In the darkness with the Devil at his back, the Fool tried to find his way. It was dark in front of him and just the large looming silhouette of the Devil at the mouth of the cave stood behind him. Forward into the unknown was just slightly less scary than going back to that creature.
The Fool began to shiver. It was getting very cold. He could see his breath in the air. His feet started feeling snow and ice.
He saw a square light in front of him. He started for it. The snow got deeper and the light lit the whiteness of the drifts. He could see the heavy flakes fall out of the sky. It was a heavy snowfall.
The light was a large stain-glass window of a church. It was an intricate ornate and colorful window showing five coins growing on a sacred tree. The church was small and cozy. The Fool thought about going in and find refuge.
A couple came around the side of the church. They were in rags. It was an old man with crutches and an old woman in bare feet trudging through the snow. The couple’s clothes were as threadbare as his own clothes. He wore a cloak of scraps of cloth over his shoulders and she clutched her shawl tightly around her face.
He couldn’t understand why they didn’t go into the church. Here is this giant building with ornate art that worships their gods and all the church’s good deeds, but the poor couple is on the outside in the foot or more of snow freezing to death. The woman doesn’t have shoes and the man is bald with no hat.
The Fool was infuriated with this atrocity. The world is full of these bloated rich temples and the outside is littered with the poor. The Fool has traveled the world and has seen this everywhere he has gone.
Why don’t you go into the church? The Fool asked the couple.
It isn’t our church, the man said, besides, we have each other. The man and the woman looked at each other with a moment of joy.
We would have to believe in a different god to go in, the woman said, but we are fine. We will keep each other warm.
That made the Fool sad. The couple wouldn’t bend their faith, nor the church will allow outside faiths to be helped by them, so now these two will have to suffer. On top of that, they are clutching onto each other as them against the world and it is going to make them miserable.
Sometimes a couple has to ask for help, thought the Fool, two is not enough a lot of the time.
The freezing wind blew right into the Fool’s bones. He couldn’t get his arms around himself tight enough to ward off the cold. The snow fell to the ground. The flakes looked black as they passed by the stain-glass window.
He could hear the chattering of conversations inside the church and he could sense the warmth. He heard the sounds of silverware scraping against plates. He heard his own stomach growl at the thought of being hungry. Being hungry and cold was the worse combination in the universe.
He sensed that something was standing at his back. He looked up and saw the Devil’s slobbering face staring at him and heard his deep breathing. The Fool knew he needed to move on.
The couple disappeared into the darkness and freezing cold wind. All the Fool could see was the deep footsteps and crutches holes that trailed behind but were quickly filling up with fresh snow.
The Fool walked past the church and back into the darkness to find himself somewhere else. The air got warmer which was nice. The Fool knew that the couple was somewhere blindly holding on to faith and wishing it kept them warm.