CHAPTER 35
f it were proven that there is no God there would be no religion....But also if it were proven that there is a God, there would be no religion. - Ursula K. Le Guin, The Left Hand of Darkness
The sounds of Bach gave Toby a particularly good feeling on this first Sunday morning in September. Maybe it had something to do with the delightfully cool weather, or maybe it had more to do with the fact that he was with friends and they actually seemed to be doing something worthwhile.
“We need more waffles,” someone called out to Sullivan who was refilling the eight professional waffle irons as fast as he could remove the golden brown waffles from each machine.
“Your special waffles are quite the hit here at St. Jude’s, don’t you know,” said Sister Mary Frances to Toby. “And it was awfully nice of you to bring your music system. It makes this Sunday breakfast for the homeless so special that a lot of our parishioners want to come. I told them that they could come, but they would have to work for their breakfast.”
“We need more bacon,” said Trey, who, dressed in a white apron, along with his usual white shirt and red bowtie, looked somewhat like a 1960’s carhop at a drive-in.
“Coming right up,” said Tad. “How are you, Tricia, and the kids doing out there?”
“Very well,” Trey answered. “You were right about this being a spiritual experience. It makes you think about Christ and his teachings in a completely different way.”
“Well, for me, it isn’t so much about Christ as it is about people,” Tad responded, “but whatever floats your boat.”
“I’m not as 100 percent certain anymore what floats my boat,” Trey responded. “It was really difficult for me to have to admit that people who call themselves Christians could do such horrible things as Drake and his “disciples” did in the name of Christ. And these were people I respected and admired. That was a real blow.”
“But you are a Christian, too, and you did the right thing,” Tad said as she handed Trey a large platter of bacon, which he proceeded to pat several times with a paper towel to soak up some of the excess grease. “You acted against your own desire to see the Christian Republic Amendment pass and flew out to Arizona with Senator Stevens to pick up Senator McIntyre and then made sure that they both got to the capitol safely in time to vote against the amendment. And then you told Secretary Rosenthal everything you knew about the society, which led to the president appointing a special prosecutor to look not just into the bombings, but also into the role of secret Christian organizations in the government. In my mind, that proves that you are the one who truly deserves to be called a Christian.”
“Thank you, Tad,” Trey said with a smile, “although I’m not quite certain what that means coming from an atheist.”
“Think of it this way,” she said. “I don’t pass out very many compliments dealing with religion.”
“True,” Trey answered. “I didn’t think of it that way.”
While Trey took the bacon to one of the tables where eight hungry people were ready to make it disappear rather quickly, Toby filled a warm metal serving dish with more waffles.
“I’ll have some more ready in a few minutes,” he said as he handed the dish to Tricia. “How is Matthew enjoying his new school?”
“You mean his ‘real’ school?” Tricia said. “He loves it. And he’s doing very well.”
“Has Trey adjusted yet?” Toby asked.
“Yea, he’s adjusting. He even gets a little excited at the football games,” Tricia replied. “The real test will come when Mark, Luke and Mary get older and I send them off to real school and go back to work. That might really cause his bowtie to spin.”
“Give him time,” Toby said. ”He’ll come around, although I don‘t think he’ll ever come around when it comes to fashion. Is that bowtie permanently attached?”
Tricia laughed. “Sometimes I think it is.”
Toby and Tad continued cooking until everyone had been served- and given seconds if they desired. Then the cleanup began.
“Where are y’all getting all of these serving dishes?” asked Margaret Peabody, who had volunteered to be a dishwasher. “I didn’t realize what I was getting myself into.”
“Don’t worry,” Tad responded. “I’ll give you a hand.”
“Oh, I’m just kidding,” Peabody answered. “I can handle it.”
“No, I want to help you, because I want to thank you for coming.”
“I am the one who should thank you for inviting me,” Peabody responded. “My world was shattered when I learned what Director Drake and those people had been doing. To think that he was responsible for killing and injuring all of those people, including the ones in my church.”
“Which is why he made sure you weren’t at church that day,” Tad said. “At least he didn’t want you to be hurt.”
“That’s true,” said Peabody, “but I still can’t believe he did those horrible things- and all in the name of religion.”
“I’m sure it is hard, which is why I’m glad you’re here, because you can see another side of people, both religious and not religious. There are good and bad people in both camps.
“I know there are,” the disillusioned young woman answered, “but it will be hard to ever trust anyone as blindly as I trusted Director Drake. Why do you think he was involved in the horrible things that he did?”
Tad came closer to Margaret and put her arm around her shoulder.
“I know it’s hard to accept what he did,” she responded, “and we may never know why he did it. I was curious myself, though, so I did a little research, and I discovered that his father was a fireman who was killed in the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. It’s hard to know how that affected Drake, but it must have had some effect.”
“I still wonder if I will ever be able to trust anyone again,” Peabody responded.
“Trust is something that has to be earned over a long period of time,” said Tad. “You have to really know someone through and through.”
“Is there anyone you trust completely?” asked Peabody.
“Yes, and two of them are here today- Sister Mary Frances and Toby.”
“If you don’t mind me asking, are you and Agent Sullivan ever going to get married?”
“I don’t mind you asking at all,” Tad answered. “We may have an announcement about that sometime pretty soon.
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On a crisp evening in October, Toby and Trey were married on the rooftop of their building under the laws of the District of Columbia. Officiating was a local justice of the peace, with a reading from the Holy Qur’an by Hakim bin Muhammad bin Abdul Al-Mansur, a reading from the Torah by Secretary of Homeland Security Rosenthal and readings from the Holy Bible by Sister Mary Frances Sweeney and Roland P. Rawlings, III.
When asked why an agnostic and atheist would have so many religious readings at their wedding, Toby quoted Voltaire:
You see many stars at night in the sky but find them not when the sun rises; can you say that there are no stars in the heaven of day? So, O man! because you behold not God in the days of your ignorance, say not that there is no God.