LITMIR.BIZ

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it a day and see where we are tomorrow at this time.”

      The voice was that of Wendell Cone from across the room at his regular station. Everyone was surprised. He barely said a word any more.

      “I agree,” said Katye.

      Eyebrows were raised again. Katye spoke up even less than Wendell. Lou nodded his head in agreement. “There’s no sense in making drama if there isn’t one already!”

      “Let’s meet tomorrow night if he’s not back,” said Susanna. “We can meet at Argostoli’s. I’ll have Greek coffee and some baklava.”

      “No one could object to that!” said Father Callaghan.

      The conversation melted into painful silence. The air seemed to go out of the room as the inhabitants of Joe’s Fine Dine-ing realized that Joe really was gone. Slowly, people exited the door into uncertainty.

      The day went on in Safety Harbor, but with an uncharacteristic anxiety and lack of focus on the part of those who knew and loved Joe. Nate took out a full boat of tourists. Katye taught two summer classes at Harbor Community College. Johnny worked at the midway that had been set up by the water’s edge. Luther led a Bible day camp on the beach. Margaret went to her local office. Lou met with city commissioners in the morning and went down to the festivities in the afternoon. Susanna went about her day, keeping an eye on the dozens of new paintings on display. Doc Bailey was called down to the waterfront for an emergency. Chief-of-Police Carmelita Biffle wrote seventeen courtesy parking tickets. As Vice President of Harbor Days, Father Callaghan called a meeting at the rectory for three in the afternoon. He invited Sally as a new member since she had the parade instructions from Joe.

      Everything went on as usual, yet, to many, it felt that life as they knew it had come to a halt. Joe was gone.

      Chapter 4

      Stewart Grenville went to Portland every Tuesday for therapy. It was an ultimatum by his wife, Katye, who had set it as one of the terms for the continuation of their marriage. As a priest in the Church of Anglican Piety, because of his recent choices, staying in the church as active clergy had not been an option.

      “You are a good man, Stewart,” the Bishop had told him. “I hope, for your sake and others, that you get to the source of this disappointing behavior. You are grounded until all of this is sorted out.”

      He had come to Safety Harbor with Katye when she had taken the job at the community college.

      Stewart’s father had been a grocer in the small town of Smith Springs, Nebraska. His mother reared three children while her husband worked, day and night, to feed the family. It was an area deprived of culture and knowledge of the world beyond corn and bean prices and whether the Smith Springs Spartans were having a winning year.

      As he grew older. he realized that their life at the Holy Spirit Baptized Church amounted to a good amount of incongruity and unintended outcomes. It was too hard to keep all the rules, riddled with pietistic hang-ups.

      At the holy roller church, as people in town called it, you got married early. Normal dating wasn’t allowed because kids could get in trouble if they went to dances or football games or anything out of town. This meant that the church offspring often did get in trouble, as they put it then. After all, what they could do together on a date was so limited that it left them way too much time.

      As a result, nature took its course and there were many young parents in the congregation. Fortunately, there was no infant baptism, so no one was faced with a public event featuring parents who had been married for fewer than nine months, presenting a child for baptism, a scandal in that time. A considerable number of babies seemed to come early! But, since marriage was always within the congregation, it was just one big family, literally. Church secrets were family secrets and vice versa.

      The sting of parental disapproval over his not going on to the religious college of their choice was soon soothed by the wonderful new world of Saint Gustavus Adolphus College. There, he could think his own thoughts and meet people for whom conversation about ideas was stimulating. Often, their discussions were lubricated by a glass of wine or a mug of beer.

      Still, he felt himself to be a bit of a slug and an anomaly. Others seemed to have a kind of understanding of the way the world is, as if they knew a secret about that life he did not know. It was as if someone had taken something out of him earlier that was precious, had not given it back, and he didn’t know where to find it.

      As he reflected on those days, his older model Volvo made its way up over the Coast Range. Coming down out of the gentle mountains, the highway now widened into four lanes and the pent-up mountain traffic came spouting and rushing from behind as if a bottle of soda had been shaken and the cap removed.

      He made his way through Newberg and the quaint little town of Dundee. He rounded the curve into Tigard where he took Highway 99 to I-5 North to Portland. Dr. Fred’s office was in the Pearl District, a renovated area of old warehouses and abandoned breweries that had been converted into upscale shops, restaurants, professional offices, and condominiums.

      Today, as usual, they would discuss some nuance of how out of place he felt in the world and how he could ease that pain without hurting others as he had in the past.

      Chapter 5

      Mrs. McCarthy, Father Callaghan’s housekeeper, had coffee, tea, and some biscotti ready for the Steering Committee. Father Callaghan checked off the names. Chief of Police Carmelita Biffle arrived first, then Lou, Ray Ripple, who was the grocer, Jeremy, Katye, Susanna, and finally Meriwether. Father Callaghan put a question mark behind Joe’s name.

      “Thank you all for coming.”

      Then, the priest began with a personal note. “We are all very concerned for our friend, Joe, and for his safety,” he said, “but, life must go on. We must do our best to do what has to be done. In his absence, I will chair this meeting. Joe has done us a great favor by sharing his ideas about the parade.”

      Mayor Lou spoke up. “I have never understood what is wrong with the way we have always organized the parade.”

      “Lou,” said Susanna, “some of us had a conversation with Joe one of the last mornings he was with us, and we agreed with his idea that it just seemed the right year to shake things up a bit. We’re in a rut here in Safety Harbor.”

      “Well, I don’t want anything crazy going on here.” The mayor’s voice was firm.

      “Let’s get to the business at hand. I say, sometimes this Steering Committee is very hard to steer!” said Father Callaghan.

      Meriwether smiled. “Joe did choose some free spirits to be in this group, Frank!”

      “It’s not the free spirits I’m worried about!” said Father, who immediately wished that he hadn’t said it.

      “However, I have taken the liberty to add one more person to our group. Since Joe chose Sally to carry on and left parade instructions with her, I’ve asked her to join us.”

      Everyone nodded to Sally.

      “Well,” said Lou. “Let’s get on with it. What’s in the envelope, Sally?”

      Susanna spoke up. “First, how are you, Sally?” she said. “In fact, how are we all?”

      “Look,” said Lou. “I don’t have time for the touchy-feely stuff. I’m too busy running this city. I’m here as a courtesy. I don’t see why we need to change the parade at all! It’s doggone late in the day to be discussing this.”

      “None of us have to participate in this committee,” said Katye, who had a way of keeping things on track. “I think all of us can agree that this is a volunteer group and if any of us don’t want to be here, we will release anyone who wants off the committee.”

      “I know I’m worried,” said Jeremy. “It’s bad enough to have someone disappear from our little close-knit community, but to have someone like Joe go away,

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