Thursday, August 20th, 2020. 8:11 AM.
Figure of a Woman — Chapter Two
Jesus at the Center by DARLENE ZSCHECH
“In a Quiet Place”
Eileen walked outside. She noticed it was cloudy, as her mother had said. The boy was still sitting on the curb of the sidewalk with his back to her at the end of the walkway of 116 Glen Road. Nine-year-old Eileen took a deep breath and exhaled and began walking down that walkway toward the boy. Her mind was wondering what she would say to him. Her mother’s words came into her thoughts. “Just be yourself, Eileen.” When she got to the sidewalk, she stopped. He hadn’t heard her coming in her new sneakers. His back was still facing her. “Hi,” she said. The boy stood up and turned around to see Eileen. “Hi,” he said again.
Bright Eyes – Art Garfunkel
Turn Around, Look at Me
Eileen: “I apologize for not returning your greetings a while ago. Sometimes, I’m shy – especially of people I never met before.”
Boy: “Well, I guess that’s only natural.”
Eileen: “My name is Eileen,” she said, as she extended her hand to shake his.
Boy: “My name is Mark. Pleased to meet you, Eileen,” he replied as he slowly and gently took Eileen’s hand into his while looking softly into her eyes.
Eileen: “I’ve never seen you before, mark. Do you live in this neighborhood, too?”
Mark: “Yes, we just moved in last week – across the street on Oakley Road.”
It was August 22nd and school would be starting next month; so, Eileen asked: “Where will you be going to school next month, Mark?”
Mark: “I’ll be starting school at St. Charles. 4th grade.”
Eileen: “I’m also just starting school there next month.”
Mark: “And what grade will you be in, Eileen?”
Eileen: “4th grade,” she giggled as her nervousness with meeting Mark just departed from her heart like a dead demon.
Mark: “May I ask, Eileen, what is your favorite subject in school?”
Eileen: “Reading.”
Mark: “Why do you like Reading, Eileen?”
Eileen: “I enjoy being in a quiet place and sitting down and imagining the scenes in the stories I read. I find that peaceful and easy and wonderful. It’s like going on a vacation to places I’ve never been before without having to leave home.”
Mark: “I like quietness, too. Maybe that’s why it didn’t offend me when you were quiet earlier. It just made me wonder about you. Do you like music, too?”
Elvis Presley – The Wonder of You (Audio)
Eileen: “Yes. It’s another thing I can do at home – just like reading. And what is your favorite subject in school, Mark?”
Mark: “English is my favorite subject.”
Eileen: “Why is that?”
Mark: “I want to be a writer when I grow up – just like John Boy Walton.”
Eileen: “And what do you want to write about?”
Mark: “I want to write imaginary stories – like The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew; and, maybe romance stories, if I can learn to be loving and kind to people when I talk with them. My mother says I’m blunt and that I’m going to meet the love of my life; but, I won’t get anywhere with her until my heart has been circumcised by believing in Jesus. Do you believe in Jesus, Eileen?”
Eileen: “Well, my Aunt Mary gave me a Bible at the beginning of school vacation this summer. And I have been reading it every day. She told me to start with the gospel book named John; so, that’s what I did. I’m nearly at the end of the book now.”
Mary Did You Know by Clay Aiken
Mark: “So, how do you like the gospel?”
Eileen: “I really like it. It’s a great comfort to me to believe in Jesus. I feel safer since I began taking refuge in Him by trusting Him as my Savior.”
Mark: “I’m going to get a Bible, too, then; and begin reading the gospel book named John. Maybe He will circumcise my heart.”
Eileen: “Maybe we could read together sometimes, Mark. There is a sunroom in our house on the first floor where I like to sit and read every day. It’s right there, she said, as she turned and pointed to a room on the left side of her house. “It’s surrounded by windows, mark, as you can see.”
Mark: “That sounds like a lovely idea, Eileen. I would love to do that with you.”
Eileen: “Let me know as soon as you purchase your Bible, Mark.”
Mark: “I will, Eileen.”
Eileen was thinking of saying goodbye to Mark for now; but, another thought came into her mind. “Mark, I would like to invite you to have lunch with me and my mother. It’s almost noon and . . . well, I want you to meet her. Would you be willing to come home with me?”
Mark: “Sure Eileen. I’d like that.” Eileen extended her hand to Mark again; and Mark took her hand and they turned and began walking toward the door of Eileen’s big white house. Mark was having many thoughts and feelings, too, as he was holding Eileen’s hand and walking with her into a house he had never been in before and was about to meet Eileen’s mother for the first time. He looked at the front door and noticed the number above it. 116. He thought of a sonnet with that number.
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45106/sonnet-116-let-me-not-to-the-marriage-of-true-minds
“Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove.
O no! it is an ever-fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wand’ring bark,
Whose worth’s unknown, although his height be taken.
Love’s not Time’s fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle’s compass come;
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error and upon me prov’d,
I never writ, nor no man ever lov’d.”
By: William Shakespeare
Jesus at the Center by DARLENE ZSCHECH
I Will Run To You – Hillsong Worship
To You – Hillsong Worship
The impossible dream – Man of La Mancha – Brian Stokes Mitchell – 2003
Revelation 22
End of Chapter Two
Mark's Imaginings 