Ought To & Can (A San Francisco Fable)

Part I: Ought To--Chapter 9

There was originally going to be a surprise at the Top of the Mark dinner: Sabrina had bought a present for Neil, before she realized that people might notice her bringing it with her. Then she thought about it and came to the conclusion that it would mean much more if it she gave it to him right before he left on his mission.

But after the dinner, it wasn't certain if they'd ever see each other again. It was an incredible experience for the both of them, but the harsh reminder that they really weren't supposed to be in one another's lives had cooled things way, way down.

In the immediate aftermath Sabrina still kept plenty busy, writing thank-you-notes to various Himmelscheins and Nissensons and Feuersteins and Edelsteins, using the different colors of ink from the pen Neil gave her.

"I've never seen that pen before. Where did you get it?" Beth asked.

"I've had it a while."

Maybe twice a week they'd check in with one another via text message. Just their usual back-and-forth banter. Without openly acknowledging the fact, they both understood that things between them were unwinding.

Neil: How awkward do you think it was at the dinner table between Abraham and Isaac the night after the sacrifice incident? "Son, could could you hand me a knife—um, never mind."

Sabrina: Abraham: Pass me the bread, please. Isaac: OK...oh wait, an angel just said I didn't have to do it!

They both kept out of trouble. Sabrina volunteered at San Francisco's Contemporary Jewish Museum and read the Three Books that Stanford assigns its incoming freshmen to read the summer before school. Actually more like skimmed through them. She couldn't entirely recall what they were even after she finished, except they all bored her senseless. One of them was something about South Africa. There was some novel about a chess prodigy too, maybe.

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Neil worked as an assistant for Cannon Vineyard Services. Leo would explain to the vineyard owners that his son was going on a mission to Alaska and they'd kicked in a little extra money to help him save up.

One day they went to prune vines at Ledson, the winery with the huge mansion on the north end of the Sonoma Valley. "Too bad you'll be gone to Alaska by September. We're gonna need extra help for the harvest and the crush." Leo explained how the warm spring was affecting that year's vintage. "It was so hot that the buds broke early. Too early, actually. Then it cooled down around Memorial Day, but that usually means that by July we'll have a heat wave, and all the vines'll get damaged. It's a mess to clean up."

Neil had been reading too, mostly church books. When they'd drive home Leo would ask him what he was reading and they'd talk about it. Today as they worked on the vines, Leo asked "Did you read that temple marriage book that Grandpa got you for Christmas?"

"Yeah, I finished it. Seemed like good advice, but I don't know. The guy who wrote it—he was acting like he was the ultimate authority on everything. He knows what's best for you, you young whipper-snapper! You disagree? Well, that's 'cause Satan's leading you astray. Don't trust your feelings if I don't agree with them. You're not allowed to not be perfect. And, oh boy, if you ever fall in love with a non-Mormon, or a Mormon who isn't Mormony enough, you're just throwing away your life!"

"Does he quote First Corinthians?" his dad asked.

"I don't think so."

"'The unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband.' Then Paul says 'I would that all men were even as myself. But every man hath his proper gift of God, one after this manner, another after that.' If it were up to me every single member of the Church would have that tattooed on the back of their hand, to remind them."