4338.210 · July 29, 2018 AD
Rules for an Unsupervised Evening
Sunday roast comes together with its usual choreography — lamb, crispy potatoes, Millie's hopeful vigil by the carving board — but Jerome has been cataloguing anomalies all day, and when he finally asks why his parents are still in their church clothes, the answer only deepens the mystery.
The final assembly of Sunday dinner becomes the setting for a confrontation Jerome didn't plan. He's been reading the signs all day — his parents' loaded glances, the silent conversations, the unbroken church attire — and when the question finally surfaces, the answer is stranger than expected. A special meeting at the Adelaide Temple, on a Sunday evening, by invitation from Bishop Hahn. No further details offered. Jerome pushes, but his father's response is steady and final: some invitations are accepted on faith.
The house transforms once the car leaves the driveway. Jerome walks Millie through the damp winter evening, returns to find the absence confirmed, and makes a series of small decisions that amount to quiet rebellion — Millie on the forbidden couch, stolen Tim Tams, lamb slices dragged through cold gravy for a dog who has never once doubted she deserves them. He puts on The Princess Bride and lets familiarity do the work his mind can't. Millie settles her head in his lap, uncomplicated and present in a way that humans rarely manage. Charles drifts in with cereal and claims the other end of the couch, and the brothers sit together without resolving anything — just sharing the space, the film, and the unspoken understanding that something significant is happening beyond their reach.
