The Greatest of These

I don’t understand why movie theaters and bowling alleys insist on having the most absurd carpets ever. No matter where you are in America, from sea to shining sea, if you walk into one of these establishments the carpet will be an Odyssey of zest, a Ulysses of the atypical. Comets, streamers, explosions, weird and crazy patterns get trampled and a general psychedelic erre permeates up into the world. From a carpet. What makes it strange is that the ancestors of these, fairly, modern gathering places do not have the same carpet situation. True theatrical theaters, live theaters, have perfectly normal carpets, and gyms just have hardwood floors.

My grandparents got married in 1964. My grandfather had graduated from the local high school the year before and grandmother was a senior. They lived right next door from each other from the moment my grandmother moved to town until two years later when they got married and moved in together. The married April 1st 1964. My father was born January 1st 1965 and widely regarded as the new year baby that year.

My parents aren't married. They never have been. My older brother was conceived by mistake and my parents never bothered to get married. I was also conceived by mistake. My parents didn't ever really stay together, but never apart. They had what can only really be called a committed monogamous on again off again relationship.

Tracing back, I had thought of my parents relationship because i had thought of my grandparents, which i had thought of because i saw their anniversary on a poster for an upcoming movie, and i had recognized because i knew it was three months after my father’s birthday.The poster was for some sci-fi movie where the hero had to save the damsel from the evil corporation. i had seen the trailers and was marginally interested. I was standing in the lobby of one of the soulless chain movie theaters, while my girlfriend used the bathroom after the b+ rom-com we had just left.

I had something deep in my heart i needed to confess. like money burning a hole in my pocket, words burnt holes in my mind. It was drowning in whatever it is I let drip into my heart through a pinhole.This wasn't something could just say. This was changing my world. This was nuclear. I had to tell her, but it could ruin our relationship if she wasn't ok with it. This is a thing i had never told anyone.

That actually isn't true. I had told one person before, but he didn't know who I was.

I had sat alone in the dark room with the floral brass fixtures casting a shadow on my face. I waited. In moments the small window, no bigger than a mouth, slid open and the father spoke, “Tell me your sins child.”

“Lust father. Greed.”

“Hail Mary.” a pause, “Hail Mary.”

“Father?”

“Yes child?”

“I have something to confess that is not a sin.”

“That will be fine.”

And I told him.

Without even thinking he began to recite from memory, “When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully; even as I am fully known.

And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.”

"Thank you Father.”

“Bless you child.”

As I stood looking at the poster, I could vaguely see my own reflection in the chrome of a spaceship. Then I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned around to see my beautiful girlfriend smiling at me, her eyes full of joy. I couldn’t hold it in any longer. If I didn’t say it then, it was going to drown. “I love you.”

She looked at me blankly. “You love me?”

“Yes.”

She smiled, “I love you too. I have for a very long time. I… I didn’t know if you wanted to know though.”

I smiled, letting my hair fall down in front of my face. “I love you so much. It seems like I thought this was a bigger deal than it was.”

“Me too.”

Keeping my eyes down I examined the carpet. It was red. Plain, simple red. No comets, no streamers, no explosions, and no weird or crazy patterns. Just red. I looked back up at her. “Come on,” I said,

“Lets go bowling.”