Part Two
THE BITTERNESS OF THE MASKS

Barbara transformed the basement storage area into a shrine for the Entities. You can’t imagine the work she put into it, but she doesn’t get much praise. For a start, there are complaints about the bossy Entry Angel, who guards the doors to the shrine and criticizes the newcomers in a loud voice as they enter. Some started calling her a Karen, and the nickname has caught on.
But Barbara is more concerned about the Masks on the entry doors. They are dissatisfied and bitter. It’s because, they say, they are fixed in place and can’t see what’s going on inside. Some have threatened to use their supernatural powers, a scary thought: you would not want to meet the Songye Kifwebe Mask in a bad mood on a dark night. At the top of the right-hand entry door, the Iatmul Ancestor Mask turns and sees the chandelier being lit; the other Masks hear the music; it is Saturday night, song-and-dance night (which Barbara didn’t know about until just then), and the Masks are missing out on the fun.
They complain to Karen, who is placed outside with them, but she has wings and can fly. She nods and says she will pass their call for help on to God, whom, she adds, she knows personally. She turns to a page in her book and moves her lips for a few seconds. “I’m praying,” she says.
“You’re faking it!” the Inuit Spirit Mask calls, but she has already flown into the shrine, and the sounds of the juju shaker drown out his voice.