Prejudice and Pride

All In The Family

Maisie forced a smile as she made her way into the entrance of the zoo. Urijah paid the admission fee for himself, Maisie, and Hattie. It was date night, or in their case, date day. The long awaited first date and the younger Evans sister had been designated as the chaperone for the would be love birds. Within their community's strict courtship guidelines, the presence of a chaperone was an absolute must. Usually, it was in the form of a sibling, although it wasn't that uncommon for a parent to tag along.

"This is so exciting," Hattie practically squealed with delight. "I can't wait to see the lions. And the hyenas. Sissy, do you think they'll have hippos?"

Hattie could barely suppress her excitement, while Maisie on the other hand was struggling to even feign mild interest.

"They should. Um, they have pretty all the animals, I think."

Urijah made his way back to the sisters, a huge grin on his face.

"They have maps but I thought maybe we could just start at one end of the park and make our way around so we see everything," Urijah offered.

"That sounds like a lot of fun. I don't want to miss anything," Hattie laughed.

"Whatever you guys want," Maisie shrugged.

The trio began walking, Hattie lost in her own world, slightly ahead.

"Maisie, we really haven't set up the rules of our courtship yet," he turned to her.

"What?"

"You know, the rules. Every courtship has one. Of course, the chaperone thing is pretty standard and I agree with that wholeheartedly. But the other things, the couple sits down and kind of establishes how they want to do it."

"Oh. Um, okay."

"Since this is the first date, maybe we can talk about it. Once we figure things out, we can write it down later."

"Sure," she stammered.

"Okay. We're both praying for and seeking God's will. We're also ready for a committed, serious relationship. The main things to stay away from are lust and anything that leads to physical intimacy. Agree?"

"Agreed."

"I think hugging is okay but maybe let's set a time limit on it. No more than ten seconds. And kissing...what do you think about that? I know a lot of couples who have saved the first kiss for the altar. It's a good idea but if you want to, we could kiss once we're engaged. You know, set times limits on that, too. Also, closed mouth only until the wedding. But I'm okay with holding hands now. Are you?"

Maisie looked visibly uncomfortable. It wasn't that Urijah wasn't attractive. He was a nice enough looking boy. By community standards, he was a real catch and there'd be plenty of young women lined up, hoping to be selected by him for a courtship. But a courtship in general just wasn't something Maisie was interested in at that point in her life. With anyone. And it wasn't like she could exactly share that sentiment with her parents. After all, the reverend had been in on helping establish it from the jump. And Rebecca had willingly gone along with it, excited at the prospect of her daughter marrying a nice Christian boy from such a good family.

But it wasn't just the courtship either. Urijah was never someone she would have chosen on her own. If it was going to happen, she would have preferred to have taken things slow but already he was bringing up potential engagements and weddings. He was someone who knew what he wanted and wanted it in the now. If he and their families had their way, the pair could be married in less than six months. But Maisie couldn't imagine a forever with him. It was taking all she could just to make it through the first date.