Transubstantiation

Happy Easter! Even in Detroit, the weather has to start to warm up a little at this point and summer is on its way. The Easter I remember the best was the one where my sister Beth and I received two plastic mouse dolls with Raggedy Ann-like hair. The dolls were ugly by all standards, but we took to them for reasons no one could understand. I named my doll Marcy and Beth got the boy mouse and named him Missy. Missy and Marcy became part of our games in no time and my favorite one was pretending the couch was a big van. I'd make Beth throw Missy off the van for being a boy and then she'd cry and want Missy back on the van. Of course, I'd tell her in my kind way that Missy was dead because of the head trauma from the fall and he was under no circumstances coming back. My mother resurrected Missy to keep the peace and told me to stop killing him. All sorts of ills were visited upon Missy -- his face marked with lipstick and eyeshadow, his bright red hair cut off. He always returned, though, a bit worse for the wear maybe, but sturdy like any good Easter gift should be.

Michelle's Spell of the Day

"I don't know about you, but I could use a drink." Father Gary, after a three hour Easter Eve service during which I was baptized.

The Resurrection
1 part champagne
1 part orange juice
splash of grenadine

This is essentially a mimosa with color. This is a perfect light morning drink for brunches on Sunday after a particularly wild Saturday night.

Benedictions and malediction

First appeared in Slipstream:

Transubstantiation

Nothing is hidden here. There's
a special drain for the leftover blood
of Jesus. The bowls look like, well,
bowls, the water has not been blessed
yet. This is the chosen room where
the ordinary becomes extraordinary,
if one believes that is possible even.

Anything is possible. I once rode
in a car with tarantulas in pickle jars
rolling around underneath my feet.
Once frozen, they could take on any
form, become the center of a paperweight.
They were never to resurrect and nobody
wanted them to, their value in a death
they could not have possibly imagined.