What am I doing with this wet rag in my hand? The woman at the meeting hall gave it to me, told me to “wipe down” some wooden box up on a stage with others cleaning and organizing for this Buddhist “event.”
I just walked into her building for a free “public” gathering, and offerred a polite, “Can I be of any help?” and the next thing you know, I’m turned into a custodian, cleaning dust from a large wooden object they call a “box.” Someone had nailed five planks of wood to make up the box; they look like 1/2-inch plywood. Sturdy enough to support a person’s weight. It measures 2 1/2 by 2-feet. A young fellow drills screws on the back, providing for an “extension” to this box. Looks like a big chair with no arms or legs. An upside down squared “letter P,” if you get the picture. I got here early, have almost an hour to kill before the “show” starts. Don’t mind helping out.
I got most of the dust off and then the woman, who turns out to be a coördinator at Ethical Society of Philadelphia, gives me some cloth to cover what turns out to be a “seat.” Now, we’re placing two different colored “sheets” over the front of another wooden box that’s taller. “It’ll be a ‘table,'” the one with the drill says. Another drapes a red cloth over the table and then covers it with an ornately fashioned silk-like material of gold and yellow markings with intricate designs resembling what I believe symbolize nature and the universe. (Hey, I ain’t no poet, but it’s what I “feel” it’s saying to me.)
We have a hard time finding a delicate thin white cloth long enough to “frame” the top of the seat’s back. End up pinning two small ones together and sticking them over yet another deep, dark maroon red “crushed-felt” cloth that covers the entire wooden back.
Stepping back, away from ther stage, I look up. I’m truly amazed. It looks just like a throne!
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