Atop and beside the grocery store are signs providing more mundane information: “Bible Class On Weekends”; “The Best Bible Teacher Is Here”; The House Of Prayer Is Open Today”; and the ecumenical message above the door to the store, “All Is Welcome Jews And Gentiles Here At Margaret’s Gro. And Mkt. And Bible Class,” a sentiment that is abridged on a sign on the bus/church windshield to read, “You Welcome ]ews And Gentiles.”
Flanking the entrance to the grocery, on its porch, are vignettes that symbolically encapsulate Dennis’s theological convictions. To the right of the door are three white plastic chairs—thrones, emblematic of the Holy Trinity—above which are a star (the Eastern Star is the Masonic organization for women) and bull horns, together representing female and male. (These are probably autobiographical.) Then there are the Masonic insignia, appropriately on the shutters. (The flow of information can be controlled-opened or shut.) “True knowledge, it come from God; see that mark, a G—use that letter for God.” Dennis is sure of what he says. He then points to one of the features of the porch grouping. “See them bricks,” he says, referring to a silver-painted, partially built brick wall in front of the chairs. They are not bricks at all. Dennis has turned wooden blocks into perfect trompe loeil replicas of ceramic bricks. “Hasn’t nobody figured out yet they made of wood.” Perceptions are illusionary. God is the source. Masonry is the way.
