Becoming Calder (A Sign of Love Novel)(9)

I felt a chill run through me, just as it always did when Hector spoke of the great flood and our journey to Elysium. Only now, we had a timeframe and now, we knew that the great flood was years and years away—for Eden couldn't be older than eight . . . probably closer to seven. She was so small. I felt my shoulders relax.
"Eden will sit in her place of honor during every Temple meeting, and she will be looked upon with honor and love. Please welcome her with the adoration she deserves."
We all dropped down to our knees and bowed our heads, my mother taking Maya onto her lap, as Maya couldn’t bend her leg. We kneeled like this for several minutes until Hector said, "Rise," and we did. I looked back up at Eden and she was looking around, a more curious look on her face now as she took us all in.
I wondered what it had been like where she came from. I wondered if she had lived in a house, or maybe an apartment. I wondered if she had eaten sugar cubes and drunk Coca-Cola. I wished I could talk to her and ask her all sorts of questions. But, of course, that wasn't possible.
I realized Hector had started speaking again as my mind had drifted away to sugar cubes and Coca-Cola. "As if Eden's presence isn't enough of a surprise, I have one more for you on this glorious day." He paused. "On my travels, I also came across Teresa. Teresa, beloved, will you come up here, please?"
A skinny woman with brown hair and hollow cheeks stood up and started making her way to the front where Hector stood, larger than life itself. Teresa joined him and looked around at the crowd embarrassed-like, finally bowing her head and staring at the floor.
"Before she came here, Teresa led a wicked life," Hector said, shaking his head with what looked to be unbearable sadness. "I found her in an alleyway, offering to do depraved sexual acts for money." Teresa seemed to shrink in front of us even further as several people made disapproving sounds and others gasped and shook their heads. "She had been prostituting herself for drugs since she was sixteen years old. She's thirty-six now."
Hector came up behind her, towering over her as he grasped one of her bony shoulders in a fatherly way. Then he let go and walked past her to the side of the stage where several vases of flowers stood on pedestals. He carefully plucked a perfect, white lily out of a bouquet and walked back toward Teresa with it.
My eyes moved to Eden to see her following Hector's every move. Her hands still rested prettily in her lap and her shaking seemed to have stopped.
Hector stood in front of us all looking at the perfection of the lily before bringing it carefully to his nose and inhaling deeply. He closed his eyes and tilted his head back.
He simply stood this way for several beats before opening his eyes again and walking forward to Jeffrey Parker in the front row where he handed the lily to him and nodded. Jeffrey nodded back and then passed the lily to another man right behind him.
We were all quiet as we watched the lily be passed around the Temple, from one man to another and then finally back toward the front where Hector walked to Boris Friedman in the front row to retrieve it.
Hector looked down at the lily sadly. It was now bent and bruised, one of its petals hung down, ready to fall at any moment, a truly sad sight to behold. He brought it to his nose again and inhaled and then frowned down at the lily as if the sweet scent was no longer there.
He looked back pointedly at Teresa and then back at the lily. "Who would want this lily now?" he asked, his voice lowering. "Who could love a used-up, passed-around flower such as this one?" He thrust the lily out in front of him and looked around at us questioningly.
A single tear slipped down Teresa's cheek and she bit her own lip, her eyes cast downward again.
Now that I was ten, I understood what a metaphor was. I knew Teresa was that used-up lily, and I saw she knew it, too. And no one on the gods' green earth really wants to be a used-up lily, despite their behavior to the contrary, or at least that's what my mom had explained to me when I first asked her about all that business.
"WHO COULD WANT A FLOWER LIKE THIS ONE? WHO COULD FIND ANYTHING BEAUTIFUL ABOUT SOMETHING DIRTY AND SOILED LIKE THIS?" Hector boomed, spittle flying from his mouth as we all stared, spell bound by his intensity.
Teresa let out one small cry. But I had been witness to this same speech before and so although I was as captivated as I was each time I saw it, I just waited, as did the rest of us.
"Who?" Hector asked us more quietly. "Who?"
And that was our cue. "You can, Father! And we can, Father!" we all said joyfully.
Teresa's head came up and she seemed baffled as she looked around, her mouth fell open and her eyes flew to Hector as he walked toward her.