Chapter Three
Sunday came with a torrent of wet. It rained as if it didn’t mean for anyone to go to church. Eroica lay in bed and listened to the wind as it beat the rain against the windows. She loved rain. Something unusual always happened on rainy days like this one. So Eroica anxiously expected it.
This would be her first Sunday back in the college ward. She had been going to church with John and AnnaMaria. But now that school had started again, the young adult wards were being organized. As she anticipated going to a ward full of strangers, there was one person that she couldn’t keep from thinking about. The cellist. Her cellist. Where was he? Would this be the day that she would find him? Would he recognize her? She had thought through these questions so many times. She had envisioned their reunion so many times and in so many different ways. He, of course, was as handsome as ever, with the added benefit of being deeply in love with her. Their eyes would meet, and all the years would become as nothing. They would immediately run off to the temple to be married, and would spend the rest of their lives together in happiness. They would have at least twelve children, six boys and six girls. All the girls would play the piano, and all the boys would play the cello.
Eroica hopped out of bed with a laugh. She knew that she was being ridiculous. He probably wouldn’t know her at all. What made her think that he’d had the same experiences and feelings that she’d had? But it didn’t matter. Eroica knew that she would find him again, and that everything would be perfect.
Eroica’s ward began at eight-thirty in the morning. Because four wards met in the same building, meetings had to begin early. She put on her dark green dress and french-braided her hair down her back. As she slipped on her white leather boots she could hear her mother’s voice in the back of her mind exclaiming how scandalous it was to wear boots to a place of worship. Eroica always told her mother that she could worship better if her feet were dry.
She ate a quick breakfast and then sat down at the piano. She had a few minutes before it was time to go, so she played through some hymns. Eroica loved to play the hymns. It always gave her a feeling of peace. And today Eroica was nervous. She knew that she expected too much from this day. She went to the closet, pulled out an umbrella, and walked outside.
“Eroica!” AnnaMaria poked her head out her door. “You’re not going to walk to church on a rainy day like this, are you?”
“Church isn’t so far away. It will be good for me to get outside. I’m always either inside a practice room or in a classroom.”
“That is true. Well, I’m excited to hear about your new ward. Maybe I’ll pass you in the halls.” AnnaMaria and John had church in the same building as Eroica.
“I just hope that I know someone in this new ward.”
When Eroica got to church, the parking lot was full of cars. Two young adult college wards met in this building, so there was a lot of chaos. Quorums and committees needed to be set up, teachers needed to be called, and all this as quickly as possible.
Eroica went to Relief Society and discovered she didn’t know anyone. But the girls were friendly, so she felt welcomed. In Sunday School, the newly called activities committee announced that there would be an opening social the following Friday night. It would be a computer-paired dinner date, so everyone had to take a few minutes to fill out a questionnaire.
Eroica looked reluctantly through the form that was handed to her. What is your favorite food? What do you do for fun on Sundays? If you could omit any month from the year, which month would it be?
Several years ago, Eroica went to a similar ward activity in Boston. She had been paired up with someone who installed stereo systems in cars. Supposedly they had music in common. They didn’t. Eroica wouldn’t have cared, if they would have had anything else in common. But they didn’t. Their goals in life were very different.
Consequently, Eroica distrusted this activity. She knew that the activities’ committee was just trying to come up with a fun idea for an opening social. She also knew that finding out about a person’s commitment to the gospel was not going to happen by asking these questions.
Before sacrament meeting started she went into the foyer and looked around for AnnaMaria. Her sister’s ward had just begun, and Eroica thought she might see AnnaMaria in the hall with Joshua. A group of girls that she had met in Relief Society called her over to join in their friendly conversation. Eroica quickly figured out that they were scheming how Valarie Rogers could sit by Bruce Merrington in Sacrament Meeting. Mary Hunter suggested that if they went over to talk to the boys right before going into the chapel, then Valarie could get next to Bruce. The problem with this idea was that Lisa Prescott knew that David Shepherd, who was talking to Bruce, liked her. Lisa did not want to encourage him. Eroica wondered what Bruce and David and their friends were saying about the girls. She glanced their direction and saw Mark Wallace walk through the door.
“Mark,” called David, “What are you doing here?’
“I thought you were teaching the deacons in your home ward,” said Bruce.
“I have been. I’m just here for a meeting with the stake president.”
“Oh,” David scoffed, “He’s probably going to reprimand you for not being married yet.”
“Then you should come with me. How long have you been home from your mission, David? Two years?”
Eroica could hear their friendly conversation plainly enough, but she felt that she shouldn’t listen. She should take a more active role in what the girls were saying.
Just then a door flew open, and a little boy tore out of the other ward’s nursery. Recognizing the frantic boy as Joshua, Eroica caught him up in her arms.
“Joshua, what is it?” She walked over to the nursery as he clung to her and sobbed. The nursery leader looked completely frazzled.
“I’ll just hold him for a little while, Sister Hill, and see if I can get him to calm down.”
“Things are not going smoothly in here today, Eroica,” she sighed. “But bring him back in, if you can, and we’ll try it again.”
Eroica watched as people from her ward filed into the chapel.
“I’ll save a seat for you if you promise to sit between David and me,” Lisa whispered to her before going in.
Once everyone had gone into the chapel, the only people left in the foyer were Eroica, Joshua, and Mark Wallace. As Eroica walked back and forth with Joshua, she noticed that Mark Wallace was staring at her again. Could he possibly dislike her just because he didn’t like her name? He didn’t even know her. Eroica thought about saying hello to him. After all, she was in his class. But he made her feel so uncomfortable, just staring at her, that she found herself once again wishing that he would just go away.
And he did. President Winters came out of his office, shook Mark’s hand, and led him into the office. Eroica was once again alone. She spent a lot of time alone, and it usually didn’t bother her. But this time it was different. Why would someone who didn’t know her, not like her? All she could think was that he must agree with her mother and disapprove of girls who wore boots to church. Eroica was relieved to see AnnaMaria coming down the hall to check on Joshua.
“I’m so glad that you’re here. Joshua is falling asleep, and I wasn’t sure if you wanted him to or not.”
“Poor Joshua. And poor Sister Hill. I think I’ll sit out here with him and let him sleep.” She sat down on the couch, and Eroica carefully laid Joshua in her lap.
“I’d better go in to sacrament meeting,” Eroica said quietly. “I met someone who is counting on me to break up a budding romance.”
“I’m going to enjoy hearing about your ward, Eroica. It’s much more interesting than mine, and I don’t have to go through any of it.”
“You know, Anna, as happy as I am with my own life, I do envy you.”
“You just keep going to this young adult ward, and you’ll find yourself married in no time.�
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“I wonder,” Eroica said doubtfully.
AnnaMaria wondered too, as she watched Eroica disappear into the chapel.
Heartstrings Page 3