Work Text:
School Prayer
by Irena Adler
"You know the old joke about prayer in school?" Millie asked.
"What joke?" Alan studied the chessboard.
"`As long as there are tests, there will always be prayer in school.'"
"Ah." Alan moved his knight. "Probably true."
"I agree." Millie shook her head, smiling wryly. "My graduate astrophysics class had a test and-no, let me start at the beginning. Because of the hour of my class, it's during the Islamic mid-day prayer. A student asked me before the semester started if it would be okay for him to say his prayer during my class. I said `sure'. I didn't think it would be a problem." Millie took a quick glance at the board and moved her queen.
"And was it?" Alan asked, frowning at the board.
"Not directly. When the time came, the student rolled out his prayer rug, did his prayer silently, then went back to his seat. No big deal. The problem came when other students claimed equal religious time."
Alan looked up. "Uh-oh."
"Exactly. I don't really think they're serious practitioners, they're just testing the new teacher on campus. Next class, a woman brought out her prayer shawl, then later, another student placed candles around her desk in a pentagram. In the next weeks, someone else brought a Shinto shrine and another a family Bible."
"Oh, dear."
"The culmination came yesterday with the mid-semester exam. A student brought in a goat-"
"A goat?"
"Yes, the goat was supposed to take all of the bad test vibes into him then later be sacrificed and eaten."
"Uhh ... What did you do?"
Millie grinned. "I said the goat would have to take the test, too, and I'd average the test scores between the goat and the student."
Alan laughed. "And?"
"Never seen a goat move so fast!"
end