7.04 Mauricio: A Short Story

Usually the seating for the meeting on worship is arranged in a circle or square. When I visited, people were seated in circle. This is to help people both to be aware of one another and to be conscious of the fact that they are worshipping together. As soon as people were seated, there was sudden silence for awhile. I did not understand what was going on but I just sat with them, trying to imagine what would happen next. Later I found out that keeping silent is a way of seeking God's will in order to make people open to one another. While there was silence, I felt a little uncomfortable because of the long silence. People may worship entirely without words, but usually there will be some brief contribution. The silence could be broken quickly, or sometimes last for the entire meeting, which is usually an hour or so. In Quaker teaching, anyone may feel called to speak: man, women, child, friends, or first time visitor like I was are welcome. There was a very wide variety of sources for spoken, material (biblical or otherwise) and acceptance of them is an important part of Quaker worship.

Patti warned me that the members of the church do not interact with each other very much, and that they weren’t necessarily friendly. This did not seem to be the case today, as many of the “sisters” came over to speak to Patti, and to “meet” her friend.

“I can’t believe this shit.” She thought as she pulled her dress down and allowed Bola some time to get in place before her cue. Just as she was walking out of the pastor’s office, her mother walked up in preparation to walk her daughter down the aisle. Tracie could sense that her mother had something on her mind, but she did not want to get into any arguments just as she was about to get married to Sean.

The wedding day finally arrives and Toula’s side of the church is full while Ian’s side is not. The wedding is a traditional Greek wedding. Once married they get into the limo. At the reception Gus gives a speech about not being sure of Ian. He says he has now grown to like him. Maria and Gus present Ian and Toula a present. They have bought them a house. She cries and hugs her parents.

Crap, did I get the days wrong, I really needed to get this assignment done! There were probably 30 or more people standing outside in the gloom of the church hall entrance smoking and talking. I quickly sent a text to my classmate who I was supposed to meet, “Are you here? Are we in the right place?” It had never dawned on me that there would be more than 10 or 15 people in attendance.

I go to Maria’s room and knock. She opens the door, “What’s wrong?” “We can get married now.” I tell her about the eejits being able to go back home.

Alma saw everyone was milling about, trying to decide about leaving. Nadine squalled, “My cake, we haven’t served my wedding cake.”

She tore through pieces of glass and brick of the church, and then picked up a little shoe that she had spotted, and said, “well here is the shoe that my daughter wore, but baby where are you?”

Hilda later explains that they encourage this silence, so that the participants can ‘listen to the ear of their hearts’ and maintain a continuous connection with God in everything they do and say during their time at the Abbey.

“I thought you would never get here. I don’t know what to do with my hair, and my mother needs help with the wedding, and they will be here any moment! Please hurry and come with me!” She sobbed and ran toward the doors of the palace.

During the wedding everyone was excited to be there. Fayge´s dress was long and the cloth was thin. Shmuel wore a cap with a thick suit that fit him well. ¨You two look great!¨ everyone complimented them in a joyful voice. Just as we were arriving, we saw unfamiliar cars in the distance. “Maybe they are just more people to join the wedding.” Esther implied.

her relatives and other people come to the wedding, all of a sudden there ends up being a

Once they had made it safely to the Quan’s business plaza, all three vehicles pulled right up to the doors of the pizzeria. Morgan popping Ruby’s door open and jumping out even before Lovienthal had come to a complete stop. “Mom, Dad!” he cried out as he ran for the entrance. But before he had even reached the doors, Kym Quan pulled it open, stepping out and grabbing Morgan in an embrace. “Dad, we got to get out of here. The whole town has gone crazy. People are attacking other people, biting

Maude entered and Ginny heard her gown before she saw Maude. The gown was swishing and smacking against walls. "Thank you Mrs. Miller, sorry it took so long, I could not decide what to to wear. Now where is Miss Miller?"

Julian rose, crossed the aisle, and sat down in the place of the woman with the canvas sandals. From this position, he looked serenely across at his mother. Her face had turned an angry red. He felt his tension suddenly lift as if he