by J. R. Mabry
“Enough!” Susan snatched the viewer off of Chicken’s face.
“Hey!” Marco objected.
Susan ignored him. “No. I don’t care if Toby wants to fuck his way through every bitch in the Elysian Fields—Chicken doesn’t have to watch it.”
“A man’s fantasies should be his own,” Dylan agreed.
Chicken seemed stunned. “I think it was a lady dog. What was wrong with that lady dog? What was wrong with her butt?”
“Not a damn thing!” Susan shouted. “Ice cream! Now!”
“But ice cream is for after supper—” Sophie objected.
“Don’t care! Ice cream!”
Epilogue 3
Frater Khams stuck his head into Larch’s room. “What’s the racket?” he asked. Frater Eleazar was sitting on the bed, looking confused.
“But where are you going?” Eleazar asked.
A suitcase was open on Larch’s bed. Larch was moving in a calm, unhurried way, packing the few belongings he had with him.
“I’m going to see a priest.” Larch folded a tweed jacket and placed it on top of his folded shirts. “I realized something about myself during my ascent.”
Khams shot Eleazar a worried look. Larch had never been so forthcoming or openly introspective before.
“It was revealed to me that my…anger…was misdirected.”
He placed a hat beside the jacket. Then he opened a chest of drawers and drew forth a snub-nosed revolver. He placed the revolver in a shoe.
“Um…this priest…do you mean one of the Blackfriars?” Eleazar asked.
“Tempting as that is…no.” Larch withdrew a box of bullets and placed them in the other shoe. Then he neatly put the shoes into the suitcase. “I’m going to Downer’s Grove. Illinois. Let’s just say I have some…family business to attend to.”
Epilogue 4
Holy Apocrypha Abbey—One Month Later
Richard pinned the orchid to Brian’s lapel and straightened it. “That looks…that’s a damn fine flower.” He clapped Brian on the shoulder and said, “I’m so glad you’re home.” He pressed his forehead against Brian’s for a moment. “Hell, I’m glad we’re all home.”
“Amen to that,” Brian said.
Richard straightened Brian’s tie.
“I never thought we’d do it. I never thought we’d actually get married.”
“I thought you’d never get around to asking him.”
“After all we’ve been through…it seemed stupid not to.”
“Well, ’bout fucking time, if you ask me. You ready?”
“As ready as I’ll ever be.”
“Let’s do this.”
Richard led Brian from the living room through the chapel and into the kitchen where Mother Maggie was waiting. Brian noted that she looked smaller and more wizened than her counterparts in the upper sephirot, but there was no mistaking her soul, which had been vibrant and present in every world he had seen. She was dressed in a white chasuble, with a white, floral-patterned overlay stole. Gilding the lily was an orchid pinned to the stole, a perfect match to Brian’s own.
“This will be my last priestly act,” Maggie beamed. “Tomorrow, I am retired. From everything, dammit.”
“No more spiritual direction?” Richard asked.
“Oh, poo, spiritual direction is a fine retirement career. I’ll see you when I get back. I mean I’ll be retired from being the Forerunner. And from priesting.”
“Is priesting even a word?” Brian asked.
“It is to Episcopalians,” she said. “We live in our own little world. Normal laws of grammar and physics do not apply.”
“I’ve always suspected,” Brain noted.
“You won’t need those silly spectacles today, Dicky,” Maggie said. She raised a horribly twisted hand and pointed to the back yard. “It’s truly glorious out. You won’t be able to miss it.” Maggie peeked through the curtains. “That’s our cue, gentles. Let’s go.”
Brian reached over Maggie’s shoulder and opened the door for her. She clutched her prayer book to her breast and walked regally down the back steps into the yard. Brian followed close behind, and Richard brought up the rear.
The back yard was resplendent with beauty. Spring was truly in full bloom, and the garden looked none the worse for all the damage done to the East Bay over the past several weeks. Several rows of chairs had been set up, all of them full of family and friends—with nearly as many standing wherever they could find a spot. Brian saw Chava and Elsa, Marco, Cain, Chaplain Fran, the Reverends Oberlin and Dunne and their spouses, folks from the Jewish Renewal Center in Berkeley, Terry’s parents and siblings, and even some faces he didn’t recognize.
Brian stopped at the entrance to the cottage, while Maggie and Richard processed to their spots. Maggie took her place beneath a shower of bougainvillea, and Richard stood beside her. As Brian waited, Dylan and Susan processed down the aisle, taking up their place on the other side of Maggie. Then Mike walked down, carrying a pillow with the rings tied to the top of it, and took his place beside Richard. Finally, Chicken and Sophie walked down together, casting flowers all along their way. Once at the front, they took the seats reserved for them.
Once everyone was in place, Brian ascended the steps to the cottage and knocked on the door. “Don’t keep me waiting,” he called, and all who heard him laughed. Then the door opened and Terry was there, wearing a blinding white satin tuxedo over a ruffly white shirt straight out of the French renaissance. “Ready, my love?” Brian asked, offering his arm. Terry was too emotional to answer, but he took his arm and together they walked into the garden, surrounded by the stubborn love of friends, the relentless mercy of God, and the inescapable light of glory.
Also by J.R. Mabry
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The Worship of Mystery
“If you found God—or if God found you—
would that be a good thing?”
Chaplaincy instructor Jun Battacharya only needs one more tour of duty to retire, and he is determined that his last semester will be quiet and uneventful. But the very day he lands on the planet Skagway, a mining accident forces him to launch his students into action with zero training.
Jun is certain that if they can just get through the crisis, everything will quiet down and go back to normal. Then Jun receives a letter from the native alien species—specifically from their ranking clergy—inviting him and his students to attend their most sacred ritual.
Jun is fascinated to discover that the aliens worship Mystery—whatever is unseen or unknown is sacred to them. He considers this an intriguing but quaint theology, but when the humans arrive for the ritual, each of them—in very different ways—has an encounter with Mystery that brings the world as they know it to an end…
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