Friday Snippet 41
Crystal returned with the basket of cheese bread and lay it on the table accompanied by Winston's chants. "Cheese fred. Cheese fred. Cheese fred."
"OK we're all set." She said. Then making direct eye contact with the still chanting Winston she added, "As soon as it's quiet, Jasper can lead us in giving thanks." Winston immediately put both hands over his mouth but continued to bounce in his chair. Crystal sat in her own place between Winston and Jasper and reached for Winston's hand as Jasper took her other hand and reached across the table to grip fingers with Jade who took Nadira's hand.
Winston still held his mouth with his other hand and was apparently holding his breath for he was tuning a red that was nearly a match for the spaghetti sauce. She squeezed his hand and said softly, "Winston. Good job getting quiet. Now take a breath and then take Nadira's hand." she nodded across the table at Nadira was reaching shyly for the boy's hand.
He pulled his hand away from his mouth and inhaled deeply with widened eyes as though incredulous that he remained quiet. With eyes still locked on Crystal's he reached out with his free hand and allowed Nadira to take it. Crystal nodded affirmation to him and whispered, "Now close your eyes and bow your head." As he complied she said quietly, "Jasper?" squeezing her other brother's hand.
"Our Father," Jasper intoned, "Who art gracious and good. Thee Who hast made us in Your image. We thank Thee for this bounty. Bless this meal and the fellowship of those who partake together. We thank Thee most humbly for the blood of Your Son Jesus, our Lord and Savior, which covers our imperfections and cleanses our impurities so that we can stand before Thy eyes and live. We ask Thee to be with our Mother in her distress and if it be Thy Will to return her to wellbeing. We ask that Thee be with our Father as he delivers his sermon tomorrow morning and to bless his message to the hearts of the congregation as Thee bless this meal to our body's health this night. In the Blessed Name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Amen."
"Amen." chorused Crystal and Jade followed by a whispery echo from Nadira and a hearty one from Winston who immediately grasped his plate with both fists and thrust it at Crystal.
"Cheese fred!" he said.
Crystal took his plate and stood up so she could reach the serving dishes and quickly forked about a tablespoon of spaghetti noodles onto his plate, topped it with a dollop of sauce and then fished out of the salad bowel a few chunks of tomato and avocado which she knew he loved and a few token pieces of the shredded Romaine, choosing those with a generous coating of the shredded cheeses. Only then did she add one of the smallest slices of the cheese bread. "OK big guy," she said, making eye contact as she lay the plate in front of him. "You know the drill. No more cheese bread until you eat everything on this plate." He was nodding vigorously as she spoke and grabbed up the slice of cheese bread before the last edge of the plate settled on the table.
Crystal turned to Jasper who was starting to reach for the noodles. "Will you do me a favor Jasper? Dish up Father's plate and take it to him so I can take Mother's tray up and check in on her?" When Jasper nodded and reached for Father's plate instead she added a heartfelt "Thank you."
On her way out of the room she turned to the girls, "I need you two to keep an eye on Winston. Remember: No more cheese bread til he cleans his plate. If he asks for more of anything else, give him very small portions. Tiny. Smaller than I just did." she smiled at Jade's knowing grin and said to Nadira, "Jade can tell you why."
As she left the room and grabbed the tray she had prepared for Mother earlier and headed for the stairs she listened to Jade's animated explanation which was plenty loud enough to hear even as she climbed the stairs. "When you put a lot on his plate he just finger paints with it all over the plate and the table and his chair and himself. Even his hair! We have to take him straight to the tub afterwards!"
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One comment re the Grace Jasper said. It may sound over the top to most of you and fill you with incredulity that a twelve year old could compose such a thing off the cuff like that. But I can testify that among many fundamentalist Christian sects this is fairly typical. It is much like, in tone and ornateness with all the Thees and Thous and references to God's various attributes, the prayers I heard before every meal and twice during each of the five Bible Study services I attended weekly. So it shouldn't be too unbelievable that the son of a preacher, raised from infancy to the sounds and rhythms of it, could speak this peculiar dialect of his Mother tongue as trippingly as the one he speaks with his playmates. Jasper's prayer was short compared to most I remember some of which could continue for upwards of five minutes though not at our family's table thank goodness.
There are some significant differences in Jasper's prayer to the one's I remember though as I've inserted some hints as to the unique doctrine of the Garnett's sect. One which my sect would consider bizarre and heretical.
I do hope that Jasper's prayer doesn't read as a caricature, rendering the effect as unintended satire or worse as an expression on my part of disrespect for the sincerity of those who use this method to give a sense of hallowedness to their communing with their sacred Other.
1 tell me a story:
Jason's saying grace was quite believable.
That could have been my brother saying it--very similar, even down to the thees and thous.
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