Seneschal

It was late. It seemed a little odd, his being here and all, considering not just the hour, but that he wasn't from this part of town. He moved quietly but with purpose, as if he had been here before and knew his way. Most of the rain had dried, but the potholes threatend a turned, wet ankle. He stopped outside the door, the darkness of the alley enveloping him, he turned his head looking both ways. Not nervously, not as if he expected to see anything, he just sort of looked askance, then returned his gaze to the door.

"Murphy", he said, not demanding, not loudly, but with that same sense of purpose. In a moment  light went on over the door, it opened after the chink of a chain and a lock or two. The shadow within moved aside. He glided in without so much as a swish of his coat, disappeared into the dim light, the darkness remaining outside afraid to come in, the door closing with a whisper. 

That was the last anyone heard or saw of him. Gone, just like that. It took a while for anyone to notice, no clue was left behind, and he owed no one anything. They just sort of noticed his absence. Nothing bad happened to him, he just suddenly didn't exist anymore. Spooky, the kinda stuff that makes you leave a light on at night spooky.

It made me wonder why he was ever even here. He came, he went, nothing happened, but you were left with the sense something did happen, something very important, so much so it changed you, and maybe you were the only one who didn't notice what it was that did or did not happen, and you're too afraid of looking the fool to ask.  And every now and then a glimmer, a piece of memory stuck to the wall of your head, enough to make your heart beat harder, because YOU KNOW, but then its gone, before you can see it, hear it, feel it clearly. Sometimes you think you hear someone mention his name, but everyone seems not to have said anything at all worth hearing.

Yeah, spooky like that spooky... just gone.

Differences between friends

We sat outside the coffee shop, the slight breeze ruffling the umbrella that shaded our table on a pleasant sunny morning.  He held his coffee to his lips, pensive, his gaze far away, his  mind turning.

"We are different, you and I, and yet we remain close friends..."

Curious, I simply smiled.

"Why don't you hate me?"

"Why would I hate you?", I replied, a bit taken aback. Where was this going?

"I am Christian, against abortion, and I dislike homosexuality, the Holy Trifecta," he said smiling, "the polar opposite of your blasphemous positions."

"I think you would agree that's stating things a bit simplistically, " I offered, laughing, "but yes, I dislike those things about your beliefs. They are not who you are, they are merely parts of the whole. I enjoy the whole, even if I disklike some parts. I recognize that your beliefs form who you are to some degree, but I like you still for the rest."  After a moment, I added,  "I would counter that I dislike you no more than you dislike me for being, as you say, opposite, on these things. You are entitled to have these beliefs, as I am entitled to have an opposing position. If those beliefs were to become who you are, than yes, we would likely have little common ground."

"Hmmm... How is it you don't believe in God, accept abortion and are not abhorred by homosexuality?" , he asked, "Can't you see how wrong these are?"

"It would be easy to return the question, why do you feel as you do on these things, but I know you can't answer them in a way that would satisfy me. I have no reason to believe in god, certainly a god as defined by Christianity, and I am troubled by what religion brings to the human equation. I don't like abortion, but I do not think it is an issue for us men to debate with any integrity, and while I don't find homosexuality attractive, I would offer it is not for me to deny. I could not care less about someone being LGBT. It simply doesn't bother me.", I replied. "I wonder how different you might be in your thinking and feelings without your god; who would you be without god?"

"I can't imagine life without God."

"And I am diappointed in a world with god...", I said. "And I think this is really our only difference."