“Michelle was in the dining hall when it collapsed. She was hit by a beam. She died.”

One of the girls started crying. Naomi reached over and put her arm around her, comforting her.

“I’m sorry,” I said. “I wish there was something we could have done, but there was nothing.”

“It was God’s will,” Iris said.

I looked over at her in disbelief. Did she really believe that God wanted Michelle dead?

“We need to pray for Michelle’s soul,” she said, sobbing.

I couldn’t believe what she was doing. If she really thought that God had killed Michelle - that it was his will- did it make any sense to pray to the very being that had caused her to die?

“Yes, we need to thank God that the rest of us are safe,” she continued. “And give thanks for the life of my dear friend, Michelle, who is now in a better place.”

Did she consider trapped under a beam in the collapsed dining hall a “better place?”

“Our Father chose to spare us. He used his power to safeguard our lives,” she said.

Maybe he should have used his power to stop the earthquake from happening. That would have been a lot better. If he’d done that, Michele would still have been here instead of lying underneath a collapsed beam. Besides, if she had gone to a “better place”, maybe we should have been upset that we had to stay here in a worse place.

“Do you want to lead the prayer?” Iris asked me.

I was both shocked and surprised. I shook my head.

“Then I will,” she said. “Could we please bow our heads.”

Everybody bowed their heads. Everybody except for me and Philippe.

“Our Father, who art in Heaven,” she began.
Great, fall back on the Lord’s Prayer. Quietly I walked away. Philippe followed behind me. They could go ahead and pray, for all the good it would do them. We had work to do. God wasn’t going to be dragging the mattresses outside.