Page 100 - Demo

%u00a9Jack Fritscher, Ph.D., All Rights ReservedHOW TO LEGALLY QUOTE FROM THIS BOOK88 Jack Fritscher%u201cI can%u2019t follow pronouns.%u201d I played stupid to stay innocent.%u201cAbout how you%u2019re going to live without it,%u201d Kenny said.%u201cDeacon sure can%u2019t say how he%u2019s going to live without it, can you, stud?%u201d Rip poked Mike.%u201cUh,%u201d I said. %u201cPick it up, fella,%u201d Rip said to me. %u201cYou ain%u2019t slow. Tell me how you%u2019re like gonna live without it.%u201d%u201cI don%u2019t know, well, really, if I can tell you so you%u2019ll understand exactly the theological position we%u2019re in.%u201dMike moaned and threw his head down on the table. He made me mad, knocking his forehead on the wood while I tried to unravel my real relation to the Church and all the souls in the Church who would call me their spiritual Father. Rip chugged the last of a beer during the most intricate part of my explanation. He tossed the bottle over my head into the pines. Wet drops sprayed down my bare back. I stopped. Rip and Kenny and Mike were all shaking their heads.%u201cSee,%u201d Rip said. %u201cYou rejected my question. I asked you about women, man. You need, like, such a big bush ha ha ha to beat around?%u201d%u201cHave you ever wanted to get married?%u201d Kenny asked.Mike rolled his eyes.%u201cNo,%u201d I said. %u201cI%u2019m not old enough.%u201d I hated these conversations because I could never explain this part of a vocation to anyone.%u201cHave you ever thought about it?%u201d Rip asked.%u201cI%u2019ll be the first one to admit,%u201d I said, %u201cbehind every man%u2019s a great woman. Priests have the Mother of God behind them.%u201d%u201cSo you%u2019ll marry the Mother of God,%u201d Rip said.%u201cNot literally. Symbolically. Men and women in the religious life are married to the Church.%u201d%u201cYou%u2019re nuts,%u201d Rip said. He was one of those people in the Gospel who scoffed at Christ. Why was he baiting me? Would men bait me after I was ordained? Or would they automatically like me because I was ordained? Or would I have to talk sports and drink bourbon and tell jokes about the priest, the minister, and the rabbi? Or would I be like Karl Malden, the rugged priest in On the Waterfront, who tries to save hard men like Marlon Brando?%u201cSo these nuns,%u201d Kenny said, %u201cwho wear wedding rings. They%u2019re like married to the Church?%u201d%u201cThe rings symbolize,%u201d I teetered on the words, %u201ctheir mystical marriage to Christ.%u201d%u201cYou mean, they%u2019re married to Christ?%u201d Kenny said.