The Jew's Wife & Other Stories (28 page)

   
If, however, the
Monsignor recovered, or even partially recovered, there might be no
appointment of a new pastor for some time. He would then go on
serving as first curate but in reality bearing all the
responsibilities of the pastor’s job. He had had enough of that.
There had to be an alternative. What he had felt while saying mass
this morning ought not to be just a fluke. Mass should not to be a
duty but a celebration. And no one, not even a priest, should allow
himself to be cut off from the kind of human contact he had
enjoyed, and suffered, the past two weeks.

   “
It’s for you,
Father,” he heard Margaret say, realizing that the telephone had
been ringing throughout his cogitations. “Doctor
Rafferty.”

   
From the way she
was tugging at her fingers he couldn’t tell if the news was good or
bad. He picked up the extension in the musty parlor and cleared his
throat.

   “
Praise be to
God!” the voice, incongruously young for a man in his mid-sixties,
cried. “He’s come out of it. It’s a miracle!”

   
Father Walther
waited for a sense of relief to come over him, but nothing like
that happened. Rafferty was the rectory’s medical factotum. He gave
them all physicals every year and ministered to their backaches and
upset stomachs. He was serious, even solemn, a man whose attempts
at levity were strictly for professional purposes and usually fell
pathetically flat. Hearing such a person speak of miracles was like
learning that Margaret could speak in tongues. But then he recalled
that if the Monsignor did not pull through and remain as nominal
head of the parish, Rafferty would lose not one but four
patients.

   
The news caused
a fresh burst of tears from his housekeeper.

   “
Thanks be to
Our Blessed Mother!” she declared. “A minute hasn’t passed that I
haven’t offered a prayer to her.”

   After they congratulated each
other, he went up to his room. He was glad the Monsignor would
recover. He wished the old man well. But the benevolence he felt
seemed no more relevant to his own life than did the resentment he
had earlier felt. Whether the Monsignor remained head of the parish
or whether a new one was appointed suddenly didn’t matter.

   His room was neat as a sacristy.
The bed was carefully made, the old rug vacuumed. Even the windows
had been washed. Every object in the room was familiar, yet looked
alien, distanced by his experiences of the past week. Margaret had
turned down a corner of the bedclothes just as Martha did the
afternoon he napped in her son’s room. The blinds were closed to
shut out the sun. All that was missing were the sports pennants on
the walls. He had spent much of the last decade in this room, or
one like it. And yet, it already seemed a place where he used to
live rather than one where he still resided. Perhaps it was for
that reason he found himself regarding the bed and bookshelves, the
small desk and leather armchair, with something like fondness, but
without nostalgia. It was as if he had already moved out. Father
George, he thought, would be happy to have the extra space.

____________________________________

If you enjoyed
Father Walther's Temptation
, please
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Father Walther's
Temptation
page where you purchased this
title. Reader reviews from people like yourself are very important
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Also, if you liked
Father Walther's Temptation
there's a good chance you will also enjoy reading Thomas J.
Hubschman's other fiction:

Song of the Mockingbird

"A story of two women, both of whom
have lost their husbands. By the end, one has discovered how to
achieve happiness; one is on the road to a bitter, angry
loneliness. The forces do not operate quite the way modern feminism
or a youth-obsessed society might predict. Which is what makes this
novel worth thinking about after one has turned the last
page."
- Reader's Review

Look at Me Now

"Look at Me Now" follows Deidre
Davis as she finds herself finally free of her dominating husband
after twenty years marriage.... A novel of gaining strength as an
independent woman,
Look at Me Now
is inspiring and entertaining, highly
recommended.
- Midwest Book
Review

Billy Boy

“Hubschman has brought together
all the ingredients for a riveting read: a sexy anti-hero, a
persistent cop with a boyhood grudge, the gritty urban war zone of
Brooklyn, NY, where the cultural melting pot is stuck on
slow-boil….
Billy Boy
is as real as it gets, a tough, disturbing, unsentimental
account of life on the mean streets of New York City.”
– WordWeaver

My Bess

"This is a great read for anyone
who has ever loved another human being, regardless of gender or
sexual orientation."
- Reader's
Review

The Jew's Wife & Other Stories

The Jew's Wife and Other
Stories
is a fine collection of short
stories from a newly debuted master of storytelling...a solid and
recommended pick for short fiction fans everywhere.
- Midwest Book Review

"First-time readers of Thomas J.
Hubschman's short stories can be forgiven for thinking they have
discovered a forgotten master of the form: his fiction is classic
in tone, yet remarkably current in its concerns. It's old-fashioned
to speak of heart and moral vision and the redemptive power of
narrative, but this book has all those. It's astonishing to think
this is a first collection and not a "best of.” It reads like the
culmination of a life's work."
- Richard
Cumyn, author of The View from Tamischeira (
Dundurn Press
)