Lunch

Lunch

Joey stepped from the elevator just in time to see Sister Jesse locking the door to her office.

He hurried to catch up with her. “Good Morning Jesse” , he called.

The Nun stopped and turned to see the well dressed man striding toward her. His gratuitous smile is first noticed then his anticipating eyes. His eyes reveal an expectation that makes one want to pause and befriend.

“Good Morning Mr. Sokol”, she replied.

“Good to see you. Do you have a couple of minutes”, he asked.

“I’m on my way to lunch.”

“Great, may I join you?”, he asked

“You buying?”

Joey laughed, “Yes, I would insist”. Together they started for the cafeteria.

“You’re lucky Mr. Sokol, on Thursdays they serve Lasagna and believe me it is to die for”.

He smiled at her expression of how good the food must be.

“Then thats what I’ll have. And you can call me Joey”, he replied.

The food aromas swirl in the hallway leading to their destination and they are tempting but he wasn’t really hungry, having earlier downed two shots of Jack Black; then a spicey Burrito to curb the Black Jack rumbling in his sensitive stomach.

Jesse picked up a tray and began filling it with her choices of food items. Joey followed choosing exactly the items as she except he chose Black Raspberry Jello squares opposed to her Lime.

“I read some scripture last night”, he stated as they moved forward in line.

“That’s wonderful” Jesse replied. 

His slightly askew smile tipped her that he’ll be testing her again. Joey makes no pretense that he is atheistic and he is adamant that the Bible is rife with contradictons and misinterpetations thus cannot be wholly believed. He  delights in arguing scripture, claiming he is able to prove Biblical untruths and uses Jesse as his sounding board. His arguments usually fail due to his misconceptions and lack of in-depth Biblical investigation.

The food server slipped a portion of Lasagna onto the Nun’s plate.

Joey continued, “Yeah, it was in Deuteronomy”.

He too is served a portion of Lasagna. The dish looks delicious but right now food doesn’t parallel  with the current malaise of his stomach. Even the aromas have turned against him. Bromo Seltzer would be a better fit.

Jesse chose a table and they sat down, soon empty tables fill  as the noonhour crowd file in. 

“Wait until you dig into the Lasagna” she said while unwrapping her silverware.

Joey smiled and nodded supressing the nut of nausea forming in his bowels.

“Anyway”, he began, but the Nun had begun her mealtime prayer. He waited impatiently until she placed her napkin on her lap.

“I want to show you how topsy-turvey it can be when reading the Bible. In too many instances what is read isn’t what it means. Listen, I didn’t search for a topic or a certain book, just randomly opened to a page and began reading”

“Would you pass the salt please”. Jesse interrupted. Joey is baffled at how her involvement with food superceeds scripture. He slides the shaker across the table and continues. 

“In Deuteronomy God describes how he will curse His people if they don’t follow His commands”. He reaches into his breast pocket and takes out a small notebook.

“I wrote some of his anger down”. Joey begins reading from his list.

“The Lord will plague you with diseases, strike you with fever and inflamation. The Lord will bring drought, blight, mildew and scorching heat. The Lord will cause you to be defeated by your enemies and your carcuses will be food for birds of the air and beasts of the field”.

“Ketchup?”, Jesse pointed to the condiment that was out of her reach. Again, perplexed by her passivity he handed over the Ketchup, this time with comment, “Are you listening to any of this?”

“Definitely”, replied the Nun.

He looks back to his list.

“The Lord will afflict you with boils and tumors, festering sores and the itch that cannot be cured.

The Lord will afflict you with madness, blindness and confusion of mind”. Joey looked up from his list to see Jesse squirting streams of ketchup onto the surface of her Lasgana.

“And get this, a woman will be pledged in marriage but another will ravish her”. He scanned her face for reaction to this statement, but there was none. His frustration is obvious, so is the growing ache in his lower stomach.

“Jesse, here is your God telling His people what terible anguish awaits them should they disobey Him. How do we interpet this scripture?. As scare tactics? We know that a father would never actually put his ‘children’ through this horrendous grief”.

“It gets worse”, Jesse said taking a mouthful of Lasgana.

“Worse?”

Jesse removes a Bible from her habit and opens it to Deuteronomy.

Joey is flabbergasted, “You just happen to have a Bible with you?”

Jesse looks up and fronts the crucifix that hangs from the chain around her neck “Duh! A Nun?”

He nods embarrasingly and sees Ketchup collected in the corners of her mouth.

Jesse searches the pages, “Here, Deut 28:53. God warns, because of the suffering the enemy inflicts you will eat the fruit of the womb”. Jesse paused observing the flustered look on the face opposite her.

“Fruit of the womb?” Joey leaned in speaking low and slow. “You’re not inferring . . .?”

Jesse glanced back to the verse her finger rested on. “The flesh of your sons and daughters”.

Joey’s face crumpled with distaste.

The Nun continued reading “Even the most sensitive and gentle man will not share the flesh of his children with his brother, wife or his remaining children”.

Joey was sure his gurgling stomach could be heard by those seated at nearby tables.

“Did you see the notes of reference Mr Sokol?” Jesse turned her Bible so he could see where she pointed.

“2Kings Chapter 6 Verse 28-29”. A crumb of meat fell from her mouth as her fingers sped to the book 2Kings and traced down to verse 28”. Her ceiling aimed finger signified ‘listen’ as she read.

“The woman cried out to the King and he asked her what is the matter. She answered, “This woman said to me ‘Give up your son so we may eat him today, and tomorrow we’ll eat my son”.  Jesse’s  voice is ‘matter of fact’. “So we cooked my son and ate him. The next day I said to her ‘give up your son now so we can eat him. But she had hidden him”. Joey is speechless. He has forgotten what his current inditement of the Bible is and concentrates more on his inflamed stomach, he pushes away his tray. Jesse looks up from her reading. Her smile reveals a smear of  Ketchup and meat bits clinging to the surface of her teeth. “Aren’t you going to eat your Lasgana Mr. Sokol?” He shakes his head ‘no’ and the Nun asks, “May I?”. Joey stares at her messy face and nods ‘yes’. She places the dish onto her empty plate then using her fork elevates the top sheet of pasta from the rest, “I’ll bet the tender flesh of a cooked child would fall right off the bone”, she said. He sickened watching the pale slab topple to the side of the plate, and the inevitable pump of his stomach filled his throat with the horrible rush of hot bile. He leaned forward cupping his mouth, desperately fighting back the surge of sour that threatened to spurt forth. “Mr. Sokol, are you okay?”, asked the Nun.Gratefully the mash receded  giving him a sense of reprieve.and he nodded ‘yes’. Along with his discomfort Joey is livid knowing that his condition is apparent to the Nun and he exclaims weakly. “If what you are reading is true then your God is barbaric and mean and those people are sick . . .or . . .or . . .plain stupid for worshiping Him!”.

Jesse’s eyebrows raise, “Are  you going to eat that Jello?”

“What!”, Joey doesn’t attempt to hide his astonishment. “No! You can have it!”

With a fork she stabs a square of his Raspberry Jello and blends it with her Lime.

Joey winced, “That’s disgusting Jesse”.

“Let’s return to Deuteronomy and continue following your interest Mr. Sokol”. Jesse spoons a glob of mixed Jello into her mouth and smiles to Joey.

“Here we go, Deut 28:57. The most gentle and sensitive woman among you will begrudge the husband she loves and her own son or daughter the issue from her womb”.

Joey comments sarcastically, “So no family meal huh? They can’t partake of  a cooked babys leg?”

Jesse looks into his reddened face, “This refers to her afterbirth”. Joey hesitated trying to visualize the reality of her statement, then jumped from his chair. “AFTERBIRTH!” , he shouted angerily, attracting all heads to turn.

“Mr. Sokol, do you realize the nutritional value in afterbi……”

“Jesus Christ!!,  Joey continued shouting and sprinted away. He swerved around tables, his cupped mouth failing to stem the bile streaming through tightened fingers. Out of sight all eyes return to Jesse. The Nun calmly wipes her mouth, cleans her teeth with her tongue and pleasingly mutters ….”Touche, Mr. Sokol”.