Jennifer arrived at the church without any more weird thoughts running through her head, and that was a relief. She still had no idea why she would even think about wanting to get a tattoo. Only miscreants or sexually-depraved people got those. And Jennifer was certainly not one of them.
Exiting her car and walking up the church entrance, she felt funny again. She stopped and looked down at her feet and the flats that they were encased in. Why did it feel like she should wear something with a higher heel? Back at home, her highest heel was 2-inches and that was fine by her. But usually she only wore those for special occasions. Shaking her head, she started walking again, her momentary awkwardness going away. But the moment she entered the church, another different feeling overtook her. It was a feeling of uneasiness, almost dread. And that was really strange, because she had been coming to this church for over ten years and had never felt anything like that before.
Shrugging it off, she continued on her way, eventually meeting with Mary Shepherd, the reverend's wife. Like her husband, she was in her 40's (only a little older than Jennifer herself), but looked far more conservative. But she supposed that it made sense that the wife of the person in charge of the church would want to exude a sense of religious purity. She didn't even wear any make-up or jewelry. But she didn't shame Jennifer for her minimal use of make-up and small stud earrings. Mary saved her admonishments for women who liked to flaunt their looks, women who took any and every chance they could to do almost everything sinful under the sun. Those were the ones who deserved Mary's wrath.
Thinking about how Mary didn't have any jewelry made Jennifer remember the ornate necklace she was wearing beneath her blouse. She hoped that her blouse was opaque enough to hide it from Mary. She didn't want anyone, least of all Mary, to know that she had it on. Taking it off just wasn't an option, for some reason. It was odd. She didn't want people to see it, but she also still wanted to wear it.
"Earth to Jennifer," Mary said, waving her hand in the air in front of her face.
"Huh?"
"It looks like you were deep in thought there for a moment. What's on your mind?" Mary asked, pleasantly.
"Uh ... nothing," Jennifer answered.
