LITMIR.BIZ

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could be that here, in this place, on these grounds, there could be a living space for those who had nowhere else to go, a place of work and prayer, adventure and meaning, as well as purpose and direction.

      He looked over the crowd now and saw that there seemed to be no more sandwiches and chips and still there were at least a hundred souls to feed. He made his way to Joe.

      “They don’t have enough to eat!” he said.

      Joe just smiled and went back to the truck. He emerged with more large boxes marked “Monastery of the Unsettled.” From these boxes, he brought forth more than enough.

      “You give these to those who are still waiting for something to eat,” he said to Rocky.

      Rocky did just that. He walked over to the crowd, sat the rough-edged crowd down in groups, and passed out as many sandwiches and chips that were needed.

      That night, as Rocky made his way back to Magdalena’s and his humble abode, it suddenly hit him that Joe had written the name they had just coined the community, on the boxes of sandwiches and chips.

      He stood still in the darkness for a moment, stunned. How could Joe have known anything about a casual conversation Magdalena and he had about what someone was wearing when they emerged from their tent? Nonetheless, there it had been, right in front of his eyes.

      Later, no one could say for sure that they had seen the Unsettlement written on the sandwich wrappers. But then, Rocky was the only one who had been close to the containers containing the sandwiches. He had given the boxes to Joe immediately after serving the people. Joe had put them back in the truck. Come to think of it, that night, he didn’t see anybody but Joe inside that truck. No one could have seen anyone but Joe bringing out those sandwiches and chips.

      Back then, Rocky knew what he had to do. Now, eighteen months later, over a hundred and fifty souls lived at the Unsettlement.

      Chapter 7

      “That’s outrageous!”

      Lou was in shock. His cheeks were flushed and the pink tint worked its way up to his forehead and his receding hairline.

      He was just hearing a report of last night’s meeting.

      Rocky and Magdalena will replace the mayor as Grand Marshals. The Monastery of the Unsettled will be given the lead place in the parade right behind the Elementary School marching band. Children from the Village of Hope Disability Center, the Pacific School for the Blind, and all current residents of the homeless shelter at Always Sunny Church will be given a prominent place in the front of the parade. Business and civic leaders serve a free meal to all parade attendees provided by Joe’s Fine Dine-ing. They chose to call it Joe’s Plan.

      “I won’t have it!” said Lou. He called out to Pinna, his assistant, “Get Frank in here!”

      He turned to the women. “Somebody’s got to talk some sense into you people!”

      “Oh, we weren’t the only ones at the meeting,” said Carmelita.

      “Who else? Who else?

      “Sally Hankins, of course. Nate Beard, Jeremy Woods, and [pause] Hope Schofield,” said Katye, with a Mona Lisa smile escaping the left side of her lips.

      “Hope was there?”

      He sank back into his chair stunned.

      “We thought she might have told you where she was going last night, Mr. Mayor,” said Susanna.

      “She told me she was going to a meeting, but she has a plethora of meetings. I didn’t even bother to ask. And Beard and Woods! Those guys are merchants! Business people! They know better than this. What will this do to the city’s image? I’ll be the laughing stock of the Coastal Mayor’s Conference!”

      “Oh, it’s not about any one of us, Mr. Mayor,” said Carmelita quietly. “It’s about the city and the community. It’s about all of us, not just a part of us or a few of us. It’s about everybody. It’s about the people at the Monastery of the Unsettled as well as those of us who live in the city limits. That’s what this community is. That’s what Joe’s Plan is all about and it’s a good one, we think.”

      “Joe’s Plan, eh? Where is Joe anyway? Seems he ought to have the courage to show up and present his own plan!’

      Father Callaghan appeared at the door.

      “To what do I owe the dubious honor of being summoned to Mayor Schofield’s office?” he asked, with a mild look of amusement.

      “This can’t happen, Father.”

      “What can’t happen?”

      “Don’t play coy with me, Frank,” Lou responded.

      “I have no idea what you’re talking about!”

      “Of course you do! You’re probably behind all this!”

      “That’s unfair, Lou,” Katye spoke up. “He hasn’t seen the Plan. You know more than Father does!”

      “Well, let’s hear it!” said Father. “I’m anxious to know what I’ve been conspiring to do!”

      “Essentially, it involves having some people in the parade that no one thought about, and some don’t want, and it will change the presentation of the image of the city pretty drastically,” said Susanna. “There are some changes, should we say, in the order of things.”

      Father Callaghan raised his eyebrows.

      “Did Joe leave anything that explains these changes? Any reason at all?”

      Carmelita handed Joe’s Plan to Father.

      “Let me see that!” Lou simmered.

      Frank walked over to the mayor’s desk, handed him the letter and bent over his shoulder to read it. After all of the suggestions that sounded more like instructions, Joe had written a small treatise. Father read it aloud.

      It is my hope that this parade will be an event beyond itself. I will be proud of this city if it has the courage to demonstrate that it is a place where the least of us are great, where all are valued, and where human dignity is respected regardless of station or status, where everyone is free to be who they are without being censored or judged. After all, the name of our home is Safety Harbor.

      No one wanted to be the first to speak up. No words seemed adequate. Even Lou was quiet. There would be no more discussion. Katye broke the ice.

      “We’d better get the Unsettlement involved in this conversation to see if they’re interested in participating.”

      Katye, Carmelita, and Father Callaghan were designated to represent the committee down at the Unsettlement. Half an hour later, they were on their way south. Katye drove. Father sat in the back. Carmelita rode shotgun. They journeyed in silence down the winding road that follows the fanciful meanderings of the coastline. The ocean was a deep blue against the sky. It was nearly noon now. The warmth of the summer sun coming through the car and the rhythm of the majestic waves, had a hypnotizing effect upon the travelers.

      “I suppose we ought to call Rocky and Magdalena and let them know we’re coming,” said Father.

      “I’ve already done that, Father!” said Katye. “At least Magdalena will be there.”

      “I should have known! You and your efficiency!”

      Carmelita was nodding off in the warmth of the sun and shook herself when her cell phone rang. “Oh my! That’s too bad. You’d better go tell her, Marshall, before word gets to her otherwise. I won’t be back in town for a while.”

      “What is it, Katye?” asked Father.

      “It’s Keith Hankins, Sally’s husband,” she said. “He’s been killed in an explosion up in Alaska.”

      “Mother o’ God!” he responded. He made the sign of the cross.

      “Do

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