Tuesday, November 23, 2004
Sometimes I Amaze Even Myself*
The bartender's scar has popped up in several other characters' scenes. It will pop up again in a scene I'm writing tonight or tomorrow when the revivalist meets her (he doesn't look at the scar at all and she winds up buying a round of drinks for her patrons after he leaves).
My favorite instance of this happening took place last week when I dove into my bookstore owning ex-priest's backstory. In the present-day story he offers literacy classes (possibly some tutoring too, but I didn't get into that). So was that something he did when he was still a priest? Something told me yes, and that that had something to do with why he left the priesthood. Well, why would he leave the priesthood over that? Well, what if his students were getting into secular books (Harlequin Romances, Stephen King, etc.) that the other parishoners didn't approve of. Yeah, that could lead to conflict (Catholic conflict? I'm not so sure, but it works for now). So he leaves after a blow-up with his parishoners and maybe even the next step or two up the hierarchy (it'd be helpful to know what that hierarchy is before publication, but for now generic hierarchy works for me). Okay, so we know why he quits, but why'd he get into literacy classes in the first place?
Well, what do I know about Catholics.
- They're big on the pope.
- Big on the Virgin, too.
- Ditto Saints.
- Confession is good for the soul.
- I tried to ignore the Monty Python "Spanish Inquisition" sketch.
- Friday Fishdays (although I think that's out of vogue now, even though clam chowder is still the soup of the day most places on Friday, but I think maybe the change had something to do with Vatican II).
- Whatelse happened at Vatican II? The liturgy changed from Latin to the vernacular (English where the priest would be), didn't it? (I checked online later to make sure I was right. I was. Yay me!)
- So if there were people in his church who couldn't read and had faked it by memorizing the Latin, they'd be stuck when the Mass started happening in English.
- Bingo! (both the game popular with Catholics and "Aha! I have my tie-in").
Now that it's happened (and continues to happen) to me, it doesn't feel like coincidence at all. Where do those moments come from? I don't think it's coincidence, because it feels like they were there all along just waiting to be found. Providence feels more like it, although I don't think God scheduled Vatican II for the sole purpose of providing me with a character development point. Nevertheless, I thank God for working it out that way and for including details like that in my scant knowledge of Catholicism.
And Thanksgiving happens this week and I'm actually thankful for something. Coincidence? Hmmmmm....
*To which Princess Leia responds: "That doesn't sound too hard."
Mikesell