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THE KABBALAH FACTOR
"Good morning Marlene."
"Good morning Pearl."
The two fortysomething women exchanged discreet smiles.
The
New Beginnings Church was packed this Sunday morning in late April, a gorgeous morning of lilacs in bloom and a symphony of
songbirds.
Marlene smoothed her hair demurly and enjoyed the organist's overture.
Services were beginning and a hush
of expectancy wafted
like the spring breeze outside.
"How have you been?"
Pearl nudged her, patting her own hair
fresh from the salon.
"Oh can't complain."
To this Pearl smiled approvingly.
"How is your nephew?"
Pearl inquired
discreetly.
Marlene's nephew, as she well knew, was a flamboyant homosexual and marred the otherwise pristine life of Marlene
Stolfer.
The last Pearl knew they had had a real screaming match last Christmas Eve with Marlene shrilly calling him a
faggot and her nephew cutting her down to size, calling her a holy bitch among other things and ridiculing her Christianity.
Pearl
knew Marlene's nephew Jonathin as a shy quiet effiminate boy but had not seen him in years.
Of course, he was oft spoken
of: he was being kept by a black man, he had published a book of openly gay poetry, he hung out at nightclubs best unmentioned.
Normally
Marlene launched into her heathen nephew's latest scandals with relish however this morning she stiffened.
"Well?" Pearl
prodded.
The organist finished his concerto with a flourish as their minister, one Michael Brown, stepped to the pulpit
and said
"Let us pray."
Pearl and Marlene bowed their heads slightly togather.
"He's found God!"
Marlene hissed
in a strangled voice.
"Found God?"
Pearl echoed, suddenly craning her neck and scanning the crowd of worshippers "is
he here?"
"No" Marlene hissed again, "He's taken up with the Jews!"
"The Jews?" Pearl gave a little scream.
"He's
a Kabbalist."
Marlene moved closer to Pearl's ear.
"Kabbalah? Isn't that a cult?"
Pearl gasped.
Marlene smiled
thinly.
"It might as well be."
The minister begin his sermon, something about love and charity. Marlene and Pearl tuned
him out. Rerun.
"Well, what do they do?"
Pearl asked, envisioning Satanic rituals and black mass.
"It's a spiritual
philosophy based on the ancient Jewish text The Zohar."
Marlene sniffed.
"Sounds heathen" Pearl sniffed as well.
"He's
even apoligised to me for that night, said it was our egos talking not our hearts!"
"Oooh la de da" Pearl sneered.
Marlene
nodded vigorously.
"He sais he's spiritual not religious. Like it matters, crawling back to God with his lifestyle!"
Both
women smiled thinly as the minister droned on...
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