Magnificent Devices 01 - Lady of Devices

other, though it would take an educated family eye to see it. The way Maman always gave him the choicest piece of the roast, or made dumplings fried in bacon and onions just because he loved them. The way he always handed her out of the jalopy as if she were a queen.
    A tiny bit of a wonder about whether David would put his jalopy or his girl first whisked through my brain before I chased it away. I was going to have a hard enough time treating him the way I’d always treated him—as a friend, a brother, someone who sang parts in meeting—now that he’d made his feelings public.
    Papa was as closed-mouthed as a rat trap, but if there were any guarantees in this world, it would be that a private matter between men would get out sooner rather than later.
    When I didn’t speak, Maman finally said, “Ah well. You go and weed those front beds and think about it. There’s no rush. But I won’t ask your brother to wait for you Sunday after chanson .”
    Smiling as if this was hugely funny, Maman got out the frying pan and I escaped into the muddy, bare garden, where the weeds were the first things to sprout.
    Sunday after chanson . When I would see Gabriel again.

    * * *

    Eternal life.
    Isn’t this what every Christian longs for? And yet, having attained it, I am still a little confused. When the gift was given to me at the age of nineteen, I was filled with joy. Endless ages in which to praise my Creator! To worship Him while the stars wheeled overhead and the seasons turned. The fact that I was not doing so in front of a throne, or in the company of beings made of spirit and light, puzzled me at first, but then, like any creature, I adapted. Not that I would ever intimate that the Bible was mistaken. But reality being different from prophecy, and I being a realist, I simply got on with what I was given.
    Eternal life.
    I’m still finding it strange, even after two centuries.

    * * *

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