Josie (7)

November 18 (Thursday)

Last night you called at 7:30 p.m. or so. We talked of things biblical. We went over why we hadn't gone to the movies on Tuesday night and haggled over going out this weekend. You thought we were going out too often. I said, "So what?"

Somehow, we got on the topic of God. Damn him! Actually, in this case it was a more benevolent spirit which infused your speech. You read to me a passage which you said has consoled you in your lonelier times: Psalm 23, A Psalm of David.

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.
...
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil, for you are with me."

You told me how and why you liked this passage, and you were pleasantly, I think, surprised to know that I was reading along with you in my own bible. Then I read to you from 2 Samuel, 18:26-33.

O, my son Absalom! My son, my son, Absalom!
If only I had died instead of you -- O, Absalom,
my son, my son.

You were touched and surprised by my knowledge of the passage. I told you, it was Faulkner's book, "Absalom, Absalom!" which had put me onto this passage. You said, "Oh, so you weren't reading for the sake of reading....you were only reading it for interest?"

I said, ever the consummate compromiser, "We may be reading for our own reasons but for whatever reasons we may be reading, we've read the Bible together and shared one moment and two passages which are important to us....and that's what matters. We both got something out of it."

We went on to flirt in a big way over the phone. You, for the record, initiated by asking me, "When did you lose your virginity?" Then, you quickly corrected yourself and said, if I had lost my virginity, when did this take place? The conversation spiralled from this point on.