A Broken Commandment
Having grown up in church and Sunday school, I knew not to break any of
the Big Ten, but sometimes a girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do. It wasn’t my
fault, of course. My parents should have known better than to say no to me. I
desperately wanted to go to Chloe’s party. She was one of the popular girls
and I wasn’t, so I just had to go! I asked. I begged. I pleaded. I whined. I yelled
at my parents at supper that night, “You’re the meanest people in the whole
world.” That’s when Daddy sent me to my room.
I knew it was serious because Daddy never disciplined me. That was Mama’s
job and she did it well, but Daddy got tired of me that night. That turned out
to be good for me. Alone in my room I was able to hatch a plan. I knew this
was the best plan ever. They’d never let me go through with my threat: to
break a ‘thou shalt not’. I had a little Bible in my room, a New Testament with
a picture of Jesus on the front. I couldn’t find the Ten Commandments in
there, though, but knew some of them from memory. I could wing this.
I walked back to the kitchen, head held high. Going past the table I opened
the basement door. I put one foot firmly on the top step and looked straight
at my mean parents. Mentally thumbing through the Ten Commandments,
choosing one at random, I announced, “I’m going to the basement to
commit adultery!”
I was about halfway down when I thought I heard Mama crying. Her sobs
didn’t deter me. I was going to the basement and I was going to commit
adultery. Then Daddy made the same sounds, so maybe it wasn’t crying at all.
It didn’t matter what it was as far as I was concerned. I just wanted to go to
the party.
I’d never done it before so I didn’t know how long it takes to commit adultery.
I waited even after they stopped crying, or whatever they are doing. They
were really upset about my breaking one of the thou shalt nots. I waited a few
minutes more, figuring adultery couldn’t take more than ten or fifteen minutes.
Then I went upstairs.
They’d left the kitchen and were in the den watching TV. When she saw me,
Mama started crying again, and buried her face in Daddy’s shoulder. Daddy
was sweet, though, and asked, “Are you all right, Judy-Bug”? “Yes!” I said
hopefully. “Now can I go to the party?” “No, Baby,” he said, pulling Mama
even closer, shushing her sobs.
I gave up, and went back to my room wondering why committing adultery
was a thou shalt not. It didn’t seem like that big a deal. Maybe I’d ask my
Sunday school teacher. Mama and Daddy didn’t seem to want to discuss it
anymore, but at least she wasn’t still crying.
WRITER’S CORNER
Judith Dancy is a retired
Quaker pastor. She likes to
think and write about the
ways we humans engage each
other and our world.
December 2017 www.ForSeniorsOnlyWS.com 11