Pretty City Murder
Page 30
“What could you have done, Dad?”
“Well, look at Angel. He’s with you and Father Ralph. Angel will straighten out. We could have brought Pablo to Father Ralph.”
“I doubt that would have helped.”
“I think it could have. When you have your own problems, you understand someone else’s problems better. Father Ralph told me he would have worked with Pablo and taken him to Courage.”
“I doubt it would have helped, Dad. If you’re gay, you should be happy with it and accept it.”
“It’s not that simple. Your identity comes from God, not from other people or any community, and others can get you confused about your identity. Believing in God and His providence gives you hope, and no person or community can do that...not hope that will take you into eternity. The real problem was that Pablo felt rejected by God, and that isn’t reality. No one reached into the fog in his mind and cleared it away, not me, not anybody. Let’s say an Our Father for him.”
When Larry began, Joan joined in.
“Well, I think it’s time for another announcement. I got the promotion to Chief Inspector.”
Lauren blew a kiss from her seat. “You deserved it, dear.”
Mark and Joan congratulated him in perfect unison.
Larry rubbed his face and put his hands down on the tablecloth. “Go down to the basement and get one of those wines...from Europe.” Larry thought for a minute. “Bring the one from last summer.”
Mark started to get up and said, “No, I know just the one.”
When Mark returned, he walked through the kitchen, pulled a corkscrew out of the drawer, which rattled with knick-knacks and coins, and slammed it shut.
Lauren smiled at Joan and said, “I’ve got to clean it out.”
As Mark poured the musky Portuguese wine into his father’s glass, Larry asked, “Did you get Angel accepted?”
“Conditionally. Father Ralph sent in his recommendation. Can you send yours?”
“Tomorrow.”
“How was your meeting with Angel?”
“I gave him a short diagnostic test, and he’s far behind the other students. Phil Marks, an English teacher, and I will set up a schedule. I’ll have him for basic math two days a week, and Phil will tutor him in English one day a week.”
“Can you help him?”
“I think so. How do I talk to him? He has an attitude.”
“Talk to him about his mother and Pablo. They’re the only people he loves. He’s serving Mass with Josh, and Father Ralph tells me they’re getting along. Josh is coming up to Russian River next weekend.”
“Maybe, we should invite Angel?”
Larry thought for a minute and said, “I’ll have Josh ask Angel.”
“I’m coming, too.”
“You, Mom?”
“Can I go?”
“Yes, Joan, we’ll all go.”
Lauren had spoken definitively for everyone.
“I’m going to make a novena...for Cornelius and Pablo,” Larry said.
At eleven o’clock, Mark and Joan left.
Lauren shuffled up the stairs, and Larry went downstairs. Inside the garbage can, he saw Mark’s letter. Lauren must have tossed it out.
Next to the garbage can was Mark’s childhood bike, illuminated by a slice of moon light coming through the open door from the backyard. The blue bike lay flush against the wall. The opportunity to help a young man like Angel made him feel good, and Pablo could have been forgiven in the moments before he hit the water, too.
Back upstairs in the bedroom, he read one page of History of the Roman Empire, put it down, kissed Lauren, turned over, said an Act of Contrition for the first time in weeks, and wondered if Father Ralph would be the best priest to marry Mark and Joan.
In the middle of the night, he awoke, needing some fresh air. On his nightstand lay reading glasses and a note to buy a hearing aid. To relieve the stuffiness, he walked down two flights of stairs to the basement and out into the back yard.
The sky was unusually clear, and a full moon lit up the back of the house a bright gray. Something brushed against his leg. A ranunculus lay demolished on the grass. Larry tossed it into the garbage can on top of Mark’s letter. The Leahy family had crushed one problem, but there are always more to come.
Rise up in splendor! Your light has come, the glory of the Lord shines upon you. See, the darkness covers the earth, and thick clouds cover the peoples; But upon you the Lord shines, and over you appears his glory. Nations shall walk by your light, and kings by your shining radiance. Raise your eyes and look about; they all gather can come to you: Your sons come from afar, and your daughters in the arms of their nurses.
Isaiah 60:1-4
The End
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