The Christmas Pilgrimage

Its new moon. We are on a long pilgrimage to an ancient greek temple,
and we will get there on christmas day to celebrate mass.

Its a long journey. It has its hazards. They are mostly social. My
brother gets attacked by angry people who think he is one of the
rebels. He survives fine, just a few bruises. One of his friends has a
bad fall off his bike. We pick him up and nurse him better.

When we finally get to the temple it is beautiful. It is built of
these huge blocks of stone in a circular design, with various
different levels to it.

We think we are the first to arrive, but then we hear the organ
playing. And people are singing too. A group of people have turned up
early to practice music. They are singing a really nice harmony
version of the angel gabriel tune.

The musicians sit at the very top of the temple, where the organ is,
and the sound echoes down as if from heaven.

I go up to meet them all. They are all women who I recognise from a
long time ago; the three ruths, jessica, and others.

They all go down to greet the new arrivals, and I go up to see the
organ. It is a very ancient and beautiful instrument. It plays the
sound through books, and has many many buttons and levers you can
press and pull to manipulate the sound.

All of a sudden mass is going to start and people are expecting me to
play the opening hymn. I am not ready to  start at all, and I want one
of the ruths to come back and play it as she knows it really well, but
she has wandered off so I fumble through music, and find the song and
begin playing. But the sound it all wrong. It ought to sound big and
grand but all the noise that comes out is a few gentle flutes.

Allesio savadori is very cross. He thinks I have ruined the mass which
is one of the most important masses of the year. No one is singing
along because it sounds so empty.

I quickly pull some levers. Strange noise comes out now, like a car
horn or an out of tune trumpet. Most of the congregation that have
gathered are looking at me a bit strange now, and allesio is frowning.

Ruth comes back now to take the place of player and I focus on getting
the right sound. I have to move all these books, that are the filters
for the sounds. When I do, sound floods down over the people.