The Weapon - Resurrection - part 15
By Diana the Valkyrie
An evening in a third church
Update: 05/06/2003 to valkyrie05



I got out of the car. "Come on, love," I said. We stood there side by side,
looking at the holy house of worship, and the big sign in front of it. "Church
of the Holy Guardian" it said. I sighed. "In for a penny, in for a pound," I
said, "let's rock." Wendy looked doubtful. "Another church?" she asked. "This
one is ... different. Look, I want to get a promise out of you before we go in
here." "What?" "I want you to promise not to say anything, not to do anything,
not to react, just follow me, and we can talk about everything from today when
we get home. Promise?" "Yes, OK," she said, meekly. "And could you change out
of your costume, just wear something conventional, maybe a dress with a long
skirt?" "Sure," she said. "Right," I said, "Chin up, best foot forward."

We entered the place of worship; there was a few dozen people inside, and they
were holding their evening service. We'd spent the whole of Sunday at churches
of one type or another, and I hadn't eaten all day. I felt lightheaded, like
one who has been fasting. I looked up at Wendy, standing next to me. She was
looking around the inside of the building. She looked at the stained glass
windows, she looked at the pictures, she looked at the statuary. "David," she
whispered. "Shhh," I replied, "You promised." "Yes, but." "Shhh," I repeated.
She shushed.

The hymn ended, and the preacher stood up and addressed the congregation. He
talked about the time that the Guardian was on this world, he talked about her
ascent to heaven, and he talked about her sure and certain return, probably in
our lifetime, and about all the wonderful things that would happen when she
came back. And he talked about the Planet of the Guardians, where the
afterlife happens, and all good believers will be reunited after death. "And
now let us pray to the Holy Guardian of Humanity for her early return."

And everyone knelt and the buzz of prayer filled the hall, while Wendy was
digging her elbow into my side and making frantic gestures with her left hand.
"Shush," I hissed, and she stopped.

Then the service was over, and Wendy turned to me. "Are we going to talk to
the preacher, like we did at the other two churches?" "No point," I said. "I'm
starving, let's go home. Any ideas about what's to eat?"

We stopped on the way home for a takeaway. Wendy suggested a curry, but since
she didn't need to eat and I did, my choice of a Chinese takeout prevailed.
Back home, I dug into the food as of one who has been starved all day long.
Which I had been. Apart from a couple of biscuits, some vinegar, some chicken
blood and a cup of tea. And while I ate, Wendy talked.

"Right, David, it's time for some explanations." "No." "Look, we went to three
churches today, and I'm totally confused, please explain it all." "No."
"David, I need you to make sense of this for me." "No".

See? I can do it too. I learned it from her, I call it the "monosyllabic
refusal". You don't give a reason, that would lead to debate, you just say no.

She frowned at me. "That's not fair." "No," I agreed. "David, I want you to
explain this to me." "No."

She stood up, and walked around the table until she stood behind me. Then she
picked up the chair, with me still sitting on it. I rose until my head brushed
the ceiling. "She won't hurt me," I said to myself. "Tell me," she said. "No."
She shook the chair. She won't hurt me. "No." She tilted the chair so I
started to slide forward, I tried to make a grab, but there was nothing to
hold on to. I started to fall the eight feet towards the floor. "Aaargh .." I
shouted, anticipating the pain of crashing to the floor.

She caught me, of course. Her arms wrapped round me, and held me close to her
body, and she repeated "Explain, David. Explain it to me." I thought of
continuing the "monosyllabic refusal", but she'd made it pretty clear that she
could make things rough for me without actually hurting me. "David, you can't
win this. I've spent a lot of time learning how to dominate men, I can break
your resistance like a matchstick. Don't try to refuse me when I want
something."

"OK, OK. Wendy, look. You've already had too many people explaining things to
you. The last thing you want now, is one more set of explanations to add to
all the others. What I want you to do, is work out the meaning of all this for
yourself. I'm happy to listen while you do it, but it has to come from you,
not from me."

She looked at me, and I thought, if she demands again, I don't think I'll be
able to say no again. She nodded. "Makes sense. OK, let me think a while."

She frowned and thought, while I polished off the egg foo yong. She sat in my
armchair, and interlaced her fingers, like I did when I was contemplating some
knotty problem. Was she copying me? She looked up at the ceiling, as if for
inspiration, and when I'd eaten the last pancake roll, she said, "OK, you want
to hear my thoughts?" "Yes, spit it out." "Come and sit on my lap."

Now that sounded like a very good offer. I settled down on top of her, she
pulled me backwards until I was leaning back into her breasts, and she spoke.
"David, I'm sorry I was a bit rough with you just then, but this thing is just
so important to me." "I know, Wendy. I understand, it's a Duncan thing."
"Yes." "I wasn't going to hurt you, you do know that, don't you?" "I knew
that, Wendy, but I still couldn't stand up to you, you're just so, so.
Powerful? I mean, I wanted to, but something else in me said not to" "Useful
lesson for the future, David. Don't try to stand up to me, I can break your
will any time I want to." "Mmmm."