Father Terrence

Intro: This may be my shortest story, written for those of you with a short attention span in mind. It is the story of Father Terrance, toiling doing the work of God trying to keep up the spirits of wives whose husbands are overseas.
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It was early and I would have liked to have slept longer but the light coming through the drapes put a stop to that thought. Then I remembered; it’s Monday, time for my parish member visits. I quickly got out of bed, shaved, brushed my teeth and jumped in the shower.

As I stepped from the shower I happened to see my reflection in the mirror. I was fifteen years out of high school but I still was in good shape. I had never had a ‘six-pack’ kind of physique but there was no flab on my 6’ 2” frame. A lot of the other priests I associated with added a few pounds every year but I had kept active and still weighed now what I had during high school.

I finished dressing, put on my collar and started downstairs to get some breakfast. I wanted to get an early start this morning. Marie Platt, one of my parishioners had missed the last two masses. That was not like her and I wanted to check on her and see if she was okay. Being the Chaplain on a military base I was used to having some of my people fall into a funk. A large portion of our men were in Iraq. They had been there for almost a year and were just informed it was going to be a good six months before they could expect to come home. A number of the wives were getting frustrated and depressed over their husband’s long absence. For some the first sign was missing Mass, for others it was coming to every Mass; I suspected with Marie it was the former. I wanted to see what I could do to help.

I suspected this might be the problem with Marie. She married her high school sweetheart right out of high school; he joined the Army and she got pregnant all in the summer after graduating. When he was deployed to Iraq she was pregnant and now had a six-month old baby to care for by herself.

I checked my watch as I left the house; 8:45, right on schedule. The street was quiet on her block; huge trees loomed over the road, forming a canopy that gave you the sense of driving through a tunnel. It was fall and a blanket of leaves covered the ground.

I parked in front of her house and walked up to the door and rang the bell. When Marie answered the door she was still in her robe, a flash of anxiety crossed her face when she recognized me. “Father Terrance, is everything okay”?

“Everything is fine” I assured her. “I didn’t mean to make you worry. You have missed mass the last couple of weeks and I just wanted to check to be sure everything is okay. I go around and visit on Mondays and Fridays”.

Marie stepped back and motioned for me to come in. “Everything is fine. Come on in and have a cup of coffee”.

I went inside and looked around while she got me some coffee. The house was neat, no sign of problems there. When she came in I asked, “Now where is that beautiful baby of yours, taking a nap”?

“No Father. She’s with one of the other wives. We’ve formed a kind of babysitting co-op to give us some time alone. It can be so hard on us, being alone all the time and having to take care of the children by ourselves. We take turns watching the children during the week so the rest of us can run errands, or just take a nap.

It’s so frustrating being alone all the time. I miss the big things with my husband being gone for so long but frequently it is the little things that hurt the most. Like just being able to have him hug me when I’m down.

“Well I can’t get your husband back but I can at least provide a hug”. I put my arms out to her and she smiled slightly and stepped forward. I put my arms around her and hugged her to me. For just a moment her body felt stiff against mine, not sure what to do. Then she kind of melted against me, pulling tight against me; her head on my chest. I held her tight, neither of us saying anything. Then I felt her body begin to shake as she began to softly sob.

I loosened my arms around her, “Marie, what is it”? I thought she might want to move but she held tight to me.

Marie kept her head against my chest, “It’s just everything. He’s been gone so long and now it looks like it could be another year. I’m so alone”. She began softly crying again.

I lifted one hand smoothed her hair, “Come on, it will get better”.

Marie looked up at me, “But when? And I have to do everything with the baby. There is no one to help. I get so depressed at times”. She put her head back on my chest but did not resume crying.

“I don’t know if I can help but I’ll try. The Lord is here to help you. You just have to let yourself believe”. Marie did not say anything. I don’t know what she was thinking but at least she did not feel so bad that she continued crying.

“Marie. I have something I want you to try. Close your eyes”. I continued lightly rubbing her hair. She had nice hair. It was just shoulder level. She must have taken a shower this morning because her hair smelled nice; I couldn’t put my finger on the fragrance.

“Are your eyes closed”?

Marie’s head nodded against my chest in response.

“Are you comfortable where you are”?

She nodded again.

“Now I want you to picture your husband standing in front of you. Are you doing that”? She did not move. “Now have faith. Do this for me. Can you see your husband”? I heard her say almost in a whisper, “Yes”.

“Now picture yourself stepping forward into your husband’s arms”. I felt her arms move tighter around me; her body pressed tighter than before. From my hand on her back earlier I knew she was wearing a bra under the robe; I could feel the rigid structure pressing against my ribs.

“Is he holding you tight”?

“Yes”.

“Does it feel good”?

“Yes it does”.

“What would your husband do now”? I waited.

It must have been thirty seconds before I heard her say very softly, “He’d kiss me”.

I waited again. After a minute she lifted her head to look at me. I lowered my head and gave her a peck on the lips. “Like that”?

“No Father, it would be a little longer” and she rose on her toes so that she could reach me. Her lips brushed mine softly at first; then with more pressure. I felt her lips part and her tongue moved against my lip before moving into my mouth. I could feel my erection growing as our tongues danced with each other. How could she not notice; pressed against me so tightly.

After what seemed like several minutes she finally pulled her mouth from mine and rested her head once again on my chest; breathing heavily, her chest moving against me. I looked down at the top of her head, running my fingers softly through her hair and whispered, “What would he do now”?

Without moving she said, “I think he would-“.