Of Monsters, Babes, & Angels
Tuesday, March 28, 2006
There were strange thoughts going on in Collette’s mind from that morning’s reading. Genesis 6:1-2 (a rather comic set of verses with which to begin):
“6:1 When man began to multiply on the face of the land and daughters were born to them, 2 the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive. And they took as their wives any they chose.”
It reminded Collette of an account from New England in the early days of the witch hunts – an account of the birth of a young one. But this account was quite different from all others. The room shook and trembled and quaked and lo and behold the infant came forth as a monster – scaled and abnormally shaped. No doubt a tale invented by the witch-hunters who mistook an oddly colored birthmark to be scales. But nonetheless, the reading of Genesis that morning reminded her of the strange tale and the fleeting yet intriguing thought that the ‘child’s father might have been a fallen angel. (As some people supposed the verses in Genesis were implying.) But Collette decided that it was a terrible thought and let it be, getting on with the day.
Later that afternoon, Frances was concerned about the expiration status of an unopened tub of whipped cream in the freezer. He read the back:
“Eleven zero four… Eleven zero four. It’s expired!”
Mom took a look. “No, Frances, that’s the time, not the date.”
But there was no date to be found on the package. Frances took off the lid and looked at the tempting creamy white. The Snicketts children were known for munching on odd things for snacks. Nothing could beat Rose’s mixtures, however. Usually raw oatmeal and dry pasta.
“Smell it!” He thrust the tub in Collette’s face.
Collette breathed in. “It has no smell,” she said unconvincingly, as she had a poor sense of smell in the first place.
“No smell! That means it’s expired!” Frances exclaimed, dumping the tub on the counter and running off to hunt up a lighter.
Collette caught him just in time before he attempted to fire the white blob. Why he wanted to light it, she didn’t ask. Sometimes it was better never to know.