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I couldn't possibly wait for Father Dom to get out of the hospital. Heather
meant business. With every day that passed, she would only get stronger and
nastier, and more filled with hate. I had to get rid of her, and I had to get
rid of her soon.
So I committed what I'm sure must be some kind of mortal sin. I lied to a
priest.
Good thing I'm not Catholic.
"Don't worry, Father Dom," I said. "I'll wait till you're feeling better."
Father Dominic was no dummy, though. He went, "Promise me, Susannah."
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I said, "I promise."
I had my fingers crossed, of course. I hoped that, if there was a god, this
would cancel out the sin of lying to one of his most deserving servants.
"Let me see," Father Dominic was murmuring. "We'll need holy water, of
course. That's no problem. And of course a crucifix."
As he was muttering over his exorcism grocery list, Adam and Cee Cee came
into the room.
"Hey, Father Dom," Adam said. "Boy, do you look terrible."
Cee Cee elbowed him. "Adam," she hissed. Then, to the father, she said
brightly, "Don't listen to him, Father Dom. I think you look great. Well, for
a guy with a bunch of broken bones, I mean."
"Children." Father Dominic looked really happy to see them. "What a delight!
But why are you wasting a beautiful afternoon like this one visiting an old
man in a hospital? You ought to be down at the beach enjoying the nice
weather."
"We're actually here doing an article for theMission News about the
accident," Cee Cee said. "We just got done interviewing the monsignor. It's
really unfortunate, about the archbishop coming, and all, and the statue of
Father Serra not having a head."
"Yeah," Adam said. "A real bummer."
"Well," Father Dominic said. "Never mind that. It's the caring spirit of you
children that should most impress the archbishop."
"Amen," said Adam solemnly.
Before either of us had a chance to berate Adam for being sarcastic, a nurse
came in and told Cee Cee and I that we had to leave because she had to give
Father Dom his sponge bath.
"Sponge bath," Adam grumbled as we made our way back to the car. "Father Dom
gets a sponge bath, but me, a guy who can actually appreciate something like
that, what doI get?"
"A chance to play chauffeur to the two most beautiful girls in Carmel?" Cee
Cee offered, helpfully.
"Yeah," Adam said. "Right." Then he glanced at me. "Not that you aren't the
most beautiful girl in Carmel, Suze....I just meant& Well,you know...."
"I know," I said, with a smile.
"I mean, a sponge bath. And did you get a look at that nurse?" Adam held the
passenger seat forward so Cee Cee could crawl into the backseat. "There must
be something to this priest thing. Maybe I should enroll."
From the backseat Cee Cee said, "You don't enroll, you receive a calling. And
believe me, Adam, you wouldn't like it. They don't let priests play Nintendo."
Adam digested this. "Maybe I could form a new order," he said, thoughtfully.
"Like the Franciscans, only we'd be the Joystick Order. Our motto would be
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High Score for One, Pizza for All."
Cee Cee said, "Look out for that seagull."
We were on Carmel Beach Road. Just beyond the low stone wall to our right was
the Pacific, lit up like a jewel by the enormous yellow ball of sun hovering
above it. I guess I must have been looking at it a little longingly I still
hadn't gotten used to seeing it all the time because Adam went, "Aw, hell,"
and zipped into a parking space that a BMW had just vacated. I looked at him
questioningly' as he threw the car into park, and he said, "What? You don't
have time to sit and watch the sunset?"
I was out of the car in a flash.
How, I wondered a little while later, had I ever not looked forward to moving
here? Sitting on a blanket Adam had extricated from the trunk of his car,
watching the joggers and the evening surfers, the Frisbee-catching dogs and
the tourists with their cameras, I felt better than I had in a long time. It
might have been the fact that I was still operating on about four hours of
sleep. It might have been that the heavy odor of brine was clouding my senses.
But I really felt, for the first time in what seemed like forever, at peace.
Which was weird, considering the fact that in a few hours, I was going to be
doing battle with the forces of evil.
But until then, I decided to enjoy myself. I turned my face toward the
setting sun, feeling its warming rays on my cheeks, and listened to the
roaring of the waves, the shrieking of the gulls, and the chatter of Cee Cee
and Adam.
"So I said to her, Claire, you're nearly forty. If you and Paul want to have
another kid, you had better hurry. Time is not on your side." Adam sipped a
latte he'd picked up from a coffee shop near where we'd parked. "And she was
all, 'But your father and I don't want you to feel threatened by the new
baby,' and I was like, 'Claire, babies don't threaten me.' You know what makes
me feel threatened? Steroid-popping Neanderthals like Brad Ackerman.They
threaten me."
Cee Cee shot Adam a warning look, then looked at me. "How are you getting
along with your new stepbrothers, Suze?"
I tore my eyes away from the setting sun. "All right, I guess. Does Do I
mean, Brad really take steroids?"
Adam said, "I shouldn't have mentioned that. I'm sorry. I'm sure he doesn't.
All those guys on the wrestling team, though they scare me. And they're so
homophobic & well, you can't help wondering about their sexual orientation. I
mean, they all thinkI'm gay, but you wouldn't catchme in a pair of tights
grabbing at some other guy's inner thigh."
I felt a need to apologize for my stepbrother, and did so, adding, "I'm not
so sure he's gay. He got very excited when Kelly Prescott called the other
night and invited us to her pool party on Saturday."
Adam whistled, and Cee Cee said unexpectedly, "Well, well, well. Are you sure
this blanket is good enough for you? Maybe you would prefer a cashmere beach
blanket. That's what Kelly and all her friends sit on."
I blinked at them, realizing I'd just committed a faux pas. "Oh, I'm sorry.
Kelly didn't invite you guys? But I just assumed she was inviting all the
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sophomores."
"Certainly not," Cee Cee said with a sniff. "Just the sophomores with status,
which Adam and I definitely lack."
"But you," I said, "are the editor of the school paper."
"Right," Adam said. "Translate that intodork and you'll have an idea why
we've never been invited to any of Princess Kelly's pool parties."
"Oh," I said. I was quiet for a minute, listening to the waves. Then I said,
"Well, it's not like I was planning on going."
"You weren't?" Cee Cee's eyes bugged out behind her glasses.
"No. At first because I had a date with Bryce, which is off now. But now
because & well, if you guys aren't going, who would I talk to?"
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