All Dried Up

by

Sandra Deden

“Memere, there's your church,” said Lucas, age 3. His mother, a one-time atheist turned agnostic who finds spirituality in a stand of pines in the woods, grass pushing through a cobblestone sidewalk, and other safe places that do not involve human egos, smiled.

“Where's your church?” said Memere, a devout Catholic and two-time novitiate who reluctantly left the church and mothered four children instead of Jesus.