The bashful Mother Ave, who needs some divine inspiration (softcore)

Mother Ave was lost. Once she'd gotten over the initial shock that her church was now encouraging her to engage in sexual behaviors and provoke her congregation, the next problem was how in Geod's name she was supposed to accomplish that. Ave knew her sister, Eva, was quite a looker, but she wasn't confident that Eva actually had any good plans for how to woo the chapel's faithful. Granted, she'd sort of exaggerated her sister's innocence in her mind, figuring that there's no way Eva could do this without sexual experience. Eva had a lot of that, even if Ave willfully ignored the signs.

As for Italliete, she was a sweetheart and seemed willing to help, but it would be imposing far too greatly to ask her to save the church. Ave knew the task fell to her, as the senior member of the group. She was over forty! She ought to know something about how to handle this...

... But she didn't! She'd averted her eyes from this sort of thing all her life. Even now, as she stood in church, wringing her hands and watching Italliete paint the mural, she was wearing a somewhat unfashionable, outdated model of chastity belt underneath her many layers of clothing, none of which was designed to be eye-catching in any way. That belt would have to be the first thing to go, she figured. "O-Oh dear... If the townspeople knew I was planning on walking around without my chastity belt... What would they think of me?" she murmured, vastly underestimating the kind of honey trap the church was calling her to become.

This was simply impossible. She barely had the courage and certainly didn't have know-how. There was only one thing to do...

"Mr. Cherubin, please please pleeeease don't shut down my church because we can't do the things you're asking for pleeeeeease! I'll make the rounds and go door to door, reminding everyone to come to church! I-I'll dip into my baking funds to help repair the roof! Please please please please please-"

"Mother Ave, calm yourself," Cherubin sighed, helping the nun off the floor as the people around the inn stared judgmentally at him for reducing her to such a tearful state. "I'm not threatening to close your church, I remind you. This is an opportunity from Geod. In the end, there is room for your own judgment and wisdom on the matter-- Geod gives us all our own agency."

Sniffling, Ave rose up from the floor onto her feet, then walked past the acting high priest. He'd opened his door for her so they could speak in private. "Oh, you're right. Of course you're right, sir, you are the acting high priest. And I know Geod has His plan. But I simply cannot picture how I work into that plan."

Cherubin stirred two cups of tea gently as Ave took a spot at the small, two person table inside the room. "This is a very common concern with the new doctrine. In fact, there are many who eagerly wish to participate, but they simply cannot fathom how. Geod calls us to serve, but He is not always forthcoming with the shape that service ought to take," the man spoke with soft understanding in his voice, seeming to understand that nothing less would serve to calm a woman as jumpy as Mother Ave. "And, in His wisdom, Geod has provided us the answer already."

"He has?" Ave questioned, as she took the tea cup in two shaking hands.

"Yes. A more general answer than perhaps you're imagining," Cherubin responded with a cryptic smile. "For those like yourself who are having trouble visualizing the action, I carry a supply of prayer candles, provided from the special stock of a certain genius inventor in Merridan. They say that if one of Geod's servants lights this, the incense within will allow that servant to commune with the flock, seeing their prayers as though daydreams playing out before their eyes. It is not a tool for communing with Geod, but rather, His people. While I would not recommend its long-term use, it can be helpful to kick-start your transition into the new fashion."

"Wow! That does sound handy. And I do so enjoy a lovely scented candle." Ave clasped her hands together with a cheerful smile. Finally, a way forward! "But, um, what did you mean that you would not recommend its long-term use? It sounds so ideal! I often have a hard time knowing exactly what the people of Headrest desire from me."

Cherubin's smile grew wider and somehow ominous despite his reassurances. "Hmmm... It is possible for both priest and parish to get caught up in a certain cycle, in which the priest becomes a **** to the wishes of the parish and the parish become addicted to the feeling of manipulating their priest. In this equation, Geod is lost." When Ave's eyes widened and her face drained with color, he gave a soft chuckle. "Do not worry. This cannot happen, for I will supply you only three candles. You will be in no danger."

"Oh. Phew! So if I leave it to just a maximum of three candles, I should be hunky-dory. The effects will remain tastefully subdued."

"Of course. Subdued. Relatively." Cherubin sipped his drink while watching Ave's relaxed smile over the lip of his tea-cup.

On the first morning, so bright and early that it was still just a bit dark, Ave entered the chapel ahead of Eva and Italliete, preparing the inconspicuous purple candle that the acting high priest had given her. She lit the wick with a little match from her book, then shook the fire out in the air with a few quick flicks of her wrist. The candle was placed atop the church's altar inside a small box and immediately began to fill the air with a fragrant, flowery aroma. "Oh my. I do see how one could become addicted to this," the nun remarked, being an admirer of all things sweet and flowery. "I wonder how they make them? Perhaps I could grow the flowers used in this fragrance? No, no, that's a bad train of thought. Mr. Cherubin did warn me not to overuse the candles."

Still, it was a lovely thought. A direct link into the thoughts of her congregation! What more could the head of a chapel want than to hear such direct feedback? She'd tried to solicit feedback from her congregation before using a suggestion box, but it had been pretty clear they were pulling their punches, asking for silly things like later prayer services or roof repairs. They probably had specific thoughts on the content of her sermons that they were too nice to say! Their raw, unfiltered prayers ought to be much more telling.

Italliete showed up first, then the rest of the congregation, then Eva well after the sun had risen, as was usually the case. It seemed that despite Cherubin's promise on word-of-mouth advertising, he hadn't managed to corral a new audience into the chapel just yet. That was fine-- Ave figured she would be much more comfortable trying this sort of thing in front of a familiar crowd.

An ordinary priestess might be offended to see half of her audience almost immediately adopt sleeping positions, leaning their arms on pew arm rests or resting their heads on their fists, but Ave knew it was just a charming quirk of theirs. The people of Headrest were so sleepy! What a bunch of silly sleepy-heads they were. They were going to miss a pretty exciting sermon today, by her estimation!

"Good morning, to all of Geod's faithful. Let us open to the book of St. Sleeper. Today, we will resume the tale, both enlightening and exciting in equal measure!" Mother Ave greeted her congregation, smiling warmly in the morning light and using a voice that way too soft and soporific to inspire anyone to stay awake during a sermon. Before she could even get to her reading, however, a bolt of inspiration came to her. It was someone in the congregation!

"I'm so tired of reading St. Sleeper... I'm going to fall asleep right now... Will Mother Ave notice if I don't open my book?"

"Oh no!" Ave spoke out loud, immediately shutting her book with such speed that she accidentally frightened herself. Was she really about to make a misstep this early?! It seemed like people were tired of the sacred gospel... But how could that be? St. Sleeper's adventures were timeless! Still, if the candle was telling her people wanted to ditch the books, she'd try it, at least for today. "Ahem. I-I've decided that today... We will have no scripture reading!" she announced, sounding remarkably lacking in confidence for what was supposed to be her own sermon plan.

It was almost offensive what an immediate reaction that got out of the crowd. Those who weren't already asleep immediately perked up. Ave hadn't skipped a scripture reading in twenty years of preaching!

That said, what should she do now? She couldn't get a bead on anyone's thoughts...

"I wish I could see Mother Ave's golden hair... she never takes off her hood inside the chapel though, even when it's hot out. Tch!"

That seemed simple enough. It was a bit improper for a nun to go without her hood in church, but Eva did it all the time. It wouldn't seem that out of the ordinary if she followed the advice too. Slowly, she pulled her hood off, then shook her bob-cut blond hair free before placing the simple cloth hood down on her podium. "Tee hee! I'm just feeling so spontaneous today," she informed the congregation, although she immediately went to wringing her hands after, scanning their reactions for some hint of whether they were pleased or not. They did all seem to be leaning forward in their seats...

"I want to see Ave take off something else!"

Was it really that exciting? This didn't seem in line with her usual sermon structure at all. Cutting the scripture reading was one thing, but did people really not want one of her sermons? She scanned the prayers of the congregation for something that would contradict the first prayer she heard, but it turned out it was quite unanimous. In fact, the only person not thinking that was her own sister, who was snoring loudly in the back of the church, having fallen asleep at the very beginning.

With slight hesitation, Mother Ave gave a small smile, then removed her rosary, placing it down upon the desk. It seemed odd to remove her prayer cross like that, but what else did she have that could satisfy them without being indecent. Unfortunately, that didn't seem to calm the prayers-- if anything, they spiked. No one said a word, just watching closely to see what she would do next.

This was going in a bad direction, she thought.

"U-Um... Would anyone perhaps like to resume the sermon?"

The prayers told her no. They told her to keep going. These weren't stray thoughts-- they were literal prayers, carried from the incense to her visions. She couldn't just ignore them... With a gulp, she slowly stepped out of her shoes. Then, she untied the simple cord around her thick waist, allowing her habit to hang more loosely. Amazingly, the prayers weren't stopping-- they just became more and more feverish. A few of the congregation members were leaning across their pews now with dry mouths, unsure of what was happening, but praying that it continued.

"I believe that we should... all f-f-focus our prayers a bit and... and ask ourselves: are we praying for what is really best for us, or are we perhaps becoming distracted b-by... by things that are perhaps not as educational as a classic sermon would be?"

The prayers did focus, but not in the direction she wanted. Everyone was silently begging her to lose the habit.

"But, wow! It sure is toasty in the chapel today, isn't it? What a toasty mid-autumn we're having!" she lied. She was sweating bullets, but it had nothing to do with an unseasonable heat. "I-I think I will just... Remove... This..." Nervously, she grabbed her habit up around the skirt, then lifted it up and over her head, struggling as always to get it past some of her trickier curves. She gave a sigh of relief as it came off, but then her anxiety resumed. She nervously folded it and placed it in a neat square upon the podium.

Truth be told, she was still dressed extremely modestly, with a white under-robe running all the way from the neck down to her ankles. But her ankles! The church saw them for what felt like the very first time in their lives. Rather than her bosom, everyone's eyes were focused there, excited for some hint of flesh on the nun's ordinarily completely covered body. The prayers were ****, bidding her to show them more. Moreover, they were getting more embarrassing to listen to.

"Ave's so cute! The Mother is getting blushy! Should I ask her directly to keep stripping?"

"I don't know why she's stripping, but this is a miracle! I'll put more in the offering plate today!"

"Do nuns wear another dress under that robe, or could we look directly at her underwear? What kind of underwear does she wear?!"

"I-I wear very normal panties!" she announced out loud, suddenly pulling the dress down at the hem, as though worried people were looking through it with x-ray vision. The crowd stared, wide-eyed, unclear about what was happening or how to explain her sudden outburst. Even Eva was awake now, blinking in confusion as she tried to understand what had happened in the last few minutes. "Sister Eva!" Ave cried, rapidly leaving her spot at the front of the church. "I leave the collection of offerings to you! I must, um... go... somewhere!"

Mother Ave didn't return for the sermon that day, and yet, it was a particularly generous offering they collected that day. She had much to think about in the night that followed.

On the second day, with the second candle, Ave decided that she needed to take matters into her own hands as far as exciting the church with new activities. If she didn't, she'd just end up trapped at the altar again, taking off her clothing for the perfectly innocent but understandably curious townspeople. It was only natural to wonder what a nun wears under her clothing! They weren't some sort of perverts. All they wanted was a little stimulation. Today, she had something much, much more stimulating planned for them all...

Gardening!

"A little field trip ought to be just the thing to capitalize on everyone's high spirits!" she congratulated herself, feeling cheerful as she left her tool-shed, now properly equipped with her gardening overalls over a thick, cloth robe, as well as a big straw sun-hat. Like last time, she'd lit a candle, this time setting it beside the flower-bed she intended to work. "Plus, an opportunity to show off my garden? How splendid! I rarely have visitors," she thought to herself, pressing one hand to her cheek and feeling her face getting heated. "Look at me, showing off!"

As she started to round the garden wall to greet the others, however, she was immediately hit with the sensation of prayers flooding in.

"I wonder what Ave wears while she's gardening? I hope it's something cute..."

"I'm ready for disappointment, though. She probably wears frumpy overalls, most likely."

"I'd love to see her in a sun-dress! Thighs, thighs!"

She clutched the chest of her overalls self-consciously. They were a little frumpy... And it would feel nice to wear something nice and breezy... but she didn't even own anything like that! She knew someone who did, though... Her sister. Perhaps she could nip into the house for just a moment and change? It wouldn't take but a minute and if it answered the prayers of the townspeople and renewed their faith in Geod, then it would all be worth it.

...

It was nearly twenty minutes later when Mother Ave finally returned to the congregation, but to her surprise, they hadn't gotten tired of waiting and begun to drift away. In fact, the crowd gathered here was much, much larger than yesterday's, composed of Headrest villagers who had been skipping her sermons for years now, as well as others from surrounding towns, and of course, her sister and Italliete. "G-Good morning... everyone..." she huffed, seeming a little out of breath just from the run back down from the house.

It had been worth the wait. The Mother Ave that greeted them now was red-faced and a little breathless, which was interesting enough, but the way she was dressed immediately captivated their attention. The ordinarily conservative nun was now dressed in a airy, white, spaghetti-strap dress made of thin fabric. On Eva, this would have been provocative enough. On Ave, it had the unique distinction of being several sizes too small, meaning that it didn't just show off the calves-- it terminated at the upper thighs, threatening to expose her panties with every stray gust of autumn wind. Truth be told, it was actually going to be a bit chilly to work in, and it was rather obviously too showy, but Ave wasn't about to go that far only to admit that she couldn't wear her sister's clothes. The dress looked very out of place with the gardening gloves and thick boots she'd left on, but at least the hat worked with it.

A few in the crowd gasped. One especially adventuresome sort whistled.

"Oh, don't tease," she pouted, clutching the skirt down on the front. Well, she assumed it was teasing... but the barrage of incoming prayers said otherwise. Earlier, they'd all been relatively united in their thoughts. Now, they had all kinds of ideas for what sort of miraculous events Geod ought to provide next, many of them quite salacious. Turning a bit red, Ame shook her head and reminded her that this was her flock she needed to shepherd. "Let's get right into it, shall we? There are so many lovely plants in season!" The nun spun on her heels with an eye-catching, unintentional flutter of her short skirt, then knelt down next to her plants. "Here, here! See the lovely white of these morningpetals? They're a gorgeous, bright color! I had them imported from the eastern part of the continent, but they grow so well in our soil, here about Headrest!"

To her surprise, she heard a prayer, asking for her to point them out more clearly. They were interested!

Excited to share her hobby, Ave got down onto her hands and knees, then pointed to the budding flowers in question. "These ones here! Aren't they so precious? The petals have smooth, supple leaves that feel heavenly in your fingers. You must be gentle, of course, but I'm quite fond of running my fingers over the soft, white surface..."

The prayers were going crazy now. It was actually getting a bit hard to make them out.

"Smooth... supple... soft white surface... want to touch...!"

"Oh, my! Well, if you want to touch, you should go ahead! You have my blessing. Just, please, be gentle," Ave responded with an innocent giggle. "Everyone can have a touch."

It quickly became clear that Ave hadn't been paying very close attention to them and they hadn't been listening that closely to her. Instead of going for the morningpetals she was referring to, the first of the guests placed one hand directly onto the stretched, white cotton of her panties, which had been fully revealed to them the moment she knelt down in the flowers. The wind had put the skirt up around her waste and for the entire time she'd been going on about the flowers, they'd all been looking at her underpants, or, more specifically, the way they fought a losing battle, trying to avoid being scrunched up between her wonderfully chubby ass-cheeks. Interpreting an invitation where there was none, one of the congregation motions now palmed one of her cheeks, letting his fingers sink into the fleshy surface and soft cotton.

Ave opened her mouth to shriek, then stopped herself, realizing that the prayers were growing more and more passionate. This was clearly the kind of thing that Cherubin wanted her to be doing...

But it was so embarrassing! And it didn't stop. Once that one interpreted from her pause that he had reached his allotted time period, another came up to grab her ass, then another. Eventually, they started coming two at a time, then more, with hands grabbing her buttocks from all directions. Those that couldn't reach her rear end settled for her thighs. One especially impatient fellow reached in a little further and touched her bare belly instead.

Shivering with a mixture of mortification and a bit of arousal at the unusual sensation of so many men's hands on her body, Ave pretended to be very distracted by her flower-bed. "Th-The morningpetals are... are coming in so beautifully! Wow... Wowee... Golly gosh," she muttered to herself, feeling her knees knocking together in plain sight of the others. The hands, no longer simply touching, were now emboldened to start rubbing and squeezing. "Oh dear... Oh!" An especially large hand was trying to navigate from her hip to around the front, which she'd been squeezing her legs together to stop anyone from touching. "That's a no-no!"

When she spun around, the crowd dispersed, except for the one unfortunate enough to get caught in the act: it was Italliete, caught with her hand in the cookie jar, so to speak. "Apologies," the massively muscular and statuesque woman apologized, bowing to the smaller one.

"I-Italliete?!" Ave gasped, having no idea that the generous painter would join in on everyone's deviant behavior. If that was the case... maybe it wasn't coming from a bad place after all? Maybe this really was the fashion. Moreover, in a seeming fit of guilt, everyone was fishing out gold coins from their pockets, as though preparing to give an offering like they did yesterday. "Um... o-okay?" she muttered, taking off her hat and holding it out as though it were an offering plate. The gold coins quickly filled it, presenting more of a bounty than she'd ever pulled in from one of her sermons before. "Oh dear! Is all of this really for the church?!" The hat was so heavy, it was actually a bit difficult to keep holding it-- the center sagged down away from the brim.

As the people nodded enthusiastically, Eva spun around from the outside and threw an arm around her sister's shoulder, while helping her support the load with her free hand. "Exactly, sister! The people appreciate your generosity and they're generous in kind!" she congratulated the confused nun. Wearing a sly grin, she faced the crowd again. "And if you show up tomorrow, you'll see just how generous our loving Mother can be!"

The people dispersed, seeming both satisfied and excited. Ave gave a sigh of relief. "Thank Geod you came to my rescue, Eva. I was having a difficult time thinking of what to do next!"

"Hey, you're on fire, sis. Hottest commodity between Meridan and the capital, I'd say! Luckily, I've got a great idea for what you're going to do next to keep this momentum going."

On the third day, mother Ave had one candle left, but she didn't bother burning it. There was really no need to-- she'd discovered what the people wanted from her and Eva had come up with a plan to guide her. The troublesome thing was that she kept retreating before filling the actual length of a full sermon. For everyone's sake, she couldn't keep doing that-- it was just lazy, an affront to Geod. Today, she needed to maximize her time and also go the full stretch.

The church was so well attended this time, the people were practically pouring out of the entrance. Word of the garden had spread around time and now, everyone had high expectations, coming not just from the towns over, but even from Meridan, where the main Church of Geod was located. "Is it okay for me to be poaching their members?" she thought to herself. However, that was a very secondary concern compared to what was coming next...

A sermon!

With so many people assembled, she had to break out one of her greatest sermons, a lesson near and dear to her heart, with all of the glory of St. Sleeper's legacy rolled into one simple parable. Ordinarily, the audience would doze off a few words in, but this time, they all watched and listened with rapt attention, even as she described some of the more mundane, daily aspects of the saint's adventure. "And that is why an understanding of the tax code is essential for all of the continent's Geod-fearing people," she finished, now reaching a break in the sermon. A big smile rested upon her face. She'd never seen so many faces in the church before-- and all awake!

Now that she'd gotten her part of the plan out of the way, she could pivot to Eva's. She just had to remind herself there was nothing to be ashamed of. This was all Geod's plan and she was executing it perfectly. Nothing could be more proud and less shameful! "I will now collect the tithes and offerings," she announced, as she crossed her arms at her robe's hem, then pulled the whole thing up and over her platinum blond hair.

Anyone who'd been paying attention would have noticed that Ave had worn different shoes in that morning and was missing her usual white collar beneath her hood. It turned out, she was missing a lot more than that. Borrowing Eva's clothes had worked so well the first time, she'd been encouraged to try it again, and today, that meant wearing one of her flashy bra and panty sets. This wasn't the kind of thing she wore around town regularly-- it was reserved for when she went into Merridan for festivals. The cloth was a flattering white, but composed of little more than a few strips connected by gold chains, forming a very taut thong over the undercarriage and a wrap around the central points of her breasts. Like the dress had been, it was all more than a bit small on Ave, and that meant that both her untrimmed bush and her large, round nipples showed indecently past the line of the undergarments.

Her face glowed red as she grabbed up the offering plate and did her best imitation of her sister's cat-walk strut towards the front row. "P-Please, give as generously as you will..."

Ave hadn't even gotten through the front row before the plate was full of golden coins. With gold glittering in her eyes, Eva ran to grab another plate, then another plate. By the time the third pew was done, they were entirely out of the typical offering plates.

Ave shot her sister a glance that asked "does that mean I'm done?"

Eva shook her head and hissed "keep going, do the other thing!"

Gulping, Ave moved on to the next stage. If she couldn't collect the coins in bulk any more, she needed to collect big tips, which meant, shall we say, special service. When she reached Gilbert, one of her regulars who could be found sleeping through her average sermon, she found him wide-awake with eyes as big as saucers. Capitalizing upon that, she sat down on his knee, soliciting an unwanted "oof" from him due to her rather substantial weight. Once he got past that, he seemed into it, wrapping one arm around her waist and grabbing hold off her bottom again like yesterday. "Ahem, you've got to... pay to pray..." she muttered, embarrassed to use the phrase her sister had thought up. Still, it got the desired reaction: he placed a heavy golden coin, worth 100 of the smaller ones most of the townspeople usually used, into her cleavage, finding it satisfyingly secure thanks to the squishing of her generous bosom. "Geod bless you!" Having received her payment, Ave rewarded the faithful churchgoer by pushing her tits up into his face, biting her lip as he eagerly rubbed his face back and forth upon them.

Things continued like that for a while. Here, she would stick out her bottom and let people place gold coins into the chain links of her skimpy thong, or even straight into the cloth. There, when she ran out of real estate in her bikini, she would kneel in front of a gentleman and cross her arms behind her head, shaking her cleavage back and forth until he saw fit to place a gold coin directly between her teeth. "Thank you," she spoke with a big grin she was powerless to dismiss around the money. Ave was red-faced with the distinct feeling that, while this was indeed Geod's plan, she was somehow losing a lot of her credibility as a priestess in the process.

She felt a big hand tap her on the shoulder then squeaked, dropping the coin out of her mouth. She turned to see the church's painter towering over her. "M-Miss Italliete...!"

The former knight produced a sack of coins with an unreadable expression on her face, putting it into Ave's waiting hands. "Mother Ave. I'll give you all of this-"

"-No, no! I couldn't possibly accept this. If anything, I should be the one paying you, for painting our mural!"

"Yes, well. I'll give you all of this if you'll stop flirting with the men in the chapel."

"... Huh? O-Oh, I'm not flirting. This is all... part of the sermon," Ave muttered, realizing how ridiculous that sounded. Still, she wanted to take the offer as a means of escape. She was running out of comfortable sexual favors she could perform in church and was going to have to move on to some of the really salacious ones at this rate.

"I'll give you all of this if you'll stop flirting with the men of the chapel and instead spend the day with me, as my personal, um, priest! For me only! A house visit, if you will!"

"... R-Really? I suppose I could..."

The church suddenly exploded in voices, as everyone stumbled over each other, turning this into a bidding war. What had been one bag of coins quickly turned into an impassioned auction, moving from one bag to two, then to three, then beginning to involve assets beyond the realm of coin, such as family heirlooms and even livestock to be donated to the church.

"This is... too effective," Ave muttered to herself, as Italliete ran over to try to **** out the next man making an offer on her time. At this rate, several members of the town were going to drive themselves into poverty and the congregation might start tearing the church apart with their fighting. "I am beginning to doubt Cherubin's wisdom in all of this."

Eva approached, giving her sister a nudge in the side. "Relax! With all this, we can repair the room and then some. Once I collect the closing offering, we'll probably have enough to take a vacation to the sea-side! But for now, get out there and shake that ass to get the bidding price up. Remember: draw a circle in the air with it like I taught you!"

"Oh dear... I hope I don't twist my hip..."

If there was one thing the Church of Merridan had been correct about when they'd issued there new edict, it was this: the people were indeed sexually repressed. As the bidding ended and Ave stood in front of the church, with her bikini nudged out of place to reveal her bare breasts and the bottom piece dripping with gold pieces, she did her best to preach around the over-sized gold coin in her mouth.

The people were awfully ****. She thought that maybe the people really did need this. As the sermon continued, she became bolder and bolder.

A big smile came onto her face as she finished. It actually felt pretty good to serve the people of Headrest the way they wanted to be served! And for a forty year old spinster, all of the attention was pretty flattering. Geod really did have a certain wisdom. With her bikini showing as much as it was, it wasn't hard for those in the front row to see that her pussy was dripping-- they weren't the only ones feeling the excitement now. This time, to encourage her to new action, they threw the coins to her feet rather than waiting for a plate, and the Mother responded with a giggle. "Tee hee... Geod bless you, one and all. As St. Sleeper said... a willingness to try new things is a virtue."