Iglesia………………………………………Episode 50 (!)

( – promoted by buhdydharma )

(Iglesia is a serialized novel, published on Tuesdays and Saturdays at midnight ET, you can read all of the episodes by clicking on the tag.)

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But when she said “shit,” something clicked inside her. And when a split second later a crumpet hit Abe square in the side of the head….triggering all of his impossible to ignore, highly trained warrior instincts, (since his instincts just perceived an attack, and not the fact that it was by a harmless breakfast pastry) the spell was broken. His instincts forced him to look at Rogers, who was now hefting a rather large rock.

And triggered by a treasured memory of a similar moment at a poignant time in the courtship with her husband, (stubbing her toe on the bed and saying ‘shit’ on their first night together, which had broken the tension between them then too, not the crumpet thing) she had thought of Paul.

Before they could lock gazes again, Rogers hurriedly spoke. “May I inform you that we did not go to the very considerable trouble of bringing you both here across and beyond the bounds of time and space to form a lonely hearts club, but indeed to fight the Forces Of Evil with the future of humanity in the balance? Now that we have eluded the opposition and have a small period of opportunity to address the necessity of briefing you thoroughly, I certainly hope it would not be asking too much for you two to put aside your quaint carnal instincts for a few moments to actually attend to the business at hand?

Abe blushed, Iglesia flipped him off with both hands this time.

They glanced at each other, both thought to themselves how attractive the other was in the firelight, sighed at the same time, and each did their own variety of a small shrug at the same time….and, good soldiers at heart that they were, turned as much of their attention to Rogers as they could manage. Neither remarked that they had each had the same synchronized reactions. It just seemed natural, a part of their temporarily severed, but undeniable connection. Neither yet knew enough about the other or about their mission to wonder if that was a purposefully selected trait, or coincidence. If either of them had they thought about it, neither would have guessed coincidence.

It seemed like one of them should say something to each other….but neither could find the words to express the awkward space they now occupied after that magical moment, or to address the moment itself. It was yet another small revelation that there is a vast swath of humanity’s experiences that are simply inexpressible through words, no matter how many millennia we have had to try.

Abe finally came up with, “Forces Of Evil, you say?”

He reflected that he had never felt more like a character in a novel in his life. His internal imp possessed him and he vowed to speak only in literary cliches for the rest of the night. But before he could speak Iglesia said, “The future of humanity is in the balance? To the Batphone!”

Abe’s knees actually went weak with love for her. Until this moment, he had thought that that was a cliche too.