LIZZIE'S WORLD: The mysterious woman in Gabriel’s world

The service is going well – no one is even paying attention to my ancient book Bible as they flip through their tablet e-Bibles, and my self-consciousness fades. The pastor is an interesting chap – he manages to make the next hour and a half fly with his sense of humour – not something I was expecting, as I grew up in the old, staid, boring Catholic service tradition.

And so the hours fly and after the last prayer is said, Gabriel turns to me with a bright smile and asks, “So, can I take you out to lunch? You must be hungry after all of that activity.”

I toss the idea around in my head for a few seconds debating whether I should decline – although truth be told, it’s not really difficult to say yes seeing as I didn’t really have any other plans for the afternoon. So I nod my acceptance of his lunch offer, and we start to make our way out of the church. This walking out – which really should be a simple process of foot-in-front-of-foot-until-you-reach-the-door – turns out to be the biggest battle of my life.

“Brother Gabriel!” shouts a voice from behind us as we start to make our way out. I recognise it to be the voice of the pastor who was on stage earlier. We both turn towards him. “We didn’t manage to speak too much before the service,” he says as he walks up to us, arms extended in greeting towards Gabriel. As he pumps Gabriel’s hand up and down, he turns towards me with a cheeky glint. “And who is your friend?”

“Oh, this is Liz,” Gabriel says. “She said she wanted to visit a new church so I offered to bring her here.” The pastor gives me an extended inquisitive look, as I squirm in the intensity of his penetrative gaze. Then he turns to Gabriel with one eyebrow raised in amusement.

“I have never seen you bring a lady friend to church. Does this mean we can expect good things in future?”

“Pastor!” Gabriel gasps, looking embarrassed. I am quite taken aback and so I say nothing. “I mean, no.”

“Oh, so you don’t think she is attractive?”

“That’s not what I said-,” Gabriel counters quickly while my jaw continues to make its journey to the floor.

AWKWARD CONVERSATION

“Aha, so you think she is attractive? Then what are you waiting for, brother?!” he bellows, and I look around the church to see if anyone else is noticing this awkward conversation.

“It’s not like that, really,” Gabriel runs his finger under his shirt collar to loosen it.

“Oh, don’t worry, I’m just kidding,” the pastor says, before turning to me and asking me if I enjoyed my visit. “Come back next Sunday – maybe I’ll tell you how to make an honest man out of Gabe here,” he laughs his deep belly laugh before he goes off to greet more congregants.

We turn around and take two steps towards the door when suddenly, an exquisitely beautiful woman with a small waist, curvy hips and long, straight hair – I’m guessing a really nice weave – steps out in front of us, obstructing our path.

“Hi Gabe,” she says, without giving me even a glance. “So you said you were going to call me last week. I waited.”

I clear my throat. “I, uh, I’ll just wait for you outside,” I tell Gabriel as I hurriedly step away from what must be a fraught conversation. The girl doesn’t acknowledge my existence at all – and perhaps that for the best. So I leave them to it and walk out the door, then saunter around just outside, watching the people come and go.

Five minutes later there is a hand on my elbow. “Let’s go now before someone else catches me and takes up my time. I am so hungry I could eat a whole cow,” Gabriel says urgently as he steers me towards his car and opens the passenger door to let me in. I get in wordlessly and let him drive me to a lovely Italian al fresco restaurant nearby where we find a table in a leafy corner and seek out a waiter.

“So may I ask how the conversation with the girl went?” I ask after we order a large pizza, some whisky for him and glass of red wine for me.