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Show Acting Alone Page 470 he really felt like it or was in some way compelled to. Everybody who has seen their television spots knows that people of this Elder's faith can never resist a wedding invitation. Polly was not at all indignant at the amply precedented things Sammy kept whispering in her ear up here at the bomb-singed altar. Any and all words seemed appropriate uttered next to the big metal vases that were split and melted and splayed out in every direction in the shape of newly-budded black flowers. Besides, she somehow understood that Sammy was just trying to josh up a little courage; for he was understandably intimidated and frightened by the seriousness of the contract he was about to enter into. And he was scared by this most ancient of true religions and this most profound of all sacramental symbologies ever devised by human beings on any continent of this planet. Before the service, when asked if he could accept the Doctrine of Transubstantiation and share in the celebration of the Eucharist as a baptized Christian (yes! - they'd done a little digging and found that, just as Polly had suspected, he'd been baptized in the Episcopal church as an infant), Sammy had simply, summarily, roundly refused as in terror; and, more tellingly, he hadn't even made a joke or sarcastic quip to accompany his refusal. Even Sammy was feeling his emotions more purely these days, and Polly hoped that she'd helped to bring about this salutary change in her man. "When do we get the wine and cheese-flavored textured soybean food product?" he stammeringly asked, by way of self-defense. He asked, "A piece of what?" when Bopp turned to give him the most ancient and beautiful Offering of the Peace, as described in the works of Saint Justin Martyr in 150 A.D., and reinstated along with the other Vatican II reforms, one of the few sweet |
