Last night

Last night I worked with Matt. We usually don't talk much, as I'm in the cooler for most of the time on Sundays with four separate orders, organizing, stocking, breaking down boxes, and in between helping with customers. I got finished a little early yesterday though, and I had time to fix something to eat. I put some onions on a tortilla and some mustard, and Matt watched me do this. His look was somewhat puzzled. I looked at him and said, "Oh boy, this is gonna be tasty," and I kind of rolled my eyes and smiled. He said, "Throw some cheese on that bitch!" I told him that I'd like to, but that I was just going to eat it like that. He asked why, and I said that I was fasting for Lent. He kind of went 'Ah,' nodded his head, and that was that.

Later he asked me if I was Catholic. I said no, that I was Orthodox. I started to explain what it was to him, and he said, "Yeah, my grandparents are Orthodox. What are you, Greek Orthodox?" I told him that the church I went to had Russian influences. We talked about this and that for a while, and about an hour later, he asked me about my church again. I was a little surprised, as we had never really talked about anything in depth before, and I didn't expect it to be about church. I told him about it, and that we were almost finished with Lent, and that I was missing a service tonight because I had to work. He frowned and said, "Hell, church is more important that work. You should have gone." I tried to explain to him about how I couldn't keep doing that to Chiy, but I kind of got lost in saying it. We didn't say anything much for about another hour after that.

Then he started telling me about how he had always been interested in religion, but that he was non-practicing; an atheist, pretty much. He asked me what I was allowed to eat during a fast. I told him that it was pretty much a vegan diet. A customer he was checking overheard us, and got involved in the conversation and said, "What about alcohol? You can drink on Fridays, right?" I explained about alcohol to the customer, and it all turned into this impromptu discussion between me, Matt, and this girl about Orthodoxy, and fasting, and all of our own religious views.

Later Matt told me that when he used to spend the summer with his Uncle, that he was only allowed to stay if he went to the Baptist church, and that was what had put him off of religion. Funny, that. It's what put me off of religion too, when I was young. I also thought it was interesting that every time Matt brought up something to talk about, it was always religion.