Demon

Natalie

OMG OMG OMG! Today is the day! I am so excited that I feel like I can’t sit still. My parents are getting married again today! Everything that I hoped would happen is coming true!

The second that I get up I put my beautiful dress on. Mom let me pick it out myself to wear to the wedding. It is made out of a shiny yellow fabric that shimmers with a sort of orange color when it moves around in the light. It has a pink satin sash, and a big full lace slip underneath that makes the skirt poof out all around me. It’s the best thing I’ve ever worn.

When I get out to the kitchen, Mom and Grandma are in there making some breakfast. Mom turns around and sees me in my dress, and bursts out laughing. “Oh, Natalie, honey, it’s not time to wear your dress yet! You don’t want anything to spill on it.”

Grandma sees me in my dress and starts to laugh too, but then straightens out her face. “Sweetie, why don’t I come and help you get back out of that, and we’ll hang it up to make sure it doesn’t get wrinkled before the wedding. All right?”

Angel smiles at me and shrugs. I can tell that he is making himself not laugh too. “Even you, huh?” I ask him silently. Now he’s laughing.

“Okay, Grandma, fine,” I say, sighing. I guess they’re right.

So we walk back out of the kitchen into the hallway, and I glance up at the picture of the guardian angel on the wall, like I always do every time I pass by. She sees me look at it and chuckles. “You always have loved that picture, haven’t you?”

I look up at her. “I have,” I agree. “I remember the first time we talked about it.”

She shakes her head. “Naw, sweetie, you couldn’t remember that. You were way too young.”

Angel looks over at her, laughs and shakes his head. He knows she’s wrong about that.

I stop myself from sighing. I do remember, but after last night I’m not about to try to argue with Grandma about it. Angel told me that she was very offended when I mentioned that the Christmas story in the bible is full of all sorts of other mythology that existed at the time it was invented. The last thing I want to do is upset Grandma, about anything. I would like to have the chance to talk to her about the bible, though, if I can figure out a way to do it without upsetting her.

We get back into my room and she helps me pull the dress back off over my head. While I’m putting on some leggings and a shirt, she puts the dress on a hanger back in the closet.

“It is the loveliest dress, kiddo, I don’t blame you for wanting to wear it as much as you can. I would too!”

I smile at her. “Thanks, Grandma. I picked it out!”

“Did you now? No wonder it suits you so perfectly.” She looks around the room, and starts making up the two beds that Gabe and I slept in last night. Oops, I suppose I should have done that. I go and start working on the other bed, and she smiles over at me while we both straighten blankets.

“Good job, Natalie. You really are a very good kid, you know?”

“I try to be,” I tell her. I think now’s my chance. “I’m sorry that I upset you with what I said about the Christmas story last night.”

“Oh, sweetie, you didn’t upset me. I know that sometimes people can have questions about bible stories. What you have to understand, though, is that it is important to have faith in the word of God. There is always an answer to any questions you might have, but that doesn’t mean that you have to doubt that anything in the bible is exactly right.”

I nod, considering that. She believes the bible is all accurate, but of course I know that so much of it is stuff that people just made up. Some of what people think is in the bible isn’t even in there. Maybe I could ask her about that? I’m starting to know the bible well enough to feel like I can try to help other people understand what is really going on. “So, like you mean that if I ask questions, I can find answers in there?”

“Of course, honey,” she says, fluffing up the pillow on Gabe’s bed and smoothing down the cover.

“Well, okay.” I think I can ask her this one. “So, like what I said last night about the date of Christmas? Being December 25? I guess I must have just missed in the bible where it says that’s the date. Can you tell me where it is?” I feel a little guilty, because I know it isn’t in either of the bibles that I have read. But if I say it this way I think she’ll just take it as her grandchild asking a real question.

I’m nervous about her thinking that I don’t believe everything in her religion is really true. But it’s like the way I started the Jonathan Project, to see if I could help just one person. She is just one person. A lot of people have hurt each other over religion, without thinking very carefully about what their religion is actually saying. I am starting to think that this is where it has to begin - with people carefully thinking about what they believe, and why they believe it. It’s worth a try, anyway.

She straightens up from the bed, and puts her hand up to her chin, obviously thinking about it. Angel is standing to the side, watching, and I think he’s amused by what’s going on. “What?” I think to him.

“She is trying to find the answer to your question, and is realizing that she cannot.” He smiles as he watches.

“Well, sweetie, I’m not rightly sure where it says the date in the bible. I’ll have to ask my pastor.” She heads out the door and back down the hallway.

I look over to Angel. “Is she mad?” I ask him silently.

“No, my dear, but she is perplexed to find that she cannot answer your question. You must be careful, darling, for your grandmother’s self-identity is to a great extent based upon her faith. If that faith is challenged, it would be very difficult for her.”

Well, I guess that’s what I’m doing though. I think the whole point of everything I’ve been learning is to challenge people’s faith. I want to help them find a new faith. A faith in something that is actually real. One where they don’t have any wish to hurt anyone else over it. I think Grandma’s finished talking about it for now, though.

I am following her down the hall, and Angel says, “Your Aunt Caroline will arrive shortly.”

Oh yeah! Mom’s sister is coming for the wedding. I haven’t seen her since I was a lot younger, and I don't know all that much about her. I know that she lives on the East Coast. I want to see when she arrives, so I go in the living room and stand next to the window so I can see the street.

Margaret

I get back to the kitchen, trying to remember the nativity stories from the bible. I can picture the whole scene so clearly in my head, with the angels coming to talk to the shepherds, and the star overhead, and the baby lying sleeping peacefully in the manger. But honestly, I realize now that Natalie has mentioned it, that it doesn’t say the date. It doesn’t really even talk about what season it was. The weather had to have been nice, though, since the shepherds and their flocks were outside at night. Hmmm. What is the weather like in Israel in December?

Frank and Gabe have come back in from the side yard where they were looking at the old car that Frank has been fixing up. Brenda has finished up the scrambled eggs, so I start laying the table.

Where is Natalie? Wasn’t she coming with me out of her room?

I duck my head around the corner to see if I can find her, and see her standing in the front window, staring out at the street. And just then I see a car pull in to our driveway. Natalie turns around and gives me a big smile. “Here’s Aunt Caroline!” she informs me.

Huh! I actually wasn’t expecting Caroline to get here for a couple of hours. I wonder if she ended up taking a different flight.

“Well that’s nice, sweetie,” I tell Natalie, heading over to the front door to open it. Then I turn around and take a second look at Natalie, who is still watching out the window. It’s almost as though she was expecting Caroline to arrive now, and was waiting for her. Odd.

I head on out to greet my youngest.

Brenda

“Caroline? You’re here!”

I put down the bowl I’m carrying to the kitchen table and rush over to the doorway as I see her come in with Mom and Natalie. She grins at me and reaches out for a hug.

“I thought you weren’t coming until right before the ceremony?” Natalie is smiling up at me while I goggle at my sister. How can she look so tidy after just getting off an airplane? Her appearance is just as pristine as ever, light brown hair in place, makeup on, fashionable clothing unwrinkled.

“Turns out that I was able to get an earlier flight. And the weather cooperated. So here I am!”

My Mom bustles past us all cluttering up the entrance to the kitchen. “Come in and sit down, everyone,” she tells us, heading over to the cupboard to get out another place sitting for Caroline.

Dad gets up from the table where he was already sitting with Gabe. “Heya, Caroline, so glad you’re here!” He reaches out over Natalie’s head to give her a one-armed hug. Caroline is his baby, and I know he’s always had a huge soft spot for her.

Gabe gets up too, to join the crowd doing the exact opposite of what Mom just told us all to do. He hangs on the edge of the group until Caroline acknowledges him. “Is that you, Gabe? What happened to my Little Gabey? Who is this giant young man?”

He grins and shrugs. I laugh. “Turns out this is what happens when you keep feeding a kid!”

My Mom is finally able to shoo us all back to the table to sit down. “Eat before everything gets cold,” she tells us. Gabe of course is the first to dig in.

I look around the table at my family, on the day that I will be remarrying the love of my life. I am filled with happiness, but in the back of my mind there is something missing. I miss Ron. I can’t wait to see him at the altar.