Dale and promised I'd call to keep him updated on Jocelyn. He'd decided he needed to leave for Madison, and because there was no guarantee about visiting Jocelyn, it didn't make sense to hang out any longer.

"I'm going to miss you," I said.

"We'll keep in touch," he said. "And I'll see you at Thanksgiving."