Where the Sun Sets (6 page)

Josephine looked back at her mother still
sitting in the car. “She didn’t do anything.”

“What? Who, your mother?” Her father
interpreted incorrectly.

“Anthony.”

“Josephine, you need to get in the car.”

“She didn’t do anything. Daddy, don’t let
them send her away.” Josephine was pleading.

“She broke your arm! How can you stand there
and say she has done nothing!” He screamed at her
incredulously.

“Because she hasn’t! Anthony never does
anything wrong! Anthony never does anything! All Anthony ever does
is read! That’s all she does!” Josephine screamed back.

Josephine’s mother felt the need to get out
of the car. Her husband had never, in the past, raised his voice to
Josephine. Josephine’s father stopped himself and gathered his
thoughts as he waited for his wife to join them. Both parents
stared at her, as they stood on the side of the road. Josephine
started, “Anthony didn’t break my arm. I broke it.”

Her father tilted his head sideways in a
jerky manner. Her mother swept at the hair that was falling in her
face with a white gloved hand. The white of the glove and the wisp
of the hair brought the chapel back for Josephine, who turned her
back on her parents and emptied her stomach of what little contents
it held. Her parents just looked at each other questioningly.

When Josephine regained her composure, she
told her parents everything that had gone on the past year.
Everything that she, herself, had done and how Anthony had taken
the blame for all of it.

“It would seem to me,” her father said, in a
slow and thoughtful manner, “That this Antonia should have stopped
accepting the blame a long time ago and that you Josephine Ferrero,
if she was your best friend, should have owned up to it.” He was
pacing back and forth, slowly. Her mother was staring out at the
traffic as it passed, separating herself from the story.

“I asked Anthony, once, why she didn’t say
she wasn’t guilty.” Josephine replied, as she pushed a stone around
with her shoe. Her father stopped pacing and stood still, waiting
for her to continue. She looked up at him, “She said all that
mattered was that she knew she wasn’t.”

“Josephine, why would you, my flesh and
blood, allow someone else to take the blame for your actions?”

“I tried, Daddy. I tried to tell Sister
Katherine. But...she hates Anthony. She said I was noble for trying
to protect my friend. She never even asked what happened yesterday.
She just came into the room and drug Anthony out.”

“Drug her out, you say? So, let me get this
straight. You steal, lie and destroy other people’s property. Your
best friend takes the blame, and it’s now all Sister Katherine’s
fault because she wouldn’t let you explain.”

“She never even asked, Daddy.” Josephine
started to whine.

Her father ran his hand through his hair as
he picked up his pacing. “Get in the car Josephine. We will discuss
this again tomorrow. I have had enough for now. Get in the
car.”

Josephine did not move. She kept rolling the
stone with her shoe. Her father looked up at her mother, in hopes
that she might say something. Her mother was too stunned to think,
and had started to walk back to the car.

“She whipped her daddy.” Josephine said, in a
very soft tone. Her mother froze in place as her spine
stiffened.

Her father looked at her sternly. “What did
you say?” he questioned, slowly and deliberately. He brought
himself down to her level, and rested on his haunches. He grabbed
her arms with his two hands and pulled on them, he beckoned her to
look him in the eye.

“She whipped her.” Josephine repeated, just
as softly. Her father felt her start to shake.

“Josephine, I want you to think about what
you are about to say. Think about it good. You understand me?” He
was looking into her eyes.

She started the story. She never made it to
the part where she had to go and get the Monsignor. Her father
stood up and took a deep breath. Without another word he walked
hurriedly back to the car and opened the door. While he got into
the car, Josephine and her mother looked at each other and then
both rushed to follow his lead. Her father had started the ignition
and was turning the car around, before either of them had fastened
their seat belts.

Josephine’s father had never broken a law in
his life. The speed with which he drove back to the school was
anything but legal. They were back at St. Agnes before the dust had
settled from where they had just left. Her father seemed to have
forgotten all about his bride and daughter, as he jumped out of the
car, and without even bothering to close his door, raced up the
stairs to the front door of the building. He threw open the doors
and walked directly and purposely to the admissions office. Sister
Ursula witnessed the family’s return and rushed to greet them. She
arrived at Josephine’s side just as the father bursts through the
office door. Sister Katherine was stunned. She jumped to her
feet.

“What is the meaning of this?” she asked.

Josephine and her mother arrived at the
office, with Sister Ursula at their heels. “I want to see Antonia.”
Josephine’s father was not making a request.

“That is simply out of the question.” Sister
Katherine started to respond. Josephine’s father wasn’t
listening.

“I want to see the child now! Where is
Antonia?”

“Sir, if you will calm down, we can
discuss...”

“I will not calm down!” he yelled at her,
then through clenched teeth, as he tried to hold onto his anger “I
want to see Antonia. Where is she?”

“Sir, I am afraid you are forcing me
too...”

“To what?” he responded. He waited a moment
for Sister Katherine to deflate and then he said calmly, “I will
find her and when I do you had better pray, she is all right.”

“Sir,” Sister Katherine tried in vain to slow
the group as they exited the main building. “Sir, I simply cannot
allow...sir; you don’t know the child...please! Sister Ursula come
back here, come back here at once.” She was about to lose sight of
them, as the group turned the corner, and headed for the
infirmary.

The four of them walked as fast as their legs
would allow. Josephine’s father was several paces ahead of
Josephine and her mother, who were within arm’s reach of each
other.

Sister Ursula brought up the rear and seemed
as if she were running. Sister Katherine thought she could head
them off and decided to cut through the dorm hall allowing her to
enter through the rear of the infirmary. If she could get there
first, she could remove the child before anyone noticed. But the
anger that was building within Josephine’s father, made him quicken
his already fast pace. He ran the last quarter mile to the
infirmary and jumped the stairs without meeting one. He burst
through the doors with power. He stopped but a moment once inside.
There was a nurse on duty, seated at the front desk. Off to her
side he saw a hall flanked by white curtains and single beds, six
or seven deep, on either side.

The nurse was about to question the
interruption, when Sister Ursula came breathlessly into the room.
The nurse took her eyes off Josephine’s father, briefly, when she
glanced at Sister Ursula with concern. That moment was all it took
for the father to regain his step. Before Sister Katherine had made
it to within three feet of the infirmary, Josephine’s father found
what he was looking for. He stopped dead in his tracks. Everyone
came to an abrupt stop behind him. There at the farthest end of the
room, sitting crossed legged on the very last bed, reading a book,
without the faintest notion of what had happened, sat Antonia. He
only saw her once before and that was just in passing. Yet now,
seated silently, several yards away from him, with her back turned
and her hair chopped to the scalp, he knew it was her.

The whole room was dressed in white; the
walls, the beds, the windows. Antonia stood out like a sore thumb.
She was the infirmaries only occupant. That was up until now.
Josephine’s father took a step in Antonia’s direction. Sister
Ursula placed a knowing and loving hand on Josephine’s shoulder as
she passed both her and her mother to follow her father. Josephine
and her mother stayed in the front of the room; neither wanted to
go back and witness what was about to happen. Again Josephine’s
father started forward. Slowly and nervously he crept closer to the
child. Still she did not seem to notice there was anyone else in
the room.

Sister Katherine entered from the rear.
Antonia’s back stiffened as she was the first to realize Sister had
arrived. Antonia looked up into the face of Sister Katherine and
noticed the woman was looking past her. Antonia followed Sister’s
gaze. If she was shocked to see someone standing behind her, she
made no indication of it. Everyone in the room seemed to be waiting
for someone else to make a move.

Finally, Josephine’s father spoke, “Antonia,
I am Josephine’s father. Josephine has...” he did not want to
interject his daughter here, so he rethought himself. “Antonia, has
anyone hurt you?”

“Mr. Ferrero, I must insist...” Sister
Katherine was cut off with a sharp look of intolerance. Her attempt
at a statement was enough to have caused Antonia to take
precaution.

“Antonia...I need to see your back. Can I see
your back, sweetie?” Antonia looked at him. She seemed to be
shrinking as she sat. “Please, it’s important. I won’t touch it I
just need to see it.” He looked over to Sister Ursula for help. She
in turn, looked over to Sister Katherine, who seemed to be holding
out hope of surviving the whole ordeal.

Sister Katherine looked over to Antonia, who
looked over to Sister Ursula. Sister Ursula then nodded her OK to
Antonia, who again looked back at Josephine’s father and back to
Sister Katherine. Antonia slowly lifted her T-shirt, and exposed
her back. Josephine’s mother fell faintly to the floor, as
Josephine tried to catch her. The nurse, from the desk rushed to
help Josephine get her mother up and to a bed. Josephine’s father,
mentally digested what had unraveled before him and then simply
thanked Antonia, who pulled her shirt back down, as she looked
blankly at the floor. Sister Katherine had left the building.
Sister Ursula went to Antonia and gave her a reassuring hug which
was not returned.

That was the last Josephine ever saw of
Sister Katherine. Antonia never left the school. Josephine’s father
had offered to pay Antonia’s tuition, but it was not necessary.
Fearing a law suit, the Diocese decided it was in Antonia’s best
interest that she remain at St. Agnes until she had graduated.

Chapter 5

Josephine was awakened by the sound of the
vacuum as the cleaners started their evening shift. She slowly sat
herself upright and rubbed the sleep from her eyes with her
fingers. She let her gaze drift from the vacuum to the cross on the
wall in front of her, rubbing her eyes again she stood. Chilled,
she pulled the suit coat tighter around her shoulders, as she
headed for the waiting room.

Once inside she took notice of Bernie, passed
out in the corner of the room. She walked to the receptionist desk,
but found no one there so she headed over to the doors of the
emergency room. They opened automatically towards her, almost
knocking her over. Regaining her composure, she stepped through.
Timidly she took a step or two inside the doors, which closed
behind her once again. She looked around, cautiously. The nurse on
duty saw her and asked her if there was something he could help her
with. Josephine walked over to the nurse’s station, still searching
the room with her eyes. Once she was at the station, the nurse
again inquired if he could help her.

“Um, Anthony...” she started, “I need to
know...Is she...has anyone...” She rubbed her head with her left
hand before pulling back her hair which had fallen in front of her
eyes. The nurse took notice of the injury Josephine was
sporting.

“Does it hurt? Does your head hurt?”

“Yeah. Yes, it hurts.”

“Did they give you anything for it? For your
head? For the pain?”

“He gave me a shot of something, I’m not
sure, it was a while ago.”

The nurse looked over the logs from the
evening. “You came in with the gunshot victim, right?” Josephine
just nodded. The phrase ‘Gunshot victim’ left her with a hollow
feeling. “You should really go home, get some rest. Are you waiting
for a ride? Is there someone I can call for you?”

“Billy, would you mind calling Billy for me?
He should be back at the house.”

The nurse passed Josephine a pad and pencil.
She jotted down the number and stared at it before passing it back
to him. The surgery room was off to her right. Above the doors, a
sign lit up, warning surgery was in progress. Josephine stared at
the sign as she held her head.

“Here, take this.” The nurse handed her a
little paper cup, which held two small white pills. He placed a
larger plastic cup filled with water on the counter in front of
Josephine before turning to search through the cabinets behind him
as he spoke. “No one has come out of that room for a while. From
the way she looked when they brought her in, they may be a while
yet. Everyone else has gone home except for the individual sitting
in the waiting room.” Josephine returned her gaze, from the doors
to the nurse. “You can leave a number. I’ll call you if anything
changes. You look like you could really use some sleep.” He stated
as he handed her a small brown bottle. “Here, for the pain. Only
take one every four hours, if you need them.”

“Thanks.” Josephine responded as she twirled
the bottle in her fingers thoughtlessly.

Josephine exited the emergency room and took
a seat out in the waiting room. She picked the chair farthest away
from Bernie, who seemed to be drooling. Jessie, a gopher from her
latest set and his date walked through the doors. Josephine noticed
Jessie’s date seemed to be all of about fifteen years of age.