The church bells rang seven times through the air, indicating a new day has
arrived.
Eric clumsily walked down the street demonstrating the after effects of a night spent drinking. Drinking away his problems. His problems that he believed were caused by his fiancé who he believed spends an abnormally amount of time with her guy friend Bill. How he hated the sound of the name, almost as much as the nights he spent waiting for his fiancé to return after a day spent with Bill. How he hated that. Jealousy and impatience are never mixed well, especially when alcohol's added to the mix. 'Yes, now she finally will understand how it feels, he thought to himself and looked to his right and smiled at the blonde who was wearing a tight red dress. They were both drunk leaning against each other for balance as they made their way down the pavement.
A woman wearing a black tight dress walked down the street with her compact in her hand. Obviously trying to cover the wildness that happened before. She gracefully walked down the pavement as she reapplied her makeup. First, the eyeliner and mascara, and now she was applying a fresh coat of ruby red lipstick. She was too occupied with staring at herself in the mirror her compact provided that she almost slammed into a man, if he did not skillfully and quickly move out of her way.
A man only known as Hector shuffled down the cold, empty alley. Even with New Orleans famous humidity, he wore an old tattered brown winter coat with multiple old dress shirts layered underneath, dirty brown corduroy pants, and worn out brown loafers that have spent one too many days walking endlessly around the streets. His once handsome face became weathered by the hardships of being homeless, and was hidden by a messy auburn beard. He continued to shuffle down the alley, muttering to himself looking for any money a tourist dropped with out noticing or a drunk might have dropped carelessly.
The people continued with their lives, obliviously to any one else. People walked down the streets never once glancing at the young woman sitting on the curb huddled around her knees. And on that curb, Marie spent most of the early morning, watching others trying to forget everything. She lost herself imagining the lives of the strangers who passed by on the streets, creating a different story for each.
As she watched Hector continue to shuffle down the streets muttering to himself, she imagined what sort of life he had, his whole life story. At one time he had a happy loving family, loving wife, and young daughter. And he would take his daughter to baseball games religiously. Every home game, they went and watched together, same seats, same everything. He even claimed that she was the lucky charm for the team, and she would giggle every time he called her lucky charm.
Well everything was fine and dandy until the one game, the team was playing their rivals. The biggest game of the year. The excitement became unbearable during the seventh inning stretch. The teams were tied, but that was pending on will the "big slugger" of the team live up to his name. At that moment, Hector's daughter needed to use the rest room. Hector obviously couldn't take her to the men's room, it was too crowded filled with angry drunk men, a place a seven year old girl should never be. Since, he could not go in the ladies room with her, he waited outside for her. He patiently waited while watching the game on one of the many televisions in the hall of the stadium. Seconds piled up into minutes, and the minutes piled up to an uncomfortably long time. He alarmingly asked a woman who was headed into the ladies rest room to look for his daughter to see if she was having any trouble. And soon the woman returned and claimed that there wasn't a little girl in the room. Frantically he ran into the tiny public restroom, and his heart fell when his lucky charm was not in there. His life crumbled around him. His life, gone. He only received a few ransom notes, leading him to the kidnappers location in New Orleans. And this is where he spent endless years. With his daughter's picture in his hand, roaming the streets in search of her, wandering if he would recognize her if she walked by.
Marie shook her head clear of her thoughts. "Shit, Ah am crazy" she slowly muttered to herself as she stood up, stretching out her legs. Amused at her craziness, Marie backed up on the curb noticing the streets becoming more alive as the sun rose higher in the sky.
With her hands on her back, she took another step away from the street. Her left shoe heel stepped back onto a soft surface that seemed to give as she continued to apply more pressure.
"Oooommf," Marie heard coming from behind her. Startled, she tried to step forward away from the sound but her left shoe heel slipped off the soft surface, causing Marie to loose her balance and fall backwards. She saw only a flash of blue before preparing herself to hit the concrete. But instead of meeting the cold concrete, she found herself on top some one's chest. To make it even odder, the chest was spastically moving up and down, and Marie heard a laugh escape from who ever she was laying on top of. Marie regained her thoughts, and composure and quickly scooted off the person and stood up. She looked down at the man lying on the ground, and blush embarrassingly at the situation she caused.
The man continued to laugh out loud; distracting Marie from forming some sort of apology to him. The man's chuckling died down and stared at Marie, who was now hovering over him. "Are you alright?" he asked. "Of course you're alright, I broke your fall." He said with a smile and a hint of humor in his tone.
"Ah'm fahne," Marie answered him any way and held out her hand to help the man up, "But are yah alright?"
He smiled at her gesture, and took her hand with one of his, and placed his other hand on the ground to push himself up. "Ja. I'm fine, my bag of oranges broke my fall," he said as he stood up. He looked down on the ground, where crushed oranges were sprawled out of the paper bag, seeping its juice everywhere. "Vish I could say the same for them, too bad the oranges didn't have something to break their fall. Vell better them than us right?" He smiled and turned to Marie, who also smiled, partly because of their awkward situation and partly for his good humor through out it. He stood with his hands on his hips surveying the mess that laid at his feet. This allowed Marie a few moments to observe the man.
He was tall, about six feet or so. He wore a pair of dark brown pants, and a gray t-shirt that had writing underneath of a picture of a band. She could not understand what was written underneath of it since it was in another language, probably German based upon his heavy deep German accent. He had a handsome face, a nice juvenile face that just radiated love, kindness and humor. His smile perfectly etched on his face, and even though Marie just met him, she knew he never did anything with out a smile on his face. His brown eyes were a deep contrast to his bright blue hair. His messy and wild hair was a deep, bright blue, a color that could only be rivaled by the popular children's cartoon "The Smurfs."
He bent down and began to clean up the mess. Marie started to gather the oranges that rolled a couple feet away. "Ah'm sorry about this," She said as picked a crushed orange of the ground.
"It's quite alright. No use crying over spilt milk-or in this scenario crushed oranges," he responded, laughing a bit at his own joke.
Marie smiled, "Here let me buy you some new oranges. It's the least I owe you."
"Nein, nein. I was just gonna make sum fresh squeezed orange juice. They're already squished, you saved me the time to squeeze them." He said as he collected the last flattened orange and through it in the orange juice drenched bag.
"Yah aren't honestly tell me yah are still gonna use them?" she answered as she walked over to the man and dropped the few oranges she collected into the bag he held out for her.
"Nein," he continued, "That was just my polite way to edge you on to buy the oranges you know I say 'no don't please, I'm fine, that be too kind of you to do so'. And then you say," he continued poorly imitating a southern accent, "'Please mistah, it's the least Ah can do for yah. And then I shrug and say ok."
Marie laughed, "Well when yah put it that way, ok."
He threw the bag into the trash can and wiped his hands on his pants. "I'm glad we agree on that. Now I know a great produce stand along this way. " He said as he pointed down the street and began to walk in the direction. "I'm Kurt by the way." He said with a smile and held out his hand.
Marie greeted his hand with hers, "Ah'm Marie."
Forty minutes later, the new acquaintances arrived back to the spot where they crashed into each other.
"Ah still can't believe it, Ah thought yah were only going to buy oranges."
"Well, yes" Kurt replied carrying two bags full of food. "But just lookin at all the other foods made me hungry. Can't just survive on orange juice."
"Yea, well Ah thought yah were gonna let me pay for the oranges." She added as she also carried a bag full of Kurt's "special ingredients." Once they arrived to the produce stand, they bought the oranges, but Kurt insisted that he was going to need an omelet breakfast along with it. So they spent time, wandering from store to store buying eggs, onions, potatoes, bacon, an assortment of sausages that Kurt insisted on being key ingredients. Who knew you needed four different types of sausages for one meal. Then again he was German. The whole time he spent giving her tips on how to make the most delicious "sauerbraten", or soured roast. Marie did not have the heart to tell him that she would never make a dish that had the word soured in it, but who knows maybe one day when she gets bored, she might make it. Plus, it seemed that Kurt was trying to break the ice by giving her recipes. And she had to admit it worked.
"Nah, I lied earlier. That was just to get you to walk with me. It gets sorta lonely where I live, so I wanted the company," his German accent growing thicker as he grew more tired holding the two heavy bags.
Marie shifted the bags weight from her right to her left, "Where do yah live?"
Kurt motioned his head to the building they were standing in front of, "Behind the church, with the other priests."
"Are yah a priest then?" She asked while putting her hand up over her eyes to shield the sun away. She was curious. He looked about her age and that was way to young for some one to declare a life of celibacy and to devote his life to God.
Kurt shook his head no. "Vell, sorta like one in training. I vorked for my church back in my hometown. And they decided to send me to different churches around the world. You know observe, check things out, this and that. They gave me a big spiel about it but basically I just hang out with these guys a couple months then move on somewhere else." He exhaled deeply then added, "Do yah mind getting the gate over there."
Marie looked to the iron gate that separated the big brown church from the neighboring building. She nodded and walked over to open it. He nodded thanks of gratitude. She followed him along the black cement path that wrapped around the church to a large house in the back. While they walked the path, Kurt told her stories about living there. Marie tuned him out while she observed how peaceful and beautiful it was. One would never guess this peaceful house surrounded by a beautiful garden was only 200 feet away from the chaotic streets.
They walked up the entrance to the house, nodding to a few priests who were on the porch reading. Marie hesitantly followed Kurt inside the house to the back, in the kitchen. She never liked being in new situations with new people. It always made her feel uncomfortable. And being surrounded by priests did not lessen her the level of awkwardness she was feeling. As if he was sensing her awkwardness, Kurt kindly showed Marie where to put the bags and told her a joke or two as they walked inside the church. Thinking they were taking a short cut, Marie followed. Then she noticed Kurt sitting down on the first pew; he then motioned for her to sit on the pew behind him. "You can spare ten minutes. Please sit with me." He noticed her hesitation, "Humor me, please." He added with a smile. She smiled as well and sat down on the second pew.
He turned his upper body around and looked at her. She sat on the end of the pew, about four feet adjacent to him. 'Obviously, some one who values her personal space,' he noted. She was a very beautiful woman. Her thick wavy hair was pulled back into a low messy bun. She was obliviously had a rough night, since she was wearing all black outfit, eveningwear and heels. But all in all, she had to be the most exquisite woman he has ever seen. He was lost in deep thought and was only pulled out of it when she spoke.
"So how do they feel about ol' blue?" She asked motioning to his hair.
He smiled, "They're not really fond of it. They just blame it on me being German." He laughed and added, "But it grew on them, you should have seen it when it was much longer. They weren't too sweet on that." He smiled.
And their laughter began to die down, and Marie feared the silence and tried quickly to think of something to say. "Ah'm sorry again," she said again mentioning the run in they had earlier. "Jeez, and it mustn't be yahr lucky day, tah think yah got this close to yahr house, then boom—Ah backed up and knocked yah tah yahr feet." She said with a smile.
"Well actually, I was making my way over to see if you were alright. I saw you sitting there when I left early this morning, and when I came back you were still there. Care to elaborate on that."
Marie hated it. She hated when people asked her what's wrong. She felt like they were prying but the worst part was that she ached to talk with some one. Every time some one asked her what's wrong, she wanted to sit down with them and pour her heart out. But she never did, and she never knew why. For some one to sincerely ask her what's wrong, was like some one giving her a precious gift but she wasn't allowed to open it. Just so that she knew it was there but never allowed to use it.
Kurt could see Marie tensing up as, "Please, Marie. You can talk to me. I'm the same as a priest. Vhatever you say stays here. There's no judging. Plus, I might surprise you. You know there's more to me than my rugged good looks." He said as with a flashy smile causing Marie to laugh.
Then the thick silence crept back in. Marie looked at the back of the pew in front of her. "Ah just don't know. Ah just don't know anything any more," she let out with a sigh.
Kurt nodded, "Vell let's start with vhat you do know."
Marie looked at him, "But who knows anything for sure?"
"God that he will always be there and will always have love for us. We are all God's children."
Marie quitted down. No she was not going to have a religious debate. These kinds of debates always turned ugly. She always felt awkward voicing her opinion, especially to some one who's looking to earn a living in a profession she does not believe in. Of course, she respected those who believed and those who devoted their lives to God. But she always felt they were fooling their selves. That out of the many religions out there, their religion was the chosen religion that God was only looking out for those who prayed and worshipped in the way the religion told them to.
"Please whatever you are thinking Marie, tell me."
"Well-I don't know...Ah guess that Ah don't believe in a God or organized religion. Don't get me wrong Ah have a lot of respect for yahr profession."
"And how did you arrive at this?" Kurt asked with sincerity dripping from his voice.
"Well...Ah believe in morality, just treating everyone with respect. And yah can have morals with out religion. In fact, religion can cloud this sense. Many believe by sacrificing a Sunday morning to attend Church it is an automatic free pass into heaven. Going to church does not ensure that you will be a moral human being. People lost their compassion towards one another. Now a days people are fighting wars in the name of religion," Marie said as she sat up.
"Yes, the Lord has created us, but he did not make us perfect..."
Marie interrupted him, "I know, I know. But Remove religion and God, as an excuse for violence and cruelty and man must hold himself and his fellow man accountable for their actions..." Marie stopped herself when she realized just how much she was ranting. "Sorry, Ah sound like some loon that should be out on a soapbox," she apologized.
"Now, please continue. It's nice to talk to some one who doesn't believe what they read, and thinks on their own. Vhat do you believe then?"
"Acceptance," Marie replied as she tucked a stray white hair behind her ear, "Accepting each other as fellow human beings with differences and flaws and recognize that we are struggling to achieve the same thing. That we all want to get through this life with our dignity in tact and give as much help as we can to those whom we meet along the way."
"But doesn't religion teach us that? Thou shall honor thy neighbor." Kurt quoted from the bible.
"No, most religions have too many requirements."
"Requirements?" Kurt repeated so Marie would elaborate more deeply.
"Well take the Catholic religion. They do not except homosexuality, let alone recognize them as people or their marriages. Divorce is another don't. Any children born out of a parent's second marriage cannot be baptized. And in the church's eyes, those who are not baptized have original sin and will go to hell. They are basically condemning those babies, before they even begin to live."
"Vell it is true that I do not believe whatever the bible says. Some people get the wrong messages and ideas from it. But I do believe in its message that it says."
"What's that?" Marie asked with curiosity.
"That God is love. That we are all here together. That we should love each other, have compassion for everything."
"Well Ah wish more people believed like that."
Kurt nodded, "It is a pity they don't. But God has a plan for every one, and it all works out in due time."
"That's another thing Ah don't understand."
"Vhat?"
"That yah said we are all God's children, right?" She waited for Kurt to nod and then continued, "But what kind of a God would choose one group of his people over another? Would a parent choose one child over another? And if a human would not be capable of doing this why would a divine creature be able to do it?" Marie looked at Kurt hoping that he would have the answers for the questions that plagued her for so long.
Kurt nodded deep in thought, "Well I do not have the answers, and I will not pretend like some might. But all I can say is," Kurt then looked at Marie, making eye contact with her, "Just have faith. There is nothing more important than faith. It can help you get through the toughest time, help you find your way when you are lost. And it doesn't matter what you have faith in as long as you have it. But the two strongest things a person can possess are faith and hope. And there is always hope." He ended with a genuine smile.
Marie nodded, letting it all sink in. "Well thank yah, father..."
Kurt interrupted her, "Father? When did we become all formal? Father? Don't call me father, man I am just old enough to be your brother." He laughed and his infectious laugh caused Marie to laugh along with him.
The laughing died down again and the two sat in silence. Each staring off into space thinking about various things. Kurt then began to chuckle.
"What's so funny?" Marie asked as she looked over at Kurt who couldn't stop smiling.
"Vell who would have thought you'd be sitting in a empty church, talking about religion with a blue haired German hunk, I might add, at 8:15 in the morning?"
Marie laughed. "Well nothing surprises me any more. If yah told me Ah'd have tea with a Eskimo that only walks backwards tomorrow, Ah would believe yah." Marie smiled.
Kurt laughed, "Its been that crazy of a veek?"
"Yah have no idea." She smiled and looked at her watch. "Ah'm sorry Ah really must be going, Ah'm exhausted and Ah don't know how Ah am speaking coherent sentences but Ah have a bed that's calling my name. And yah have a feast tah prepare." Marie stood up and gathered her belongings. "It was really nice talking tah yah."
Kurt stood up as well, "Yes, I am very glad you slammed into me." He smirked, "Do you know your vay out?"
Marie turned around and looked towards the front entrance of the church, "I think I can manage." She said her goodbyes once again before turning around and heading towards the door.
Kurt called out when Marie was half way towards the door, "Marie, I'm just curious vhat brought about your philosophy. Vhat happened to you that made you not believe?"
Marie turned around to face him as she walked backwards. "Life," she added with a shrug. And with that she was on the streets again leaving Kurt in the empty church.
"Ahhh," he nodded understandingly, "Life's a bitch." Kurt then made his way to fill his growling stomach.
............................................................................................................. Well I updated twice in less than a week, I think that's a record for me, lol. This story will be updated a lot faster and the next chapter should be up by next Sunday. Here's a hint, the more reviews I get the more motivated I am = faster updates!! It's a win-win situation really, lol.
Next chapter will be about Marie and Remy...Surprise Surprise, lol.
I hope you guys liked this chapter! I wanted to have another X-Men cameo to kinda help speed along the story, and I choose Kurt because why not he's a fun guy to put it. But bare with me on his accent, I am not too good with it, I just really but v's where w's were suppose to be, yea needless to say that's not a good strategy and I basically butchered it, lol. So hopefully you can use your imagination and just pretend it's a German accent, I hope.
Thank you so much for continuing to read and review! I'm so happy you guys really like the story!!! I love reading your reviews, comments, critiques, and helpful advice! Thanks for the reviews guys, positive reinforcement does wonders for my self-esteem, keep it up, lol. You guys are the best! If you guys have any ideas or comments feel free to tell me. Read and Review please!! And believe me I'm not ashamed to say I will beg for reviews, lol!
Eric clumsily walked down the street demonstrating the after effects of a night spent drinking. Drinking away his problems. His problems that he believed were caused by his fiancé who he believed spends an abnormally amount of time with her guy friend Bill. How he hated the sound of the name, almost as much as the nights he spent waiting for his fiancé to return after a day spent with Bill. How he hated that. Jealousy and impatience are never mixed well, especially when alcohol's added to the mix. 'Yes, now she finally will understand how it feels, he thought to himself and looked to his right and smiled at the blonde who was wearing a tight red dress. They were both drunk leaning against each other for balance as they made their way down the pavement.
A woman wearing a black tight dress walked down the street with her compact in her hand. Obviously trying to cover the wildness that happened before. She gracefully walked down the pavement as she reapplied her makeup. First, the eyeliner and mascara, and now she was applying a fresh coat of ruby red lipstick. She was too occupied with staring at herself in the mirror her compact provided that she almost slammed into a man, if he did not skillfully and quickly move out of her way.
A man only known as Hector shuffled down the cold, empty alley. Even with New Orleans famous humidity, he wore an old tattered brown winter coat with multiple old dress shirts layered underneath, dirty brown corduroy pants, and worn out brown loafers that have spent one too many days walking endlessly around the streets. His once handsome face became weathered by the hardships of being homeless, and was hidden by a messy auburn beard. He continued to shuffle down the alley, muttering to himself looking for any money a tourist dropped with out noticing or a drunk might have dropped carelessly.
The people continued with their lives, obliviously to any one else. People walked down the streets never once glancing at the young woman sitting on the curb huddled around her knees. And on that curb, Marie spent most of the early morning, watching others trying to forget everything. She lost herself imagining the lives of the strangers who passed by on the streets, creating a different story for each.
As she watched Hector continue to shuffle down the streets muttering to himself, she imagined what sort of life he had, his whole life story. At one time he had a happy loving family, loving wife, and young daughter. And he would take his daughter to baseball games religiously. Every home game, they went and watched together, same seats, same everything. He even claimed that she was the lucky charm for the team, and she would giggle every time he called her lucky charm.
Well everything was fine and dandy until the one game, the team was playing their rivals. The biggest game of the year. The excitement became unbearable during the seventh inning stretch. The teams were tied, but that was pending on will the "big slugger" of the team live up to his name. At that moment, Hector's daughter needed to use the rest room. Hector obviously couldn't take her to the men's room, it was too crowded filled with angry drunk men, a place a seven year old girl should never be. Since, he could not go in the ladies room with her, he waited outside for her. He patiently waited while watching the game on one of the many televisions in the hall of the stadium. Seconds piled up into minutes, and the minutes piled up to an uncomfortably long time. He alarmingly asked a woman who was headed into the ladies rest room to look for his daughter to see if she was having any trouble. And soon the woman returned and claimed that there wasn't a little girl in the room. Frantically he ran into the tiny public restroom, and his heart fell when his lucky charm was not in there. His life crumbled around him. His life, gone. He only received a few ransom notes, leading him to the kidnappers location in New Orleans. And this is where he spent endless years. With his daughter's picture in his hand, roaming the streets in search of her, wandering if he would recognize her if she walked by.
Marie shook her head clear of her thoughts. "Shit, Ah am crazy" she slowly muttered to herself as she stood up, stretching out her legs. Amused at her craziness, Marie backed up on the curb noticing the streets becoming more alive as the sun rose higher in the sky.
With her hands on her back, she took another step away from the street. Her left shoe heel stepped back onto a soft surface that seemed to give as she continued to apply more pressure.
"Oooommf," Marie heard coming from behind her. Startled, she tried to step forward away from the sound but her left shoe heel slipped off the soft surface, causing Marie to loose her balance and fall backwards. She saw only a flash of blue before preparing herself to hit the concrete. But instead of meeting the cold concrete, she found herself on top some one's chest. To make it even odder, the chest was spastically moving up and down, and Marie heard a laugh escape from who ever she was laying on top of. Marie regained her thoughts, and composure and quickly scooted off the person and stood up. She looked down at the man lying on the ground, and blush embarrassingly at the situation she caused.
The man continued to laugh out loud; distracting Marie from forming some sort of apology to him. The man's chuckling died down and stared at Marie, who was now hovering over him. "Are you alright?" he asked. "Of course you're alright, I broke your fall." He said with a smile and a hint of humor in his tone.
"Ah'm fahne," Marie answered him any way and held out her hand to help the man up, "But are yah alright?"
He smiled at her gesture, and took her hand with one of his, and placed his other hand on the ground to push himself up. "Ja. I'm fine, my bag of oranges broke my fall," he said as he stood up. He looked down on the ground, where crushed oranges were sprawled out of the paper bag, seeping its juice everywhere. "Vish I could say the same for them, too bad the oranges didn't have something to break their fall. Vell better them than us right?" He smiled and turned to Marie, who also smiled, partly because of their awkward situation and partly for his good humor through out it. He stood with his hands on his hips surveying the mess that laid at his feet. This allowed Marie a few moments to observe the man.
He was tall, about six feet or so. He wore a pair of dark brown pants, and a gray t-shirt that had writing underneath of a picture of a band. She could not understand what was written underneath of it since it was in another language, probably German based upon his heavy deep German accent. He had a handsome face, a nice juvenile face that just radiated love, kindness and humor. His smile perfectly etched on his face, and even though Marie just met him, she knew he never did anything with out a smile on his face. His brown eyes were a deep contrast to his bright blue hair. His messy and wild hair was a deep, bright blue, a color that could only be rivaled by the popular children's cartoon "The Smurfs."
He bent down and began to clean up the mess. Marie started to gather the oranges that rolled a couple feet away. "Ah'm sorry about this," She said as picked a crushed orange of the ground.
"It's quite alright. No use crying over spilt milk-or in this scenario crushed oranges," he responded, laughing a bit at his own joke.
Marie smiled, "Here let me buy you some new oranges. It's the least I owe you."
"Nein, nein. I was just gonna make sum fresh squeezed orange juice. They're already squished, you saved me the time to squeeze them." He said as he collected the last flattened orange and through it in the orange juice drenched bag.
"Yah aren't honestly tell me yah are still gonna use them?" she answered as she walked over to the man and dropped the few oranges she collected into the bag he held out for her.
"Nein," he continued, "That was just my polite way to edge you on to buy the oranges you know I say 'no don't please, I'm fine, that be too kind of you to do so'. And then you say," he continued poorly imitating a southern accent, "'Please mistah, it's the least Ah can do for yah. And then I shrug and say ok."
Marie laughed, "Well when yah put it that way, ok."
He threw the bag into the trash can and wiped his hands on his pants. "I'm glad we agree on that. Now I know a great produce stand along this way. " He said as he pointed down the street and began to walk in the direction. "I'm Kurt by the way." He said with a smile and held out his hand.
Marie greeted his hand with hers, "Ah'm Marie."
Forty minutes later, the new acquaintances arrived back to the spot where they crashed into each other.
"Ah still can't believe it, Ah thought yah were only going to buy oranges."
"Well, yes" Kurt replied carrying two bags full of food. "But just lookin at all the other foods made me hungry. Can't just survive on orange juice."
"Yea, well Ah thought yah were gonna let me pay for the oranges." She added as she also carried a bag full of Kurt's "special ingredients." Once they arrived to the produce stand, they bought the oranges, but Kurt insisted that he was going to need an omelet breakfast along with it. So they spent time, wandering from store to store buying eggs, onions, potatoes, bacon, an assortment of sausages that Kurt insisted on being key ingredients. Who knew you needed four different types of sausages for one meal. Then again he was German. The whole time he spent giving her tips on how to make the most delicious "sauerbraten", or soured roast. Marie did not have the heart to tell him that she would never make a dish that had the word soured in it, but who knows maybe one day when she gets bored, she might make it. Plus, it seemed that Kurt was trying to break the ice by giving her recipes. And she had to admit it worked.
"Nah, I lied earlier. That was just to get you to walk with me. It gets sorta lonely where I live, so I wanted the company," his German accent growing thicker as he grew more tired holding the two heavy bags.
Marie shifted the bags weight from her right to her left, "Where do yah live?"
Kurt motioned his head to the building they were standing in front of, "Behind the church, with the other priests."
"Are yah a priest then?" She asked while putting her hand up over her eyes to shield the sun away. She was curious. He looked about her age and that was way to young for some one to declare a life of celibacy and to devote his life to God.
Kurt shook his head no. "Vell, sorta like one in training. I vorked for my church back in my hometown. And they decided to send me to different churches around the world. You know observe, check things out, this and that. They gave me a big spiel about it but basically I just hang out with these guys a couple months then move on somewhere else." He exhaled deeply then added, "Do yah mind getting the gate over there."
Marie looked to the iron gate that separated the big brown church from the neighboring building. She nodded and walked over to open it. He nodded thanks of gratitude. She followed him along the black cement path that wrapped around the church to a large house in the back. While they walked the path, Kurt told her stories about living there. Marie tuned him out while she observed how peaceful and beautiful it was. One would never guess this peaceful house surrounded by a beautiful garden was only 200 feet away from the chaotic streets.
They walked up the entrance to the house, nodding to a few priests who were on the porch reading. Marie hesitantly followed Kurt inside the house to the back, in the kitchen. She never liked being in new situations with new people. It always made her feel uncomfortable. And being surrounded by priests did not lessen her the level of awkwardness she was feeling. As if he was sensing her awkwardness, Kurt kindly showed Marie where to put the bags and told her a joke or two as they walked inside the church. Thinking they were taking a short cut, Marie followed. Then she noticed Kurt sitting down on the first pew; he then motioned for her to sit on the pew behind him. "You can spare ten minutes. Please sit with me." He noticed her hesitation, "Humor me, please." He added with a smile. She smiled as well and sat down on the second pew.
He turned his upper body around and looked at her. She sat on the end of the pew, about four feet adjacent to him. 'Obviously, some one who values her personal space,' he noted. She was a very beautiful woman. Her thick wavy hair was pulled back into a low messy bun. She was obliviously had a rough night, since she was wearing all black outfit, eveningwear and heels. But all in all, she had to be the most exquisite woman he has ever seen. He was lost in deep thought and was only pulled out of it when she spoke.
"So how do they feel about ol' blue?" She asked motioning to his hair.
He smiled, "They're not really fond of it. They just blame it on me being German." He laughed and added, "But it grew on them, you should have seen it when it was much longer. They weren't too sweet on that." He smiled.
And their laughter began to die down, and Marie feared the silence and tried quickly to think of something to say. "Ah'm sorry again," she said again mentioning the run in they had earlier. "Jeez, and it mustn't be yahr lucky day, tah think yah got this close to yahr house, then boom—Ah backed up and knocked yah tah yahr feet." She said with a smile.
"Well actually, I was making my way over to see if you were alright. I saw you sitting there when I left early this morning, and when I came back you were still there. Care to elaborate on that."
Marie hated it. She hated when people asked her what's wrong. She felt like they were prying but the worst part was that she ached to talk with some one. Every time some one asked her what's wrong, she wanted to sit down with them and pour her heart out. But she never did, and she never knew why. For some one to sincerely ask her what's wrong, was like some one giving her a precious gift but she wasn't allowed to open it. Just so that she knew it was there but never allowed to use it.
Kurt could see Marie tensing up as, "Please, Marie. You can talk to me. I'm the same as a priest. Vhatever you say stays here. There's no judging. Plus, I might surprise you. You know there's more to me than my rugged good looks." He said as with a flashy smile causing Marie to laugh.
Then the thick silence crept back in. Marie looked at the back of the pew in front of her. "Ah just don't know. Ah just don't know anything any more," she let out with a sigh.
Kurt nodded, "Vell let's start with vhat you do know."
Marie looked at him, "But who knows anything for sure?"
"God that he will always be there and will always have love for us. We are all God's children."
Marie quitted down. No she was not going to have a religious debate. These kinds of debates always turned ugly. She always felt awkward voicing her opinion, especially to some one who's looking to earn a living in a profession she does not believe in. Of course, she respected those who believed and those who devoted their lives to God. But she always felt they were fooling their selves. That out of the many religions out there, their religion was the chosen religion that God was only looking out for those who prayed and worshipped in the way the religion told them to.
"Please whatever you are thinking Marie, tell me."
"Well-I don't know...Ah guess that Ah don't believe in a God or organized religion. Don't get me wrong Ah have a lot of respect for yahr profession."
"And how did you arrive at this?" Kurt asked with sincerity dripping from his voice.
"Well...Ah believe in morality, just treating everyone with respect. And yah can have morals with out religion. In fact, religion can cloud this sense. Many believe by sacrificing a Sunday morning to attend Church it is an automatic free pass into heaven. Going to church does not ensure that you will be a moral human being. People lost their compassion towards one another. Now a days people are fighting wars in the name of religion," Marie said as she sat up.
"Yes, the Lord has created us, but he did not make us perfect..."
Marie interrupted him, "I know, I know. But Remove religion and God, as an excuse for violence and cruelty and man must hold himself and his fellow man accountable for their actions..." Marie stopped herself when she realized just how much she was ranting. "Sorry, Ah sound like some loon that should be out on a soapbox," she apologized.
"Now, please continue. It's nice to talk to some one who doesn't believe what they read, and thinks on their own. Vhat do you believe then?"
"Acceptance," Marie replied as she tucked a stray white hair behind her ear, "Accepting each other as fellow human beings with differences and flaws and recognize that we are struggling to achieve the same thing. That we all want to get through this life with our dignity in tact and give as much help as we can to those whom we meet along the way."
"But doesn't religion teach us that? Thou shall honor thy neighbor." Kurt quoted from the bible.
"No, most religions have too many requirements."
"Requirements?" Kurt repeated so Marie would elaborate more deeply.
"Well take the Catholic religion. They do not except homosexuality, let alone recognize them as people or their marriages. Divorce is another don't. Any children born out of a parent's second marriage cannot be baptized. And in the church's eyes, those who are not baptized have original sin and will go to hell. They are basically condemning those babies, before they even begin to live."
"Vell it is true that I do not believe whatever the bible says. Some people get the wrong messages and ideas from it. But I do believe in its message that it says."
"What's that?" Marie asked with curiosity.
"That God is love. That we are all here together. That we should love each other, have compassion for everything."
"Well Ah wish more people believed like that."
Kurt nodded, "It is a pity they don't. But God has a plan for every one, and it all works out in due time."
"That's another thing Ah don't understand."
"Vhat?"
"That yah said we are all God's children, right?" She waited for Kurt to nod and then continued, "But what kind of a God would choose one group of his people over another? Would a parent choose one child over another? And if a human would not be capable of doing this why would a divine creature be able to do it?" Marie looked at Kurt hoping that he would have the answers for the questions that plagued her for so long.
Kurt nodded deep in thought, "Well I do not have the answers, and I will not pretend like some might. But all I can say is," Kurt then looked at Marie, making eye contact with her, "Just have faith. There is nothing more important than faith. It can help you get through the toughest time, help you find your way when you are lost. And it doesn't matter what you have faith in as long as you have it. But the two strongest things a person can possess are faith and hope. And there is always hope." He ended with a genuine smile.
Marie nodded, letting it all sink in. "Well thank yah, father..."
Kurt interrupted her, "Father? When did we become all formal? Father? Don't call me father, man I am just old enough to be your brother." He laughed and his infectious laugh caused Marie to laugh along with him.
The laughing died down again and the two sat in silence. Each staring off into space thinking about various things. Kurt then began to chuckle.
"What's so funny?" Marie asked as she looked over at Kurt who couldn't stop smiling.
"Vell who would have thought you'd be sitting in a empty church, talking about religion with a blue haired German hunk, I might add, at 8:15 in the morning?"
Marie laughed. "Well nothing surprises me any more. If yah told me Ah'd have tea with a Eskimo that only walks backwards tomorrow, Ah would believe yah." Marie smiled.
Kurt laughed, "Its been that crazy of a veek?"
"Yah have no idea." She smiled and looked at her watch. "Ah'm sorry Ah really must be going, Ah'm exhausted and Ah don't know how Ah am speaking coherent sentences but Ah have a bed that's calling my name. And yah have a feast tah prepare." Marie stood up and gathered her belongings. "It was really nice talking tah yah."
Kurt stood up as well, "Yes, I am very glad you slammed into me." He smirked, "Do you know your vay out?"
Marie turned around and looked towards the front entrance of the church, "I think I can manage." She said her goodbyes once again before turning around and heading towards the door.
Kurt called out when Marie was half way towards the door, "Marie, I'm just curious vhat brought about your philosophy. Vhat happened to you that made you not believe?"
Marie turned around to face him as she walked backwards. "Life," she added with a shrug. And with that she was on the streets again leaving Kurt in the empty church.
"Ahhh," he nodded understandingly, "Life's a bitch." Kurt then made his way to fill his growling stomach.
............................................................................................................. Well I updated twice in less than a week, I think that's a record for me, lol. This story will be updated a lot faster and the next chapter should be up by next Sunday. Here's a hint, the more reviews I get the more motivated I am = faster updates!! It's a win-win situation really, lol.
Next chapter will be about Marie and Remy...Surprise Surprise, lol.
I hope you guys liked this chapter! I wanted to have another X-Men cameo to kinda help speed along the story, and I choose Kurt because why not he's a fun guy to put it. But bare with me on his accent, I am not too good with it, I just really but v's where w's were suppose to be, yea needless to say that's not a good strategy and I basically butchered it, lol. So hopefully you can use your imagination and just pretend it's a German accent, I hope.
Thank you so much for continuing to read and review! I'm so happy you guys really like the story!!! I love reading your reviews, comments, critiques, and helpful advice! Thanks for the reviews guys, positive reinforcement does wonders for my self-esteem, keep it up, lol. You guys are the best! If you guys have any ideas or comments feel free to tell me. Read and Review please!! And believe me I'm not ashamed to say I will beg for reviews, lol!