What's in a Name? (2)

Start from the beginning here.

It was not a failure.  It was a delay.  He’d had to be considerate and not step on tiny humans the previous week.  The delay was unavoidable.  Maybe one day it would even be a funny story. If he ever became friends with the woman who’d caught his eye – or dare he hope, more than friends – they might one day laugh at how they could have been introduced a week sooner if genuflecting wasn’t so difficult for the uncoordinated.  Maybe they could even think of it fondly when their kids were learning.

But he was getting way ahead of himself.  His only objective was to get her name.  Today he would get her name.  That would be enough.  And even that goal he would put out of his mind until the end of the Mass.

He tried.  His eyes kept straying to glimpses of her back.  And as he walked past her after Communion, her eyes lifted to meet his for a moment.  It was a brief moment, but it looked as though it had been intentional.  Had she known to watch for him?  Was she perhaps hoping for an introduction?  The thought was too thrilling.  He had to focus and stay calm so he could approach casually.

While they usually sang only a verse or two, the recessional that week must have been a favorite with the priest.  The man stood up front refusing to move for five full verses.  He tried to keep singing.  The words he planned to say to the woman were floating in the back of his head the whole time.  He didn’t think he’d inserted any into the song because he didn’t get weird looks from anyone around him.

Finally, the altar servers passed, the sixth verse finished, and the woman began to gather her things.  Before he could get to the aisle, a guy from his history class barged into the pew next to him.  “Hey, man.  Did you see the slides I sent?”

He struggled to process the question.  It was not a question about the woman’s name, and she was getting away.

“I shared the slides early this morning,” the new guy said.  “Did you see?”

He searched his memory for the notification, then ambled out of church discussing a history assignment.  Homework was important.  It just wasn’t as interesting as the conversion he’d missed again.

To be continued…