Newest Novel Idea: Part 2

               Well, I was holding a guy’s hand at that very moment.  It was another one of those Mor-mon handshakes, and he was married anyway.

               “Hi, Kymber,” Brother Jinks, second counselor to the Bishop said with authority, “This is Joshua.”

               I took Josh’s hand.  Instant discomfort.  He was a dead-fish shaker.   This kind of hand-shake can only be made worse with cold hands, and Joshua’s hands were freezing.  Great, a dead fish on ice.

               “Can you guess why I just introduced you?”

               For a moment some part of me, a stupid and desperate part, entertained the idea that Brother Jinks might be hooking me up.  How did he know I needed a date?

               I looked over Joshua again.  His hair wasn’t dark, but it was thick.  I’d give him half cre-dit for that.  He was taller than me, another plus, though not hard to achieve.  He was a little scrawny, but I was a little overweight, so neither of us was really the gym-hitting type.  I guess this could work. Besides, then I could teach him how to properly shake hands.

               “I’m sure I don’t have a clue,” I told Brother Jinks.

               “You can’t think of any reason?”

               I shook my head and anticipation built up inside me.

               “We’re your new home teachers!” Brother Jinks exclaimed with much more enthusiasm than was actually required for these sort of things.

               “Oh, great,” I muttered, “I mean, good, good. That’ll be . . . nice.”

               That was it.  I was leaving.

               It’s so hard to be single in a church of families.  Okay, so I go to the single’s ward.  But half of those people are engaged or steadily dating.  They scratch each other’s backs in sacrament meeting.  The hold hands in Sunday school. And then they act like they’re parting for eternity when they have to separate for Priesthood and Relief Society.  It’s quite sickening.

               Usually it’s not so bad.  Tamera, my current roommate, usually sits with me, equally sin-gle.  But today, Tamera was sick and those had to be the longest three hours I’ve ever endured.

I missed the single’s ward I’d had at the community college.  Now that I was at the Uni-versity I felt even more insignificant and invisible.  I was one of 200 people in my ward.  My other ward had 60 people total.  I would be surprised if the Bishop even knew my name.  But there I go again.

                Brother Jinks and Joshua set up an appointment for later that week and I finally made my escape.

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