Good Graces - Lesley Kagen [109]
There are a lotta parts to her plan. She added them on to her THINGS TO DO THIS SUMMER list that she made me memorize:
1.
1. Make Father Mickey lose his black Irish temper.
This part will be succesful because there is nobody in the world who is better at getting under somebody’s skin. My sister could make Job blow his stack. She’s going to threaten Father. Warn him that she’s going to tell the police on him for stealing Mrs. Galecki’s emerald necklace, which is what I told her to do in the first place, so when you get down to it, whatever happens tonight is all my fault.
2. Wear a turtleneck, take in a deep breath and get strangled.
Troo thinks that after our pastor goes crazy with fear over getting sent to prison, he’s gonna wrap his hands around her throat and try to squeeze the life out of her. Only she forgot to wear the turtleneck tonight.
3. Mary Lane takes the picture.
After Father starts choking my sister, that’s when Mary Lane is going to get out her camera and shout, “Big cheese,” so Father will turn her way and that flashbulb will go off in his eyes and he’ll be so shocked and blinded that he’ll let go of Troo and she’ll run outta the front door of the rectory. Troo thinks a snapshot of Father Mickey trying to strangle her will be the very proof we need. Once we show it to Dave and everybody else in the neighborhood, they will see how awful he is and will have to believe the rest of the stuff we tell them. (Priests can smack you whenever they want to, but we’re all fairly sure strangling isn’t allowed.)
4. Practice getting away.
I used Daddy’s watch to time Troo when she stood on the rectory porch this morning while Father Mickey was saying his regular eight o’clock Mass. She ran in place to get going and then made a sharp right turn at the new school hole in five seconds and woulda been faster if she didn’t keep getting tangled up in those concrete poles that surround it.
5. Sally puts the pedal to the metal.
The second Troo comes ripping outta the front door with Father Mickey in hot pursuit, I’m supposed to jump out from a nook in the school where I’ll be waiting. He won’t know it’s me and not her because of the flashbulb spots in front of his eyes and I’ll be so far ahead of him with my fly-like-the-wind speed and by that time, it should be dark.
6. Rendezvous
Tearing around the big school hole as fast as she can, Troo’s going to run down the block to meet up with Mary Lane and Artie, who will be at the church already. The three of them are going to hide in one of the confessionals because even if the plan goes wrong and Father finds them, he can’t hurt them because they are seeking sanctuary in the house of God. (We saw that in a movie with bank robbers.)
It isn’t the worst plan Troo’s ever come up with, the one to catch murdering and molesting Bobby Brophy was, but it still seems too much like skating on thin ice to me. Black thin ice.
Dave is saying to me, “Sally?” in a way that I know he has said it more than once.
When I turn his way, he’s grinning and pointing across the street at the Piaskowskis’ house. “I forgot to tell you that Betsy and her husband are moving back in tomorrow.” He’s done a great job of making that empty house look like a home again. The grass is cut, the porch is swept and he even gave a new coat of paint to the little blue birdhouse he made for Junie. “They’re both looking forward to getting to know you better.”
I’m looking forward to that, too. If I make it through the night.
Troo is swinging her legs out from beneath the table.
She calls to Mother, who has started walking with Granny toward our station wagon that is parked out on the street, “I’m goin’ over to the rectory now, Helen, for my religious instruction, just like you told me to.”
Mother stops and says, “Fine,” and Granny says, “You little banshee,” and they go right back at each other.
Dave tells me, “I talked to Father Mickey earlier. He’s going to give Troo a ride over to the park after her instruction.” Everybody is going straight from here