by Kit Duncan
The first thing I wrote with my new pen was a letter to Aunt Myrna thanking her for her Christmas and birthday gifts. Mama told me it was very important to always express appreciation for gifts. I also wrote Aunt Myrna an update on how I was coming along with Lost Horizon.
I was on chapter six. I had developed a great distaste for Miss Brinklow, but at the time I couldn't quite figure out what it was about her that I found so disdainful. I just didn't like her. I told Aunt Myrna in my letter that one particular sentence kept playing over and over in my head, but I didn't tell her which sentence it was. Two weeks after I sent her the letter she wrote back and asked what sentence I was talking about. It took me three days to compose my return letter.
Dear Aunt Myrna,
It's that statement that Chang makes about jewels and religion. He says, "The jewel has many facets and it is possible that many religions are moderately true."
We are back in school again. No one has failed a single spelling test since before Christmas. Sister Martha Louise even smiled yesterday, but I can't remember how come.
Why are there so many religions? Why can't everyone just be Catholics?
Affectionately, your niece,
Katie Arlene Morgenstern
Aunt Myrna's next letter only had two words written.
Or Lutherans?
I thought about Aunt Myrna's short response over and over. I showed her letter to Mama and asked her what she thought, and she, not having read my previous letter, seemed confused. I showed Mama the passage in chapter six in Hilton's book. She read the whole paragraph silently as I watched her, and then she smiled.
"I think Chang is speaking about tolerance," Mama put the book down. "There are those who think one religion is better than another. Chang is just saying that all religions may have merit, that's all."
"Like what we talked about at Christmas, about being a Jew?"
"That's right, Sweetheart."
"Is being a Catholic better than being a Lutheran?" I asked.
Mama didn't answer right away. I decided to clarify my question. "Or a Baptist?"
Apparently my attempts at clarification failed. "We'll ask your dad what he thinks tonight," she said.
Papa sold two new cars that day and Mama and I could scarcely get a word in edgewise all through supper. as he told us every detail about both sales. After Mama and I finished the dishes, we joined him in the living room, and Mama posed my question to him. He thought a long time before he answered.
"I've been Lutheran, and I've been Catholic, and I can't say which is better," he said.
"That's it?" Mama asked him. She wasn't aggravated with him but she was hoping for something a little more substantial.
"That's it," Papa said. "Sorry."
"Well, Honey," Mama looked at me. "I don't know any more than that." Papa picked up the newspaper to indicate he had said all he was going to about religion.
Some time after I had gone to bed I got back up and walked quietly down the hall to the bathroom to get a drink of water. I'm not sure where Papa was, but I could hear Mama in the kitchen talking on the phone. I only caught a few bits of her side of the conversation.
"Yes, Myrna, I know that. Well, of course, I know. It's just that at her age?. No, I'm not saying that. I'm only thinking that?. What? No." She laughed. "No, of course not. Some Catholics believe that, but we've never?. Well, yes, you're right. What?" Mama laughed again. "Oh, absolutely not! She'd be lost without your letters. No. No, I don't want you to restrain yourself. Oh, Myrna Arlene, you know I adore you! No, I'm not worried at all. I just wanted to let you know she's asking?. Oh, yes, I agree one hundred percent. It is a sign of a good mind to question things. Sometimes I just don't have the answers. How's that again? Oh, I know I don't have to. But her questions can be so?."
Mama's voice faded and I leaned my head out into the living room, sure to keep my feet firmly at the edge of hall. I was just about to lose my balance when a deep voice from behind me whispered,
"Boo!"
I lost my balance, nearly fell over, but Papa caught me and carried me back to bed, chuckling all the way. As he was tucking me back into my bed he chastised me, "Not polite to eavesdrop, Squirt."
"I wasn't eavesdropping," I countered. "I was just listening, that's all."
He smiled, and I smiled back. He tapped me on the top of my head and said, "You've got a lot of questions jamming up your airwaves, Pumpkin."
"Not so many," I argued. "A few.
"So many," he insisted.
"Papa," I asked. "Why did Mama call Aunt Myrna 'Myrna Arlene?'"
"Arlene?"
"That's her middle name, Honey." And he added, "I guess we never told you, did we? We named you after your Aunt Myrna." Papa kissed my forehead. "You sleep tight, now. And no more traveling!"
He was at the door, and just before he pulled it shut he said, "You know, Katie, most folks believe what they have a mind to believe. When you get older you'll follow your own mind wherever that takes you. So keep asking your questions, and then you make up your own mind about what is so. You'll be just fine. Night-night, now, Sweetpea."
"Night-night, Papa," I said, but he had already closed the door.
CHAPTER 13