Chapter 2 -- A Day of Outs, and Ins.
A couple of beers leaves me in an ever so slight fuzzy-headed state, but it soon passes as I head into the kitchen that joins the living room in an open plan layout. It's about 9 am, a nice holiday time to wake up. Tray has already gone to work and only my sister is in the kitchen, working with the washing machine.
"Morning sis," I stumble tiredly into the worktop area with the coffee maker and begin setting it up.
"Morning! How's the bed?" Elle is being a good hostess.
"Great, I slept through thanks. No Ally yet?" I had noticed she wasn't around.
"Haven't heard a peep." My sister confirms she's not up.
We talk a bit and Elle starts to get a bit religious, inevitably. At least she actually talks to me about it knowing how opposed I am. Something in the news has obviously irked her this time.
"...This country is changing, before long people will be marrying inanimate objects!" She jokes.
"What's happened now?"
"Marriage is only between a man and woman. The family is the most important unit in society, it's a shame people don't value that." She explains.
"Well, I get that family is important, obviously or I wouldn't be here. But I think allowing more types of people to marry instead of less increases opportunities for families to happen." I offer what I think to be a solid counterpoint.
"Not sure how gays can create a family, anyway that's against god's law." She doubles down on her opinion with some proprietary reason.
"Adoption. You know, such as kids abandoned by a man and woman who were married..." I begin to suggest.
"The kid won't have the benefit of both types of parent though." She triples down, determined to stick to her doctrine.
"I guess they're better off with no one then. And 2 potential guardians go without being able to raise a child..." I sound a bit more sarcastic than I intended as I wonder how we let ourselves grow so distant in our world views. My thought is then distracted upon by approaching steps.
Ally has walked in on us mid discussion. I turn to her walking towards me as I lean against the tabletop waiting for the coffee to percolate. She smirks shyly at me and looks down in a submissive, slightly shamed body language. I throw her a wanting smile and beckon her in for a cuddle.
"Hey lass, morning... Yesterday was so great." I tease her as she cuddles me. I imagine her body under the soft pyjamas that hide it from me.
"Sorry I went to bed early..." She remembers it. I hope she understands why I stopped.
"It's okay... Let's have a coffee and get ready to go after." I secretly brush her thigh a little before we end our embrace and I quickly set us up with mugs of awakening.
My sister joins us to sit at the table and we debate a little more, my sister proffering all her usual dogmas while I logically destroy them. Not the first time, but I quietly always hope it to be the last argument we have. Ally seems to be listening intently but not really offering her thoughts. Probably, she isn't allowed to have beliefs that differ from my sister's or something. I find it interesting that she is not falling on her mother's side of the debate though.
We finally get to leaving to go get breakfast, hugging Elle and getting into my hire car. Ally has dressed in a summery yellow top and a sky blue skirt going to her knees. I bet she doesn't own any short skirts. She looks so good, I could just dive between her thighs and eat her right now. On the way she finally chimes herself in on the earlier conversation.
"Why do gay people get married? If they won't accept god there's no point right?"
"Ally, being married has legal benefits and is socially recognised as a respectable position. Plus, people just tend to love whoever they love and we shouldn't judge them for it. That's what I think." Ally digests what I've said for a minute.
"Should people judge us for what we did yesterday?" She is a smart one which is good.
"Nope. No victim, no crime in my opinion. The reason that it's frowned upon is the health risk of having children. That's what I think." I explain as I drive us towards town.
"It... makes sense, I agree... But how does god work in all of this?" She struggles to compromise her opinions with her doctrines.
"Which god are you talking about exactly?" I tease.
"Oh... Well my one... the only one god..." She tries to explain.
"I counted thousands of proclaimed gods off hand. Each with different doctrines. I just believe in 1 less god than you do Ally." I dunk on her with one of my favourite facts. She goes quiet for a bit. I relent and offer consolation to her feelings so that she doesn't dwell to much on it.
"You can learn a lot from a story anyway, whether it's true or not. A good story evokes an uncertainty in what you think is right, or who is doing the right thing."
"How do you know what's true?" Ally finally asks.
"Repeatable, verifiable experiments and evidence gathered in their wake for the most part. Same goes for your own experiences. How closely do they compare with everyone else? If I asked you to describe heaven in detail, it ought to be the exact same heaven described by everyone else who shares your belief, if the claim is a universal all powerful being. But it's never the case."
"But how can we just cease to exist after death?" She can't imagine not being able to be conscious, to never have thoughts and senses ever again.
"I think it's a lot like a deep sleep. You don't know you are asleep until you wake up. Of course in this case you don't wake up."
"Hmmh depressing... how do you know so much?" Ally flatters me.
"Not that I do know much, but I am endlessly curious about many things. Like, what's going to happen with me and you for example." I shift the conversation to something more palatable.
"What will happen to us?" Ally asks, maybe thinking I know that too. I sigh anxiously thinking about that.
"Depends on a lot. At the moment I can't think straight, only that I am absurdly attracted to you!" I try to not worry about the ramifications of what path Ally and I are on.
