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IRISH BLUE B1_Chapter 15
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Book Series: IRISH BLUE
Author: Sheila Willar
Copyright: 2021 Sheila Willar
ISBN #: 978-0-9867101-4-8
Book Title: THE CHAPEL
Chapter #: 15 - KINKERRY REVISITED
Erin stepped off the bus in Kinkerry onto the gravel driveway of the only gas station in town. She breathed in a hint of gasoline on the salty air and realized how much she missed the views and smells of her childhood home.
After greeting her mother and siblings, she went straight to the cathedral and opened the tall, heavy doors and walked down the central aisle.
“Erin,” called Michael enthusiastically.
“Father,” she replied. They both knew she was being sarcastic.
“I’ll always be Michael to you.”
“You’ve been a father to me for as long as I can remember.”
“It’s the duty of a priest.”
“Well Mr. Priest. I need one more favour.”
“What is it?”
“I’ve had a vision. Several visions.”
“What did you see?”
“A cathedral. It was magnificent. And God was at the centre of it.”
“You saw God?”
“And Katey,” Erin replied wistfully.
“You saw Katey?”
“She was with Jesus and other children.”
“You saw Jesus?”
“And someone else. I saw me.”
“You saw you in heaven?”
“It worries me.”
“Why?”
“Does it mean I’m going to die?”
“We’re all going to die eventually.”
“Does the vision mean that I’m going to die soon?”
“Not necessarily. You’ve seen your own soul.”
“My soul?”
“What were you doing in the visions?”
“It was like a mirror. Every time I saw myself I was copying what I was doing on the earth.”
“Aah …”
“Aah what?”
“That’s not what a soul is designed to do.”
“What do you mean?”
“Your soul is designed to worship God.”
“Well mine wasn’t.”
“Did God speak to you?”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“God said that I had it backwards. That we all do,” explained Erin.
“Have what backwards?”
“God said that the soul feeds the spirit not the other way round.”
“And?"
“And that the words “on earth as it is in heaven”, means that we will only be as strong on the earth as we are in heaven.”
“The mirrors,” reasoned Michael.
“The architecture," replied Erin. "But why show me? I don't even believe in this anymore. I can’t trust a God who takes young children.”
“What if God didn’t take Katy? What if we are the ones who are responsible?”
“How?”
“What if we could have done something to help?”
“Either way she suffered. We all did,” Erin remembered angrily.
“We don’t see the full picture. You and me trying to understand God, is like people from a thousand years ago trying to understand airplanes and satellites.”
“I just want someone I can count on! I want a God who hates suffering more than I do!”
“Maybe your generation will figure it out. Maybe God wants you to help,” suggested Michael.
Erin shook her head and got up to leave. “I have to go.”
“We can talk later.”
“No!” insisted Erin.
“Hey! I forgot to tell you,” called Michael.
Erin hesitated to turn around.
“One of the Mancinni’s was here this summer and bought the quarry. It was mined out a century ago but they bought it anyway.”
Erin sighed and turned towards the stairs to the bell tower, where she ascended the narrow spiral passage.
At the top, she reached inside her pocket and took out a small piece of thee Irish Blue stone. It had been given to her as a going away present from Mrs. Mancinni.
“It’s from Kinkerry,” said Mrs. A with a mischievous grin.
Erin held the priceless pebble between her palms as she looked out over the view of the town with the quarry in the background.
Beyond it, shafts of light danced across cascading layers of meadows that rimmed the white cliffs along the ocean, where rolling waves washed against the shore.
Erin took a deep breath and winced as she forced herself to look down at the tiny grave beneath her feet at the base of the tower.
“I’m so sorry Katey. I’m so sorry."
.................
The healthy fail the sick,
The living fail the dead,
But none more so than those,
Who eat of heaven’s bread.
.................
THE END OF IRISH BLUE - BOOK ONE
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