Susanna Cox was sitting at her computer when her friend Stephanie Beasley came over. "Sorry, I didn't get back to you last night, Susie. Had a night out with an old friend from High School."
Susie swivelled around and looked at her friend. "There's something different about you today, Steffie."
"Different?" A worried look crossed her face. There were a couple of unusual red marks passing from the back of her neck that ran down beneath her green sweater. Her hands trembled and she almost spilled her coffee.
"Yes, it's like we're in the Sixties again."
"Huh?"
"You're not wearing a bra today." Steffie looked down quickly and then back at her friend. Her breasts were hanging much lower than usual, and Susie noticed red marks around her wrists as well.
"Well, sometimes I like the freedom," she whispered. "The straps cut into my shoulders, and I don't wear it on the weekends. Just too painful today, so I hoped nobody'd notice if I. . .went without."
"You should get them reduced if they're hard on your back."
"No, I couldn't do that." She took a gulp from her lukewarm coffee, and it steadied her a little. "What can I help you with?"
Susie beckoned her heavy friend forward, and said: "I need a cover story for tonight."
"Cover story?"
"Yes. I've got to head out to a parish for a night meeting, but the boss doesn't want me going out to work after dark."
Steffie looked around. "But Jeff'd be happy you were meeting pastors anytime of day or night."
"I meant the boss at home. The kids are all farmed out, but himself will get snarky if I'm out and he doesn't know where I am. If I told him I was at your house helping cut out a dress, you'd back me up, wouldn't you?"
"Sure, Susie, anytime. How late will you be out?"
"Till 10 at least."
"Okay. I'll have a line for him if he calls."
"Thanks."
Susie's first call was in the afternoon, with Fr. Harold Beteman close to the chancery. He answered the door himself, an average, thin man in his early sixties with white hair and a deep tan. After introducing her to her secretary, he took her on a tour of his collectibles from his days as a Missionary in Bolivia. After 35 years in South America, he returned to the States and went through a special re-entry program before. Susie winced as he brought out a picture book as they sat on the couch in his living room.
"When's he going to get down to the sex?" she thought. "I've heard of men who hire prostitutes just to talk to them, but I can get stories like this from my uncle Mike."
When he opened the book up, the pictures of his village in Bolivia had a simple theme. There was one girl in a faded picture: average in every way in an embroidered low-cut, white blouse, elegant skirt and bare feet, whose dimpled smile electrified the viewer. It was a progression of her life, holidays and Sunday, at play and a work, raising three children to adulthood and dandling grandchildren from her knee.
"This woman was special to you?" Tears came to the corners of the old man's eyes. "Your housekeeper."
"Yes, she was." His voice held a strong Latin accent, even though he was raised in the U.S.
There was a pause as Susie scrutinized the pictures. "She was more than your housekeeper, wasn't she?" He daubed his face with a handkerchief, nodding. "Tell me about her."
"I met her just after I got there. Bolivia's priests usually take a consort, someone to live with them, and well, she ended up with me. It was a dream: hard work almost every day of the week, but it was simple and rewarded and blessed. When the bishop came, she went away with the kids until he left. Almost 35 years together, and then, she got sick. It was a gall bladder problem, something that gets fixed easily here, but we lived a long way from a hospital and by the time we got her there, it was too late. I tried to stay on, my daughter stayed with me and my people were so kind. But I just couldn't stay in the wonderful place without her."
The grandfather clock ticked in the corner. After a pause, he continued: "I came back home, and tried to live here like a regular priest. It's so different, and I've struggled with life here, even though I'm from here. I miss my family, my kids and my grandkids. When I retire, I'm going back."
Susie laid her hand on his. "You should. Being around family will help."
"In the meantime, I miss the simplest things. I learned to use the Internet, but, but, seeing a real pair of breasts, feeling soft hands on my balls. . ."