95. Decision

More casting ideas.

I avoided the task for a few days after my “coronation.” Dropping the sarcasm, I will say we had a very nice liturgical ceremony in the chapel to install me as abbot. Finally, I sat down at the little desk and opened the check book and ledger. The first thing I wanted to know was how much time we had left. The answer was we had run out of money over a month before and the last ten checks Agnes wrote had bounced. I picked up the phone and called our superiors. Better to get to this chore before our telephone was turned off.

“Fermoy!” said the voice on the other end of the line.

“M&M, this is Abbot Jesse in Saugerties,” I said, “and I need to speak with Saint Anne.”

“Abbot Pro Tem, you mean,” replied M&M, “and he is sitting with me at this moment. I’ll pass you over to him.”

“Jessica!” boomed Saint Anne. “Congratulations on being elected Abbot. Sell that place immediately and send the proceeds by wire so I can get the bankers off my back.”

“M&M may have told you Agnes is on his way to you,” I said.

“Hmmm,” came the reply.

“His brother William ….” I began to say.

“Yes, yes,” said Saint Anne. “Very sad. He died a year or so ago.”

“A year ago?” I echoed.

“Yes, I thought that sending Agnes your way might be of help to him in some way.”

“Well, he should be in your office for you to talk to today or tomorrow,” I said.

“I doubt it,” said Saint Anne. “But not to worry. He’ll show up eventually. He always does.”

“He always ….” I began.

“Now to more pressing business,” interrupted Anne. “We need to make a substantial payment to the boyos on the Quay before they repossess our other house in Cloheenafishoge.

“Brother Saint Anne, I don’t mean to start right off with insubordination, but I am taking the monastery off the market this afternoon. I and the Brothers are staying here for the rest of our natural lives.”