How I Became Mrs. Watts ✓

How I Became Mrs. Watts (18)

CHAPTER 18

***Friday***

“Good morning, Ella,” Andrew told me. I was glad I had stopped my stupid habit of blushing at everything he said.

“What, no German today?” I asked of him, amused. I smirked and crouched down so that I could lean my elbows on his desk.

“No, no German today,” he smiled warmly at me. “So, we’re still on for tonight, right?” I stared at him in a confused manner, so he added, “You’re still coming to Oliver’s play date tonight?”

“Oh,” I said, realization obvious on my face, “Right. Yeah, I’m still coming. I wouldn’t miss it for the world.” That was a promise that I meant entirely with my heart. I wasn’t planning on breaking the promise I made to him, for I loved them both too much for that. Yes, I loved Andrew, I thought, I love him. Present tense, not past. I was slowly falling for him, slowly falling in love with him without even knowing it. I’ve written about love so much and I didn’t even recognize the signs of it in myself. I'm so stupid, I thought, how could I have not known that I was falling in love? The question was, did he love me back? Probably not, though I thoroughly hoped he did.

Andrew started the class then, “We finished talking about the sacraments on Monday. Today we will be discussing the last things. Now, there are four last things. Would someone like to list them?”

I raised my hand and said, “Death, judgment, Heaven, and Hell.”

“Good,” he smiled, “That's exactly right. Death can be simply described as the separation of body and soul. I've been told as a child that animals were not eternal souls. Some say they are, some say they aren't. It's really one of those things that are just unknown and they'll stay that way until we reach the gates of Heaven ourselves, well hopefully.

“Human souls do not become angels. I was taught that loved ones would become angels and watch over us. They do watch over us, but do not become angels. Angels and humans are distinctly separated, and angels do not need bodies to be complete, unlike ourselves.

“The 'resurrection of the body' in the creed is talking about the end of the world. At the end, bodies and souls will be reunited, because humans need body and soul to be complete.

“There will be an individual judgment at death, and you will want confession and anointing of the sick right before your death to help you a little. There will be a final judgment as a whole because we are the Body of Christ.

“Venial sins stain your soul, and purgatory will cleanse that. Purgatory is passive, therefore prayers from the living at funerals and such help.

“Heaven, Hell, and Purgatory are sometimes thought to be places. They are not, because places are for bodies.

“There are three types of Hell. The first is the Hell of Deprivation of God, which was for those before Jesus' time, before He 'descended into hell' and freed them. The second is the Hell of Punishment, which is what we all think of when we think of Hell. It is eternal. The final type is Limbo, which is the hell of the unbaptized child.

“In Purgatory, there are no senses. A good bumper sticker would be 'Avoid Purgatory-be perfect now!'” We all laughed at that.

Andrew continued on, “Heaven is full communion with God. It is better than even the Garden of Eden was. It is better than anyone's wildest imagination, and we can be certain of that because it's what the Bible tells us.

“The state of your soul, which will determine your judgment in the end, is based on your action, will, and intellect. For example, if you didn't know stealing was wrong, then you aren't as guilty, and if you didn't mean to hurt someone with your actions, you also aren't as guilty.

“Just another note for you all, when the bodies and souls are reunited the bodies will be 33, which is approximately the age when Jesus died. Our bodies will be glorified in Heaven and decayed in Hell.1 Class dismissed.”

I smiled at Andrew. He smiled back, not even bothering to notice that someone was coming in the room as the rest were leaving. I kept my head down when I saw who it was. My smile instantly disappeared.

“Watts, give me the book,” he demanded.

“I'm sorry, I can't do that, Ethan,” Andrew said. I didn't understand how he could be so polite to Ethan.

“Give me the book, Andrew,” he said through clenched teeth.

“Go away,” I tried to tell Ethan. He ignored me entirely.

“The book isn't here,” Andrew said.

“What?” Ethan and I asked at the same time.

Andrew smiled slightly and repeated, “It's not here.” There was a very long pause. He broke it saying, “Don't you two have a class to get to?”

“Whatever,” Ethan said, practically stomping out of the room.

I smiled sadly at Andrew before turning and leaving the room myself.

1 Class difrom a talk on the Last Things