Chapter 13
On the actual day of Christmas Eve, my mom was working and I, of course, stayed home alone. I hadn’t been lying when I told Jack this would just be a normal Sunday for me; it really would. He couldn’t comprehend why anybody in their right mind would want to do anything on Christmas besides celebrate. It was Jesus’ birthday, and that was cause for a huge celebration. I, however, was content to heating up a microwave pizza while I watched “It’s a Wonderful Life” on the Hallmark Channel.
He and his family were busy at church for the majority of the day. I didn’t know if they were in the Temple or just at the regular church, or what they were doing, but I knew by now that Jack attended something called Seminary every weekday morning before school, and on Sundays, the family stayed at church all day long. He had once told me about Seminary and how early he had to wake up, which didn’t go over well in my head.
“5:00 in the morning?!” I shouted in disbelief. “There’s no way anybody gets up that early for church. There’s absolutely no way.”
“Why is that so unbelievable?” he had asked. “The Catholics do it all the time.”
“Yeah, but they’re…”
“They’re what?”
I actually didn’t have any idea where I was going with this argument. My only reason against attending Seminary was the hour in which it was held. “That’s the most ridiculous thing,” I finally stated, sighing. “They couldn’t have made it in the afternoon or something? After school?”
“Oh! There actually is one after school every day, and you get to pick whether you want to go to the morning one or the afternoon one. I chose the morning one because that shows that you’re really dedicated to God and are willing to wake up extra early to learn of His teachings. The afternoon one’s just the same, but for people with busy schedules in the morning. I have nothing going on at that time, so why not?”
Leave it Jack to once again prove how much better a person he was than me by doing something so simple as choosing to attend church at an earlier time than I would.
As I sat on my couch on Christmas Eve, eating a Pop Tart and watching some infomercial advertising an electric juicer, my phone rang. Picking it up and glancing at it, I noticed it was my mom.
“Hey mom,” I said into the speaker upon answering the call.
“Hi, hon,” she sighed. “Look, I just wanted to call and let you know that I’ll be working late at the office tonight, but that there’s some leftover turkey in the fridge if you wanted to heat it up for dinner tonight. I should be back some time tonight, but if I’m not, then I wanted to wish you a Merry Christmas!”
“Are you kidding? They won’t even let you leave work early on Christmas Eve?” My mom’s job was unbelievable.
“I’m sorry, but they won’t. Listen, I’ve got to go, but promise me that if you get lonely, you head over to Glen’s house later on. He and his family are having a party with all their friends and family and he let me know this morning before I left for work that we were welcome to come by. I’m sure he wouldn’t mind if I skipped out on it and you went alone instead.” Glen was our next door neighbor, and I had always been a little creeped out by him.
“No, that’s fine. I’ll just find something to do around here. I’ll be okay, I promise.”
“Okay sweetie. Have a good day—love you!”
YOU ARE READING
Latter Days
Teen FictionAnnalie Tucker has always lived life on the edge. She and her best friend, Nate Christman, are notorious for breaking into any unattended building in their small town of St. Petersburg, Massachusetts. That all changes when Annalie meets Jack, a Morm...