Prompt Three: Religion and Spirituality

Prompt Three: Religion and Spirituality - Word count 509


"She wants to meet me where!" Sej stared in outrage at the barkeep, not quite believing his ears.

"Haha, worried you skin might sizzle during the hymns?"

"What sane woman meets a man for the first time in a church?"

Mike smirked. "'Ey, that's my niece you're talking about, watch your tongue."

"I'm sorry, it's just not quite the first date I envisioned." Sej's eyes darted about as his mind worked through the crazy notion. When he'd agreed to meet her he assumed a quiet dinner, a few drinks, perhaps a kiss at the end of the night. So much for that idea.

"You'll be telling me next her parents will be with her, as chaperons."

Mike laughed and looked incredulous. "Of course they'll be with her, it's Sunday Mass."

"Oh God, this is a nightmare."

"Better watch that blaspheming around them too." Mike added, enjoying every moment of his friend's torment.

"I can't believe you've done this to me. What are they going to say? You know I don't believe in it all. I know nothing about church, I haven't been since I was 10. What do I do, or say. She'll think I'm some kind of heathen!"

Mike snorted, and started rubbing down the bar with a cloth. "Calm down matey, ain't nothing to it. Just say 'Amen' when everyone else does, and try to look all happy and stuff."

"And I expect I'll have to be up at the crack of dawn to get there, no doubt. That time of day ain't natural you know; especially on a Sunday!"

"Yeah, I hear those sunrises are just awful to see, what a horror."

Sej cast his mind back to his childhood, and the Sunday school his parents had briefly made him attend. He remembered an awful lot of boring talk, and many silly songs with angels and shepherds. The impulse to just call it all off hammered in his thoughts, and he instinctively looked to the bottle of spirits on the shelf behind the bar. The small stubborn part of himself, that had agreed to meet her, shouted down his base desires. It was time to stop hiding away, and get back to living. Besides the day could provide all kinds of inspiration. The whole religion thing was built on stories; a thousand stories that had captured the minds of readers for centuries. He could do this, get some ideas, and hopefully not make a complete fool of himself.

"I think I'd better get you a whiskey. Look like you need it." Mike started to turn, and reach for a bottle.

"No, I don't feel like a drink." Sej sighed, hardly believing what he'd just said. "If I get drunk now I'll probably end up telling you which dark place you can stick this date. And that isn't what either of us want."

Mike's face went through a rainbow of expressions, before once again cracking in a smile. "You sure can surprise me sometimes, Sej, and that's no lie. So you'll go?"

Sej theatrically put a hand to his face in mock anguish. "She better be every bit as pretty as you claim."