88. Abandoned

“I have a plan for the Brothers,” Agnes said after he closed the door to his little office and sat on one side of the window while I sat on the other. I had to twist around in my seat and lean my back against the armrest, not a comfortable position since the sharp corner of the flat wooden piece bit into my back.

The morning was bright and beams of sunlight lit up the motes of dust hanging in the air over the ancient oriental rug in the center of the small room. Against one wall was an old student desk that the Abbot used to write what few checks we mailed out each month for utilities and such. On another wall hung a portrait of the current Pope. There had been two Popes during my tenure at Our Lady’s, but the old portraits of John XXIII, Paul VI, and John Paul II were in the attic. If I set the photos up in a row with Benedict XVI included, they would have shown a symbolic dwindling of picture frame size over the years, from the two by three foot oldest painting to the current 8 by 12 inch photo of “B16.” (John Paul I, who immediately followed Paul VI, served only 33 days before dying in what some consider mysterious circumstances.)

“I want to share my thinking with you, Brother Jessica,” Agnes continued, “because I know you’re anxious about this, and also I have a favor to ask of you.” He waited for a response, but all I could do was nod my head.

“First, I have spoken to Brother Gustav of the Bunderhoff and I felt a few of our younger Brothers might be able to work in the Bunderhoff toy factory. Our Brothers may have to live outside in secular housing, in which case the Bunderhoff would no doubt pay them wages so the men can afford rent. I think our fellows would be allowed to eat their meals at the Bunderhoff dining hall.

“Agnes,” I said, “the Bunders aren’t even Catholic. And the Bunderhoff is hardly a cloister.”

Agnes said nothing. “There are women there,” I added lamely.  I sensed that Sparky, our last abbot, would be rolling over in his grave.

“And I think,” said Agnes, as if a train had come rushing down the mountain and through the woods to drown out what I had just said, “it would be good for you and Brother Gertrude (Harpo) and Brother Bilhild (Bouncer) to live together in an apartment. Bilhild can work somewhere full time. You and Gertrude should be able to do something lucrative and together the three of you can scrape by and live as well as you do here.”

I waited for more, but there was none.  The Abbot was finished presenting his thoughts.

“That’s not much of a plan, Agnes” I said. I was trying to be kind. I was trying to not show my anger. I could not believe Agnes had spent months doing nothing except to place a telephone call to the Bunders.  

“There’s more,” said Agnes. “I’m leaving.”