Pie Town - Lynne Hinton [59]
“These things just happen?” she repeated. “What is wrong with you?” She glared at George. “Don’t you even care about Alex? I mean, I know we’re new in that town, new to Alex and Roger and Malene, but still, anybody can see that they’re good people. Why aren’t you upset? Why isn’t it important to you that everything is going to be okay?” She thought about what the priest had just said. “And ‘these things just happen’? Is that what you plan to say to Roger and Malene? Because if it is, you might want to rethink your bedside manner, if that’s what you call this kind of counseling.”
“And what do you suggest I say? What do you think I should be feeling at a time like this?” George sounded angry.
“Oh, I don’t know, how about, ‘this is really fucked up’?”
“Okay, I do not need to hear that kind of language in my car!” he shouted.
“All right, how about, ‘this is really messed up’? Or maybe you could show just a little bit of disappointment or anger that this innocent boy is suffering.” She studied George. “Aren’t you even the least bit mad about this? I mean, he’s your parishioner. He’s in your care. Doesn’t it piss you off that God doesn’t hear your prayers?” She turned away, rolled down her window, and stuck out her arm. “Don’t you want God to give you some reason for this? Don’t you want to understand why this is happening?” She turned back to George. “Are you not human at all?”
George could feel his face flush. “I don’t have to answer to you,” he responded.
“Oh right, because I’m not Catholic. Because I’m a woman. Because you think I’m just a common slut.”
“You don’t know anything about me and what I feel or what I think about God.”
“Well, please tell me, Father George. I’m dying to know what is going on inside you since the only emotion I ever experience from you is annoyance at me or fear that somebody is going to see you with me. Honestly, I’m not sure if you feel anything at all, since you seem to button all your other emotions behind that black shirt and stupid white collar.”
“You don’t know me,” he said again.
“Right,” Trina responded. “So let me know you. Tell me what you feel about a boy you think is going to die. Tell me what you say to God when you think those kinds of thoughts.”
George didn’t reply. He stared straight ahead.
“Just like I said,” Trina noted.
“How many more times do you plan on breaking into the church to have sex with Robbie Chavez?” George asked. Trina appeared surprised at the question. “Guess you think I’m an idiot as well as a phony,” he said.
Trina didn’t answer.
“I could report you to the police for breaking into the church.” He waited. “I know there has been more than one night you’ve been in there. I know you stole the communion wine and that you think nobody sees you or knows what you’re doing in there with that guy.”
Trina rolled her eyes and shook her head. “Go ahead, George. Turn me in. That will really help you look better in front of the church folk. You can say you’ve caught a fornicator and a heathen, even though I have not had sex with Robbie Chavez. That should really get you some bonus points. Maybe you could even lead them in burning me at the stake. You priests seem to have a history with that kind of thing, right?”
George didn’t reply right away. He saw the turnoff for Highway 60 and Pie Town, and he signaled to exit the interstate. “You just need to shut up about the things you don’t know anything about. You just need to mind your own business and not worry about me and my faith and worry instead about the trouble you’re making for yourself in this town.”
“Just let me out here,” Trina said, sitting up in her seat and reaching for the door. “I’ll find another ride the rest of the way.”
George didn’t slow down. “I am not letting you out seventy miles from Pie Town,” he responded.
“Because God can’t be trusted to take care of me?” she asked. “Or because you’re worried I