HARU
19-05-2004, 03:42
OOC: This issue has been going back and forth in The Reich. I know I didn't leave any holes for people to jump in but if find one and want to RP this one with me, feel free.
IC:
Mary was up early today. Actually, she got up early every day; being the mother of four and an assembly line technician at the local factory required that she rise just before the dawn. She stretched and yawned; her husband Patrick was still asleep. She gave him a disapproving glance out of the corner of her large brown eyes then got out the double size bed. It was Sunday and she didn't want to be late for mass.
She went into the medium sized kitchen. The faded wallpaper told the story of a family that ate a lot of fried foods. Grease stained the wall above the stove. The smell of grease from last night's fish and chips still hovered in the damp air. The smell never seemed to go away...it was there ever since she could remember.
Mary tied a kerchief around her shoulder length greying hair. She sighed and began rummaging in the fridge. Eggs and bacon. If they didn't like it they could just go hungry...God knew (and so did her family) that the streets of Calis were filled with starving people. As the eggs began to sizzle in the pan a thump was heard outside the door. "Newspaper's here. Wonder what's going on in the wonderful world of HARU today?" Not that she had time to wonder and anyway and she knew she knew she should be grateful; God was good. There was a time, two years back, when she didn't think such thoughts. She had strayed from her God, The all Loving and Mighty God of the Roman Catholics.
Mary paused in her cooking and remembered with a shudder the day that the Ministry had come for her. She had been going on two months pregnant and was trying to hide it...she was afraid that they couldn't afford another child. Only Patrick knew about it. Or so she thought. One day she had come to work and found a dog-eared pamphlet stuffed inside her locker. On the front was a picture of a woman holding her fist triumphantly in the air. The letters NOW were printed in large bold letters over the picture of the woman. Mary had no idea what the letters stood for but they gave her a bad feeling. Woman power didn't bode well with her; she was a good catholic, a very good catholic. Didn't her unborn baby proclaim that truth? All her instincts told her to throw that pamphlet away. But she hadn't. Instead, she folded the piece of paper and stuffed it down in the corner of her locker. She didn't want to be seen holding it. She'd burn it later after her shift was over. And a smaller voice, a voice that sounded nasty but somehow reasonable, spoke up from inside her. "You might need that information... what if you can't have the baby?"
"Yeah," Mary half thought, "just in case," and closed the door of her locker giving the matter no more thought until they came for her during her lunch break. In the end she did have her baby. Her little miracle baby that she had named Michael after the Archangel.
As if on cue, Michael began wailing from the children's bedroom. She started from her reverie, muttered "God is Good", turned off the flame on the stove and headed upstairs.
The others were awake now. Patrick, Jr., ten years old, was rubbing his eyes.
"Shut up, Michael," he called in a groggy voice.
"Yeah," Elisabethe, eight years old, chimed in, "quit it...it's enough to raise the dead."
"Hush now all of yee or I'll send you off to Church with no breakfast," Mary said as she picked up Michael and began to rock him gently.
"Patrick, wake up Maggie," she gave her sleeping six year old a perfunctionary glance,"and get dressed. Breakfast is ready. We're not going to be late for church. God doesn't wait on us, we wait on Him."
"Yes, Mam," Patrick replied. Elisabethe turned in her bed towards her still sleeping sister and shook Maggie awake. "C'mon slow poke. Time for Mass."
"Again?" Maggie sighed. She stood up and began putting on her Sunday best: Elisabethe's old spring dress.
Downstairs Patrick sat at the kitchen table, his head barely visible above the top of The HARU Telegraph. The children dressed and ready to go sat quietly while their father read the paper. Mary, sat feeding Michael.
"Patrick...," Mary said.
"Hush woman, this is important."
"But we don't want to be late..."
The children squirmed in their seats. They knew better than to leave the table without permission from their father. They looked pleadingly at their mother who looked away from their imploring eyes.
"Mam, won't we be late?," Patrick said.
"Pat," Mary said, "your father...,"
Patrick,Sr interrupted her, "Your father says we are going to Church today. We'll leave now. But I don't want you...any of you...talking to anyone. You see this?," he held up the newspaper. "Riots at the Church of The Good Shepherd. Over 100 killed. And what's this about a Reich-Rome? We keep it quiet until all this is sorted out. God is Good. God is Great! He will lead us in the paths of righteousness."
He seemed genuinely shaken by the thought of a Reich-Rome as he led his family out the door. And why shouldn't he be? He had been a true Roman Catholic his whole life. But he also held a job at the Ministry of Information, a low level position as a security guard, and things got around. Rumors. He had heard of the riots against Roman Catholics under the command of some terrorist group...The Christian Liberty Army or something like that but dismissed them under the category of Rumors just like the Rumor that Maire Haru was pregnant with President Matthew's second child. And they weren't even married...that harlot...but it was just Rumors and besides the thought police were a Rumor too...
What if he was made to choose between a Reich-Rome and the Holy Roman Empire? The thought made him shudder. He quickened his pace, not looking up from the pavement except to check on his family. Rumors, he told himself, just rumors...
IC:
Mary was up early today. Actually, she got up early every day; being the mother of four and an assembly line technician at the local factory required that she rise just before the dawn. She stretched and yawned; her husband Patrick was still asleep. She gave him a disapproving glance out of the corner of her large brown eyes then got out the double size bed. It was Sunday and she didn't want to be late for mass.
She went into the medium sized kitchen. The faded wallpaper told the story of a family that ate a lot of fried foods. Grease stained the wall above the stove. The smell of grease from last night's fish and chips still hovered in the damp air. The smell never seemed to go away...it was there ever since she could remember.
Mary tied a kerchief around her shoulder length greying hair. She sighed and began rummaging in the fridge. Eggs and bacon. If they didn't like it they could just go hungry...God knew (and so did her family) that the streets of Calis were filled with starving people. As the eggs began to sizzle in the pan a thump was heard outside the door. "Newspaper's here. Wonder what's going on in the wonderful world of HARU today?" Not that she had time to wonder and anyway and she knew she knew she should be grateful; God was good. There was a time, two years back, when she didn't think such thoughts. She had strayed from her God, The all Loving and Mighty God of the Roman Catholics.
Mary paused in her cooking and remembered with a shudder the day that the Ministry had come for her. She had been going on two months pregnant and was trying to hide it...she was afraid that they couldn't afford another child. Only Patrick knew about it. Or so she thought. One day she had come to work and found a dog-eared pamphlet stuffed inside her locker. On the front was a picture of a woman holding her fist triumphantly in the air. The letters NOW were printed in large bold letters over the picture of the woman. Mary had no idea what the letters stood for but they gave her a bad feeling. Woman power didn't bode well with her; she was a good catholic, a very good catholic. Didn't her unborn baby proclaim that truth? All her instincts told her to throw that pamphlet away. But she hadn't. Instead, she folded the piece of paper and stuffed it down in the corner of her locker. She didn't want to be seen holding it. She'd burn it later after her shift was over. And a smaller voice, a voice that sounded nasty but somehow reasonable, spoke up from inside her. "You might need that information... what if you can't have the baby?"
"Yeah," Mary half thought, "just in case," and closed the door of her locker giving the matter no more thought until they came for her during her lunch break. In the end she did have her baby. Her little miracle baby that she had named Michael after the Archangel.
As if on cue, Michael began wailing from the children's bedroom. She started from her reverie, muttered "God is Good", turned off the flame on the stove and headed upstairs.
The others were awake now. Patrick, Jr., ten years old, was rubbing his eyes.
"Shut up, Michael," he called in a groggy voice.
"Yeah," Elisabethe, eight years old, chimed in, "quit it...it's enough to raise the dead."
"Hush now all of yee or I'll send you off to Church with no breakfast," Mary said as she picked up Michael and began to rock him gently.
"Patrick, wake up Maggie," she gave her sleeping six year old a perfunctionary glance,"and get dressed. Breakfast is ready. We're not going to be late for church. God doesn't wait on us, we wait on Him."
"Yes, Mam," Patrick replied. Elisabethe turned in her bed towards her still sleeping sister and shook Maggie awake. "C'mon slow poke. Time for Mass."
"Again?" Maggie sighed. She stood up and began putting on her Sunday best: Elisabethe's old spring dress.
Downstairs Patrick sat at the kitchen table, his head barely visible above the top of The HARU Telegraph. The children dressed and ready to go sat quietly while their father read the paper. Mary, sat feeding Michael.
"Patrick...," Mary said.
"Hush woman, this is important."
"But we don't want to be late..."
The children squirmed in their seats. They knew better than to leave the table without permission from their father. They looked pleadingly at their mother who looked away from their imploring eyes.
"Mam, won't we be late?," Patrick said.
"Pat," Mary said, "your father...,"
Patrick,Sr interrupted her, "Your father says we are going to Church today. We'll leave now. But I don't want you...any of you...talking to anyone. You see this?," he held up the newspaper. "Riots at the Church of The Good Shepherd. Over 100 killed. And what's this about a Reich-Rome? We keep it quiet until all this is sorted out. God is Good. God is Great! He will lead us in the paths of righteousness."
He seemed genuinely shaken by the thought of a Reich-Rome as he led his family out the door. And why shouldn't he be? He had been a true Roman Catholic his whole life. But he also held a job at the Ministry of Information, a low level position as a security guard, and things got around. Rumors. He had heard of the riots against Roman Catholics under the command of some terrorist group...The Christian Liberty Army or something like that but dismissed them under the category of Rumors just like the Rumor that Maire Haru was pregnant with President Matthew's second child. And they weren't even married...that harlot...but it was just Rumors and besides the thought police were a Rumor too...
What if he was made to choose between a Reich-Rome and the Holy Roman Empire? The thought made him shudder. He quickened his pace, not looking up from the pavement except to check on his family. Rumors, he told himself, just rumors...