No More Secrets & No More Lies | Falice

Sunday Best

The rest of that Saturday went by fairly quickly. Hal's parents went out of town for a date night and Hal slept till 6 P.M. then stayed cooped up in his room for the last few hours of the day.

But then, it was Sunday – one of Alice's least favorite days of the week. The Coopers went to mass every Sunday and expected nothing less than for her to happily attend with them. Alice did attend, but not happily. It wasn't that she didn't believe or hated God or anything like that, it was that she didn't know what was going on half the time. She wasn't raised in a super religious household and pretty much only attended church on Christmas and Easter. And even then, she went to a Baptist church whereas the Coopers went to a Catholic church, so she never got the point in many of their traditions.

Plus, most of her "Sunday Best" clothes were too tight so her stomach would hang out too much. She would way rather wear jeans and a nice shirt, but if she wore that, she would get even more judgmental looks than she already did. Getting pregnant out of wedlock is not something many people at church supported. But hopefully, that would end soon.

Alice looked for the most loosely fitted dress she could find and put it on. She applied a light coat of mascara and lip gloss then found some sandals to slip on, then she made her way downstairs for breakfast.

Mrs. Cooper had just finished making pancakes when Alice got down. She slid two onto her plate along with a few slices of bacon and sat down. Mrs. Cooper called for Hal from the bottom of the stairs. He came out half-awake and looking like a zombie, but still had nice slacks and a cardigan shirt on. Everyone sat in awkward silence and ate their breakfast. Mr. Cooper sat drinking tea and reading the newspaper – the one that he publishes. Hal sat there, in a trance, staring at his cup of orange juice. But Mrs. Cooper decided to make conversation.

"I was thinking that this afternoon we could all have a family game and movie night. We could get out the Monopoly board and watch an old, classic movie."

Hal and Mr. Cooper just nodded their heads, but the girls doubted they were even aware that she had said anything.

Alice looked at her and smiled. "That's an amazing idea, Mrs. Cooper. I look forward to it!"

Mrs. Cooper smiled back, then everyone sat in silence once again for another 15 minutes until it was time to leave.

Church was as boring as ever for Alice. As always, she got ugly stares from old people and had a few people tell her that they're praying for her. She never really minded if someone prayed for her. It was a kind act, but given the circumstances they were under, she felt more humiliated than anything.

But an hour and a half later, it was finally over. They all piled up in the car and headed to Pops for some lunch.

When they got there, they all sat in a booth and ordered. As always, Mrs. and Mr. Cooper discussed the sermon from that morning while she and Hal sat there mindlessly agreeing to everything the parents said.

An hour or so had passed and everyone was finished with their food and conversations so they had headed back to the house.

As soon as they got back, Mrs. Cooper grabbed the Monopoly box from the attic and began to set up. Alice was the thimble, Hal was the racecar, Mrs. Cooper was the dog, and Mr. Cooper was the top hat. Alice had never played this game with the Coopers before, but when she played with her family, she always won.

Hal decided to be the banker, which Alice found out shortly after, was a huge mistake. He kept cheating and stealing money – or at least he tried; every time he tried, Alice would see and raise an eyebrow to tell him to put it back.