JUST MUSING BASELINES
BEHIND THE LATTICE – SONG, November 11, 2025
Hup sank into his recliner. Gracie claimed her bed. His wife perched on the piano bench, eyes soft with questions.
“You said you were drowning,” she whispered.
“Not terrified,” Hup said. “Embraced. His left hand under my head, His right around me—like the day I was baptized, but in much deeper. I didn’t breathe the whole time. Not once.”
“You started in the bedchamber?”
“Yes. Then the banquet room.”
She looked down. “I was there too. Last night. Same chamber. No banquet.”
“Why didn’t you say?”
“I was still… inside it; that is, until you leaned against the fence outside.”
Hup smiled. “We’re not the same, hon.”
“No,” she said. “But we ran together.”
Gracie’s head snapped up. One sharp bark.
The room stilled. Gracie rose, padded to the hallway, looked back at them.
“She’s wanting us to come.”
So, they followed. Up the narrow stairs to the attic space opposite from Hup’s bedroom. The door ajar. Light—not from the window—spilling gold across the floor. Again the scent of the cedar beams and fir.
“There is a lovely fragrance in here. I didn’t expect that.”
“I could always have it built out for you… to sleep in.”
“Why would I want to do that Hup?”
Confused, Hup looked at her not quite knowing what she meant. “Huh?”
“If I wanted to sleep up here, I’d sleep with you. Why let the distance separate us?” “That’s what a relationship is about, isn’t it?” Hup asked.
“You know what you said has many applications,” she replied and smiled. “Gracie? Why’d you come up here?”
“The Lord works in mysterious ways. I am curious though. Do you feel our Lord’s presence right now?”
“Do you?”
“No, but I know our Lord’s watching. He’s here. This attic space with the beams and rafters… the fragrance… I think of the wall and lattice that Solomon said our beloved is watching us from behind… do you think Gracie sensed his presence? That’s why she barked?”
“Could be. I must admit… ” she didn’t complete her thought.
“We do that a lot, don’t we?” he asked and smiled. “What were you reluctant to admit hon?”
“Oh, only that this newly found intimacy is quite… um…”
“Unnerving to once unbelieving hearts? I’d say so.”
“Oh, only that this newly found intimacy is quite… um…”
“Unnerving to once unbelieving hearts? I’d say so.”
The attic door stays open tonight. He’s still looking.
