The Right Write Rite

Glass. A shard. Set it here, in the jig. Match shape to shape, edge to edge. Scour the glass. Break it. Set it here, in the jig. Match shape to shape, edge to edge. The act is tedious, monotonous.

When all of the pieces were cut and put into place, Tomas began the work of sealing the edges of the glass with foil, a slow process that took weeks. After he finished he began to solder, melting lead onto the foil and in between the cracks. The completed stained glass window had taken him over a year to create by himself, and when done soldering the last of the cables to the window, he loaded up the pieces into his cart, and traveled for a full month to deliver the work to the monastery. The monks had requested something more lively than the plain unadorned panes in their chapel. When he arrived, it took him another week to install the window and begin the journey home again.

He was not long at his workshop, however, when he heard a knock at the door. He answered it, and was fervently entreated by one of the monks from the monastery; he told him that he must go back, that the window he delivered was evil, that it was possessed. Tomas loaded up his cart; the ride took another month. When he reached the gates, the monks ushered him in at once to the place where his window had been installed, and pointed.

The image was of three skeletons who moved about within the frame. One played the accordion while the other two danced to the music and occasionally gave a terrific shout that caused the monks to cross themselves and mutter prayers. When the music ended, the three locked elbows and began a kind of burlesque cabaret dance that came to a climax when a fourth skeleton appeared in the frame wearing a large fur coat and began a sultry striptease. The dancing became more feverish while the stripper stripped, and Tomas merely watched the entire thing impassively. At the dance's conclusion, the four skeletons took a bow and a curtain came down in front of them depicting Christ's crucifixion.

The monks demanded the obscene thing be removed from their chapel, claiming that it was profaning the house of God and besides that, kept them awake all hours of the night. During mass, they maintained, the window would hijack the ceremony and try to coax the monks into playing BINGO with them, and should any monk attempt to seek solace or meditation within the chapel, the window would forever try to incite them with offers of strong drink, or money, or even a go at the skeleton stripper. It was absurd, disgusting, and blasphemy of the highest order. The stained glass window must be removed.

Tomas looked at the window, at the pain of Jesus on the cross and Mary Magdalene kneeling at his feet, and looked back at the monks. He told them:

No, I will not remove it. I confess I did not intend the window to be quite so... vivid. But nonetheless, I stand by my work. Perhaps you could learn something from it.

Hearing this the monks turned pale and then red with shame. Tomas left them where they stood, looking up at the stained glass. He called over his shoulder as he made his exit, if you do not want it, then you can remove it with rocks, and began the long ride home.

The monks kept the window intact. In time, they learned to control what they saw in the image, and it was only the new or young or arrogant who continued to see in it the depiction of the four skeletons. The rest merely saw a beautiful stained glass window, and the pain of Jesus on the cross looking down and Mary Magdalene kneeling at his feet.