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Stories from the Verse
Con Verse Lea
Chapter 76: Takano 80
Table of Contents
Previous chapter: Hastings 251
Lauren’s morning sermon--or teaching, or lesson, Tommy wasn’t certain what to call it--continued with a few more verses of John’s Gospel, talking first about how Jesus was involved in creation and then moving quickly into the promise of life and light, and encouraging the people to put their trust in Jesus to receive that life. Having opened with the singing of the books of the Bible, she closed with a prayer, and thanked everyone for coming.
People crowded around her with questions. One or two were apparently questions she had been asked during the week and had deferred answering, but she had kept her word and found answers in the interim. Tommy marveled that she had so much knowledge without access to the internet, and then realized that she herself might be without the internet quite a bit in the years ahead and had better develop some knowledge base of her own.
She sat on the edge of the doorway to the nest continuing to read her own Bible, starting with what Lauren had taught that morning and then jumping to her bookmark now in Leviticus. Exodus had been pretty exciting, for a while, but she found Leviticus dull and difficult, uncertain why a lot of it mattered. Still, having been a reader all her life she knew that sometimes part of the story that seems a bit dull is necessary for understanding later events, so she stuck with it.
Lauren brought back a couple rabbits, which she cleaned and dressed and tossed in the frying pan for dinner. She set it on the cool edge of the fire, and headed off with the pelts, apparently intending to make crude leather or furs from them. She returned a while later with a handful of what looked like grass, and showed it to Tommy.
“I don’t know a lot about edible plants in this world,” she said, “but I recognize onion grass, or wild scallions. Trim the bottom and the whole thing is edible, and while it’s a bit pungent as a raw vegetable, it cooks up very nicely in the meat fat and gives a nice flavor to everything.” These had already been trimmed and washed, and Lauren proceeded to cut them into smaller pieces and toss them in the pan with the rabbit, which she now moved closer to the heat. “Besides,” she said, “I’ve been remiss in making sure you got your vegetables.”
Yes, just like her mother, worried about whether she was eating right.
“Are you going to show this to the others?”
Lauren appeared to consider for a moment, then said, “Not, I think, today. There aren’t a lot of grassy patches around here, and they could quickly be decimated by people trying to rip up the scallions. Maybe in a few days I’ll show them; there should be a bit more by then.
Her eyes starting to glaze over from Leviticus, Tommy closed the book and set it down inside the nest, then stood to stretch her legs.
“I’d like to eat early today,” Lauren said. “I think it might rain before tonight.”
Tommy nodded, and headed for the bathroom.
There is a behind-the-writings look at the thoughts, influences, and ideas of this chapter, along with twenty other sequential chapters of this novel, in mark Joseph "young" web log entry #472: Versers Vanish. Given a moment, this link should take you directly to the section relevant to this chapter. It may contain spoilers of upcoming chapters.
As to the old stories that have long been here:
