After a while of Kevin and Connor discussing the passage and joking about its absurdity, the two went there separate ways, only to reconvene at dinner. The Elders always sat around their large square table, with Connor always at the head due to his role as district leader. He wasn't too fond of this, considering he was always expected to lead prayers and sit in the same spot. Every night he secretly hoped Kevin would decide to sit by him, but it was rare that he did. Luckily, tonight Kevin ended up sitting directly across from him, which was adequate enough for Connor. He watched across the table as Elder Thomas, (more commonly known as Elder Poptarts by the group), who was sitting left of Kevin, enthusiastically explain how he'd come into contact with a charity in the United States. The charity would hope to bring proper medical supplies to the village within the next month. Kevin was nodding as he spoke but appeared to be elsewhere, lost within his own thoughts.
The group enjoyed a typical dinner before their evening discussion of scripture. Lately having been switched from the Book of Mormon to the Book of Arnold. Accompanying this, Cunningham himself hadn't been around the mission house for the past week or so; he had been traveling around to different villages with Nabulungi and a few other villagers to spread the word about his new book. Meaning that he wasn't around to answer questions about his disorganized writing. Even when he was there, his answers often hinted at his own confusion, proving him to be rather unhelpful either way. Kevin was a bit envious that Arnold was the only one doing something similar to the job that the missionaries were sent there to do in the first place. However, he also felt a sense of worry for Arnold that something would happen to him during his travels. Uganda wasn't the safest place, there was no way to sugarcoat it. Kevin just hoped that he would be in good hands with Nabulungi, and that she'd keep him and his chaos in check.
"Alright Elders, let's take out our books and discuss our reading for the day," Connor announced to the group, standing in his spot with his hands clasped in a welcoming manner. "Who wants to start? The floor is yours," he beamed.
Just as usual, none of the Elders dared to raise their hand, instead just staring at the floor or looking off to the side as to not be called on. Kevin noticed as Elder Micheals tapped his fingers against the wooden table, and Davis coughed awkwardly. No one wanted to risk saying something embarrassing or clueless, even if the entire book was up for interpretation. Sighing, Kevin reluctantly raised his hand.
Connor's chest filled with relief, and he gleefully called on Kevin. "Elder Price! Thank you! Do you have anything to add?"
Kevin slowly lowered his hand. Now all the eyes of the others were on him, and they all seemed to be expressing a sense of gratitude that he was willing to speak first. Kevin opened his notebook and began, "well...with the help of Elder McKinley earlier, we were able to get a general idea of the story." Connor, flattered that Kevin would mention him by name in front of everyone smiled and sat back down to listen. "I think that Elder Cunningham's main goal was to describe how the General's violence didn't hold any real power," Kevin commented.
All of the others murmured in agreement. Elder Church, who was a seat away from Conner raised his hand, adding, "right, and in place of the real people working for the general, the stormtroopers were used to represent them."
Connor who was enthusiastic about the discussion that was brought on, perked up his head. "Absolutely! I think it really shows how violence was just a fear tactic the general used to get the villagers to do what he wanted," he clarified. Kevin leaned over on his hands, listening intently. "And also to teach the villagers that reciprocating that same kind of violence back doesn't improve things."
Kevin didn't notice the way he was staring at Connor with a look of adoration until he broke his gaze and glanced at Elder Church. His dark eyes were narrowed at Kevin with a look of suspicion, with a raised eyebrow. He hadn't paused to think how his admiration of Connor would appear to the others. It didn't seem like anything odd to Kevin, but based on Church's reaction, maybe he saw something more than what Kevin felt.
As another Elder shared their further thoughts, Kevin looked away from Elder Church and back to his notebook as if nothing happened. Nothing did happen, it was just confusion on Church's side, mistaking his interest in Connor's speaking for attraction to him or something of the sort.
Connor on the other hand was very aware of his attraction to Kevin and had became fairly skilled in being subtle about his glances at him. He swore for a moment that Kevin was staring at him from across the table, but he knew thinking about it would make things worse. Kevin was clearly straight, and so was he. Or, at least he was trying to seem like it. Acting was his dream career, but he didn't expect to be forced to do it all the time, especially not in this way.
"Is there any way that this story is similar to one in the Book of Mormon?" Elder Neeley asked with curiosity. An uncomfortable silence hung over the room like a dark cloud once again. None of them were quite sure how to handle the discussion of the Book of Mormon anymore. It was clear they all believed to some degree, but being exposed to the struggle of the people of Uganda compared to their own privileged upbringing made them question why things were so unfair. The questions changed to finding holes and confusing bits in the writing of the Book of Mormon that made them have doubts. They'd all collectively agreed they would try to work through these questions, and use the new book to help the people of the village and further out.
"Well... I don't really know if we're talking about the book of Arnold in relation to the Book of Mormon," Connor faltered.
Kevin scoffed, prompting a head turn from all of the others directly to him. "Please, Elder Cunningham hasn't even read the real book," he said, a bit frustrated upon remembering how much attention Arnold had received, despite never having read any of what he was sent to Uganda to teach in the first place.
Elder Schrader's brow furrowed. "He's really never read the book? How was he even allowed to go on a mission?" He puzzled.
"Who knows, he's a great liar. We've all seen it firsthand. This book wouldn't even exist if it wasn't for his lying," Kevin pointed out. Not even he was sure where his sudden frustration was coming from. Even if his prior selfishness was wearing off, he still had the ability to become jealous and spiteful occasionally.
"Then thank Heavenly Father it did! The book of Arnold is giving more help to the Africans than the Book of Mormon ever could," Elder Thomas pointed out.
Kevin turned to him, "I just find it a bit weird that somehow a book built entirely on lies is the most helpful thing we can give these people. Don't you think Elder Poptarts?" He countered, coming off far more sarcastic than he intended.
Elder Thomas sunk into his seat, and fixed a strand of his blonde hair that had fell out of its neat placement, clearly annoyed with Kevin. "Yeah I guess you're kind of right, I dunno," he mumbled.
Elder Church piped up from across the table to defend Poptarts. "Well what do you expect us to do? Teach them the Book of Mormon which none of them can relate to? That would be ridiculous," He spoke, his thin arms crossed.
Connor sat in silence picking at his nails. As district leader, he felt like he should have some epic peacemaking speech to give, but his head was like an empty room, without a single thought coming to mind. He knew the others were right, and he wasn't sure what triggered the pettiness from Elder Price. Despite this, he didn't want to risk saying anything that would further upset him.
"It's a lose-lose situation either way. It feels like we're just sitting here every night pretending to understand a single thing in this darn book. I mean it mentions AIDs out of the blue every 3 pages!" Kevin complained, "It makes no sense!"
Connor finally spoke up in a small voice. "Well it doesn't really matter if it's not really coherent. It makes sense to them. Elder Cunningham had the most experiences with the villagers firsthand," he said slowly, his voice nearly cracking multiple times. "So, the struggles that the characters go through in this version are ones that people can genuinely relate to and find something of value in."
Kevin's shoulders dropped. Connor was right. Somehow he was able to use his masterful talking skills yet again, silencing Kevin in return.
"What we have to say about it doesn't really help, we just need to try our very best to learn the stories, understand their morals and hopefully repeat them!" Connor finished with confidence. It was nice to see the others around him nodding in agreement. He looked across the table to Kevin who had a look of guilt on his face.
Kevin brushed his hair back in the manner that always had the ability to give Connor butterflies. He mouthed a quick 'turn it off' to himself as Kevin responded to him, "you're right. I'm sorry." Connor couldn't help but raise his eyebrows in surprise. All it took was a little bit of speaking from him to calm Kevin and end the debate? Perhaps he was better at commanding a room than he previously believed. "I just need a minute guys, go ahead and continue the discussion without me. I wasn't really much help with it anyway," Kevin encouraged as he pushed his chair in and swiftly exited the room.
Connor was left leaning over his seat, watching Kevin as he retreated into his room. After seeing the door shut with one final thump, he spun back around to the other Elders at the table. "I should go say something to him, I'm gonna go say something," Connor rambled as he stood up.
"No, no, Elder McKinley sit back down," Church sighed as he dragged Connor by the sleeve back into his seat. "He needs a second to cool off," he warned him.
Connor fell back into his seat, still concerned about Kevin. He couldn't bear to see him upset, especially if he ended up being upset with Connor. He'd find a way to talk to him after dinner, even if the others thought he shouldn't.
"Elder McKinley you worry about people too much!" Elder Neeley teased, clearly not understanding the extent of the concern Connor felt. "You don't need to be fixing other people's problems all the time," he said, chuckling.
Elder Davis spoke up from across the table, adding, "sometimes I think all you do is tap dance and worry about us. Take a break man!" This comment stirred up a chorus of laughter and jokes from the rest of the group, leaving Connor to fake a smile and laugh along with the rest of them.
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Author's note: Hello! I hope you're all enjoying the story so far. Just wanted to apologize if I've spelled anyone's name wrong yet, feel free to correct me if I do. There's also a chance I get a few bits of information about the original story wrong as this story continues. I've gone to see the show on Broadway before (which it was incredible may I add, and definitely my favorite show I've got to see) but I do not remember every detail perfectly. I was way too distracted by all of the incredible small details in the show to fully pay attention to the plot the whole time. Anyway, thanks for reading! :)