AROUND THE HEART IN 80 DAYS

Twenty Two

The soothing sermon from the Reverend Father at the local Church relaxed Jacqueline's mind. She had gone for the usual six a.m weekday Mass (which for her, were the days she wasn't choked up with busy schedules, her bad), one in which an approximate of thirty attendants filled the congregation. She found it weird. Back at East Vancouver, the congregation was double the size, not to talk of a Sunday which could be quadruple.

It was a dawning Monday morning, the one in which she would be commencing all her entrepreneurial endeavours. Her gig at the center begun at seven. Her bakery opened officially at eight thirty a.m. Safe to say she was a bucket of excitement that morning.

"For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens..." Father Gregory Simmons emphasized on that. Second Corinthians, chapter five from verse one, which she only knew because of the daily missal in her lap.
She snickered a little. Earthly home destroyed... . If and only if that was a second choice for people who didn't really have a place that they were comfortable staying in. A nice home in heaven would be nice, without having to die, that is. It would be ethereal and well furnished and everybody would be peaceful and loving.

But nope. She had to stay with an Edrei Rideau.

Not that she was complaining. Anymore.

He was on again and off again. Though he seemed sane on the Saturday they had pancakes together, and on the Sunday afterwards. She didn't wake him up that morning so she didn't know what his mood might be. It should be good. Besides she owed him a lot, if not for his mega contribution, she would have still been struggling with the price of one yoga mat.
He and Imogen were her angels.
Only that Angel Edrei sometimes sprouted horns.

She left as soon as the Father gave the final blessings, she was one of those who never bothered to hang around for meet-ups and chit-chats. Especially when she had a big day ahead of her.

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"...aaaaand come back up, exhale through the nose." Jacqueline gracefully straightened herself from the child's pose, a smile on her face that she never even noticed was always there at the end of her sessions until her colleagues had pointed it out. She couldn't help it. She felt so much peace doing this.

It might have been beginner's class but her forehead still shone with perspiration. Less, however, in comparison with the people before her. Imogen even made it look more dramatic when she fell back-down on the dark mat, one guttural exhale escaping. It was the end of class one. And how magnificent! The turn-up was nothing like Jackie could have imagined. She acquired twenty mats and only four were untouched. She had to get like, five extra before next week. The major issue was that she would compulsorily need to expand.

The random strangers coming to open her class on her very first day touched her heart, and it was Monday! How would a Saturday be?

Pants filled the air, some more than others. It felt funny to her, that beginner's class was making them pant as so.

"Alright. Thanks guys for coming for the first ever class. Today was a simple beginner's phase marking the start of our class here. We start regularly tomorrow. It's Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, we would start from beginner's then progress to the intermediate stage, then the advanced, then back again. I hope you all enjoyed today's class." She clasped her hands gleefully.
"Feel free to help yourselves to some herbal tea at the back as you can see. You can mix up your own ingredients if you wish, there's freshly squeezed lemon, honey, hot water, tea bags, mint leaves, really, make your choice."

"My God! Some of us are past our prime, easy on our spines." A lady at the back in her probable 50s stretched out her back, a humorous tinge in her tone.