I was dressed and ready for the day I was wearing this:
I was watching Manny as he put spoon after spoon, of sugar into his espresso. Jay was also watching. We were all sat in silence until Jay spoke, "It might be easier for you to just pour the espresso right in the sugar" he joked. I laughed a little at his remark. Manny faked laugh and then pulled a serious face, "every morning". It was true Jay made some joke like that every morning but they were always funny.
"Jay what are you wearing? You to Julie? You can't go to church like that" Gloria asks us. Oh yeah I forgot we have church. How fun. It's not that I didn't like church, it was just boring.
"Well, that settles it then. I'm going golfing" Jay protested. "I'll go get changed" I say jumping of my stool. "Your going to miss church again"? Gloria asked Jay. "Last Sunday you said 'you had to go to the office' The week before you had breakfast with a friend" Gloria complained to her husband. She was right, he kept canceling on church. "And before that you thought you had a cold that turned out not to be a cold" Manny added.
"Because I babied it" Jay added. "You don't have to convince us, You have to convince him" Gloria said pointing to the ceiling. "Who? God" Jay asked. Gloria nodded.
"Me and God are good" Jay defended himself. "How would you know"? Gloria asked. "Look, you feel God in church, which is great. I feel God in nature, amongst his works" Jay stated like he was some sort of presenter. "Are you going to go to church next week"? Gloria asked totally missing Jay's point. "We'll see" Jay added, trying to please his wife.
"I know what 'we'll see' means. If your done with church then, just say it" Gloria added, she didn't seem to pleased. "I'm done with church" Jay replies almost instantly. "Don't say that"! Gloria yelled.
"Look I'm not going to church anymore, It's not the end of the world, let's not make a big deal out of . . ." Jay says trying to ease the tension. Then all of a sudden the house begins to rumble, shake. All I hear is Manny scream "EARTHQUAKE"! I hear muffled voices downstairs. I was upstairs. Did they forget about me. I do what Phil told me to do if this happens and I am trapped upstairs. Hide under a table or desk. So I went into my room and hid under my desk. I even began to cry, I hate serious situations like this.
The shaking stops, I hear voices downstairs, "Julie"? It was Jay. "Julie, where are you"? Manny yells.
"It's safe now"! Gloria shouts, I crawl out from under my desk. "Jay? Gloria? Manny"? I yell looking around. I hear footsteps coming up the stairs. It was Manny. "Thank god your okay" Manny says hugging me. I go back downstairs. "I found her"! Manny yelled. Jay and Gloria run back and Gloria hugs me and kisses me on the head staining my head from her lipstick.
--- A couple minutes later ---
Gloria decides to ring Cam & Mitch to see if their okay. "Mitch are you okay"? She asks to the phone. I couldn't hear them so I was paying attention to Gloria's facial expressions. "And Phil and Claire"? She asked worriedly. She goes quiet for a couple seconds. "We lost Phil"?! She yells. My eyes widened. "We lost Phil"? Me and Manny ask. She presses the button on the phone and places back on her ear.
"Hello"? She says. "Ay Dios mio! Phil, you're alive"! She screams. Phew.
--- an hour later ---
Me, Gloria and Manny were about to leave for church. Until we spot Jay loading his car trunk with golf clubs. "You're still going golfing, God sent you a sign Jay" Gloria said. I could tell she was angry. "What the earthquake? You've got to be kidding me" Jay chuckles sarcastically.
"You say you're never going to church again, and the ground shakes with a vengeance" Gloria say putting her hands on her hips.
"I'll prove it to you . . . God if you have a problem with me going golfing send me a sign" Jay laughs as Gloria shushes him. "I mean throw on a little lightning. Put on a show" Jay joked. "Don't talk to God like that"! Gloria whispered. "Now trust me, if God had a problem with me, he would let me know without shaking the whole city. He would be a little more specific" Jay stated. It wasn't like he was some sort of God.
"I'm not going to argue with you. I don't want to get upset. Vamanos Manny and y/n" Gloria says as she walks to her car.
"I think I'm going to skip it today" Manny said. Oh no not Manny. "What"? Me and Gloria question the boy.
"I like what Jay said about ' God being in nature'" Manny says lifting both his arms up.
"No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Don't listen to him. His days are numbered" Gloria warned Manny as she was pointing at Jay. Jay smiled about Manny agreeing with him.
"Think about it ,Mom. It makes sense. God made the trees and the grass. He didn't make that church" Manny added smartly he was right but Gloria won't let him win this one.
"But he made the people who made the church, and you are making me very angry! Vamonos " Gloria yelled. "Just one week, can I go golfing with you"? Manny asked Jay.
"I'm probably gonna have a Latino kid carry my clubs anyway. Might as well be you" Jay said whilst getting in his car.
"Fine. See what I care. Go" Gloria demanded.
"Manny, go change"! Jay demanded. "Sorry. Mom. Hope you understand" Manny added before leaving to get changed.
"Probably good for us to spend a little time together-" Jay said before Gloria cut him of, "Your going to spend eternity together"! She yelled before walking away little. As Jay was about to reverse I saw his clubs placed behind his car, "JAY"! I shouted but I was too late, the clubs fell to the ground with a crunch.
"DAMN IT"! Jay yelled parking his car. Gloria was trying to hold her laughter in. 2I suppose this was God too" Jay yelled shaking his hand in the air.
"I don't know who did it but it makes me happy" Gloria says before finally leaving.
"Do you mind if I come Jay"? I ask hesitantly. "Sure whatever, just go get changed out of your church clothes" Jay replies still looking at his broken clubs.
Me, Manny and Jay were driving in the golf cart until we came to a halt and Jay speaks, "You know Mitchell used to caddie for me, of course he spent most of his time chasing butterflies". Me and Manny jump out of the cart, literally. "You won't catch us doing that" Manny added. Jay furrowed his eyebrows at me as I was following a bee's movements. "You won't catch ME doing that" Manny corrected himself.
"Good for you" Jay sighed, "I'm terrified of them" Manny added. "Huh"? Jay questioned.
"Look at that the perfect shot, and I hit that with a bent club" Jay said proudly pointing to the ball with his bent club. I was sort of paying attention. "So you're not worried about getting in trouble? You know? With God"? Manny asked.
"Oh, I think he's got bigger things on his plate" Jay stated as he was preparing to putt the ball. "So your not worried about hell"? Manny asked. You see why I don't pay attention, this kid has too many questions.
"Let me let you in on a little secret here, kids. There is no hell" Jay said putting his concentration on the putt and ball. "Seriously? No hell. That's fantastic. . . So then everyone just goes to heaven"? Manny asked almost excitedly.
"Yep! End of story"! Jay said getting frustrated as Manny kept distracting him. "Even bad people"? Manny questioned. "Yeah, they're in another section. See they get this thing figured out. Can I hit this"? Jay sort of begged the boy. Manny nodded, whilst still being confused.
"Damn it" Jay sighed, "You distracted me" Jay protested to Manny. "I didn't say anything" Manny said throwing his hands up in the air.
"Well it couldn't of been y/n she has been chasing that bee for half an hour, I could hear you thinking" Jay blamed Manny.
"I was thinking of this heaven of yours that's full of bad people" Manny protested. "Not full, a tiny fraction" Jay says walking over to the ball that still hadn't reached the hole.
"Their walled in" Jay added trying to focus. "What if they break out"? Manny asked. "They're surrounded by the lake of fire" Jay added squinting his eyes as he concentrated on his last putt.
"There fiery lakes in heaven? This is turning into hell" Manny complained. Jay putted the ball 'one last time' and it missed the hole. "Tell me about it" He whispered under his breath.
I was just about to catch the bee, I just had to jump one more time to reach it. Three, two, one. Ouch. The bee stung me on my pinkie finger. "Owie! Owie! Jay! Manny"! I screamed running back to then.
"Nice for you to finally join us y/n" Jay said rolling his eyes. I was crying like a big baby, "The bee stung me" I sighed looking down at the floor. "Let's go get some ice on it" Manny added as we both hopped in the cart.
--- a couple minutes later ---
"I just don't understand this bad section of heaven"? Manny questioned. "What if they send you too the wrong place? They make mistakes with paperwork sometimes. I was put in the girl's health class last year and I had to watch a very disturbing movie-" Manny rambled, geez this kid has too many questions.
"Calm down, instead of thinking all morning about what heavens gonna look like, what it's not gonna look like, who's where, if there even is a heaven, why don't we just concentrate on this beautiful, carefree day that's in front of us"? Jay said looking around at the scenery.
"I'd rather concentrate on something you just said. There might not even be a heaven"? Manny questioned as we got back in the cart. "I don't know" Jay whined. "You seem pretty sure of yourself this morning, so what happens after you die? There's just nothing"? Manny questioned.
"Look. You're focusing too much on one little thing I said. It was just a hunch? Okay" Jay said trying to get Manny to shut up. "A hunch? We are skipping church based on a hunch" Manny says, he starts hyperventilating. So do I, yeah church was nothing but one thing that my Mom told me was to be on God's side and I bailed on him for a hunch? C'mon Jay.
"All right, all right. Don't freak out on me, kids" Jay stated. "Your playing pretty fast and loose with my soul" Manny added. I stopped Manny didn't, "Look I want you to forget everything Jay has said this morning" I say shaking Manny.
"Some things can't be forgotten y/n. Do you know what mensuration is? Because I do"! Manny yelled.
"Dude? I'm a girl? Of course I know what it is. It's natural and shut up so we can go home" I demanded as Jay drove the golf cart.
--- an hour later ---
Jay dropped me and Manny off at church "We'll put in a good word for ya" Me and Manny joked before we walked in. "Your the best kids" Jay laughed.
--- after church ---
We got home and Gloria was making us some tea, "So if heaven is in the sky, What do we walk on"? Manny questioned Gloria. He has been asking questions for nearly an hour now.
"Manny, don't be ridiculous. The clouds" Gloria replied putting a sugar in my tea.
"That makes no sense, clouds are air. You'd fall right through them" Manny stated smartly.
"The clouds in heaven are like trampolines" Gloria added trying to shut down this long draining conversation.
"I don't like trampolines, they make me seasick" Manny added. Seasick? Trampoline? Is he on about the right thing or?
"Manny. Stop worrying heaven is a beautiful place with sunshine and rainbows , bee's and butterflies" Gloria added.
"Bee's"! I scream. "Butterflies"? Manny screamed as well. "Ai no, no, no, no" Gloria tried to change it.
Me and Manny run off screaming and shouting. "I didn't say butterflies or bee's"! Gloria shouted. "Manny, there is no butterflies" She shouted running after us.
"Y/n there is no bee's"! She shouted still running after us.