Bless Me Father
by: Deane Christopher
edited by Steve Zink

 

5 – PRODIGAL

"So, what gives? Have you had a change of heart?" Gabriella asked the former Catholic priest as the two of them went about the task of preparing dinner at the halfway house.

"Have I had a change of heart about what?" Karen quizzically responded.

"About informing the Millers that you’re pregnant. I mean, even though you’re only their daughter in a physical sense, there’s no getting around the fact that your carrying around their granddaughter in that new and nifty little womb of yours."

"You’re right. And no, I haven’t changed my mind at all, Gabriella. That’s to say that I have full intentions of telling them."

"Good. I’m glad to hear that.

"So," Gabriella continued, "I guess my next question is: just when are you planning on telling them? I mean, if you don’t do it pretty soon, Karen, you’ll end up having to call them from your hospital room and inform them that they’ve become grandparents of a bouncing baby girl.

"So, what do you say, girl? Why don’t you stop pussy-footing around? What say you get on the stick and give them a call this evening..."

+

 

As Father Dan Parker, Karen had come to know Gus and Jean Miller intimately. Though she, as the he that she had been, had started off trying to counsel and console the Millers when their willful and wayward daughter took to living a life out on the streets, a true friendship began to develop as the weeks of their association extended into months. Though it had started innocently enough with a single dinner invitation, before the year was out, Father Dan had become a regular guest at the Millers’ table every Tuesday evening. Shortly thereafter, Father Dan found that he had become such a fixture in the Millers’ social life, that he had been accorded what amounted to an honorary membership in the Millers extended nuclear family. As such, he soon found himself being asked to accompany Gus and Jean to various functions and family gatherings. By doing so, he met and interacted with their relatives, friends and neighbors. And in doing so, through process of osmosis, his knowledge of the Old Karen’s life gradually expanded as he heard anecdotal stories recounting her days as a precocious youngster.

God, the New Karen was quick to realize, had a Master Plan in play. Long before the previous Karen Miller had sought absolution for her sins in Father Dan’s confessional on that fateful Saturday afternoon, God had begun to groom the former Catholic priest to fulfill the destiny that He had chosen for him. God, in His infinite wisdom, had seen fit to provide Father Dan with insider information that would prove invaluable when it came time for Father Dan, functioning as the newly ensconced Karen Miller, to reinsert herself back into Gus and Jean’s life.

Karen did not delude herself. While the anecdotal information she possessed would prove to be an asset for her, she knew that it was going to be touch and go for her for the near to foreseeable future. Being Gus and Jean Miller’s friend was one thing. Passing herself off as their one and only daughter was something else altogether.

+

 

Karen did not do as Gabriella had urged her to do. That is to say that she did not call the Millers that evening. Preferring to tackle one task at a time, she waited until mid-afternoon of the next day to place the call.

Luck was with her. Jean Miller answered the phone on the third ring.

"Hello!"

Hating herself for the deception she was about to propagate, but knowing that she had no recourse in the matter, the former priest tentatively intoned, "Mom..."

+

 

Though their hour long conversation had been emotionally distressing for both women, it went far better than Karen had ever expected. Starting off with an abject apology for all the trouble and grief she had caused her parents, Karen, saying that she hoped that her mother and father could one day see it in their hearts to forgive her, continued to inform Jean Miller that she had seen the error of her ways and had begun to turn her life around. Karen told her mother that she had quit smoking and that she had been drug and alcohol free for the past seven months. She then continued on to make mention of the fact that she had recently acquired her GED and that if things went as planed, she had full intentions on taking one or two evening courses at the community college that fall.

Oddly enough, Jean Miller took the news of her daughter’s pregnancy much better that Karen ever thought she would. Inferring that she had half expected that she would hear from her daughter under such a circumstance, Karen’s mom was nevertheless overjoyed to hear that she was about to become a grandmother.

+

 

"So, I take it you finally got around to calling your mom today?" Gabriella said pointedly.

"Yes. Yes, I did."

"And, it went a lot better than you thought it would, didn’t it?"

"Yeah... I guess it kind of did, at that..."

"So, tell me. Just when are the two of you getting together?"

Having become accustomed to her friend’s uncanny psychic abilities, Karen did not think to question Gabriella. She just simply replied, "Tomorrow. She’s going to pick me up after I get off from work and then the two of us are going to go out to lunch somewhere."

"And, I take it that once she got passed the initial shock of your being pregnant, she was thrilled with the idea that she was going to become a grandmother?"

"Oh, yeah! You’ve got that right. I mean, it goes without saying that she isn’t all that happy over the fact that her daughter is going to be an unwed mother. But, other than that, when it comes to the baby, I’d have to say that gauging by her reaction, she’s as happy as happy can be..."

+

 

Lunch with that new mother of hers went well. Better in fact than Karen ever hoped or dreamed it would. While their time together started off awkwardly, by the time Jean Miller dropped Karen off at the Halfway House, the two of them had established some basic ground rules upon which they would endeavor to rebuild a mother-daughter relationship.

The next step in the reconciliation process revolved around Gus Miller.

The Original Karen Miller had been the apple of her father’s eye. Even in her teenage years, her father had doted upon her. And, because he had, Gus had taken his daughter’s willful leave-taking pretty hard. He felt betrayed. He felt hurt. And, that hurt manifested itself in a seething though bridled-in anger.

When informed by his wife that she had spoken to their daughter on the phone that afternoon and that Karen was pregnant, Gus Miller flippantly replied, "Oh! Well, that figures..." He then went silent and would say no more on the subject.

The next night, when Jean told him that she and Karen had had lunch together that afternoon, he blandly inquired, "Okay. So, how far along is she?"

"She’s in her seventh month."

"All right. So, I suppose you want to have her over to the house soon."

"Yes... yes, I would. In fact, I’ve tentatively arranged for her to come over on Sunday. The question is, are you going to be able to handle it?"

"I wish I knew."

"Do you want me to call her and cancel?"

"No... No! As much as I’m dreading it, I don’t want you to cancel..."

+

 

"So, tell me!" Gabriella beamed. "How’d it go?"

Snidely, with her voice conveying a whimsical tone, Karen countered, "You’re the one who’s psychic. So, why don’t you tell me."

"Well..." Gabriella began in a speculative manner. "To hazard a guess, I would say that it went pretty well. In fact, I’ll bet you that they ended up asking you to move back in with them."

"Damn! You know something, Gabriella? You’re good! You are really, really good. And, they didn’t just ask me to move back in with them. They pretty much insisted that I move back in with them.

"Well... that’s to say that my father pretty much insisted that I move back in with them. Nothing permanent, mind you! They just think it would be best for me and the baby were I to move back in with them for the time being..."

+

 

"So, have you made a decision as to what you’re going to do?" Gabriella asked Karen as the two of them headed up to bed.

"Yes. As much as I hate to leave, I think it would be best if I take them up on their offer."

"I do, too," Gabriella concurred.

"Besides," Gabriella continued, "though I haven’t as yet told you, Mrs. Spalding informed me the other day that I would soon have to make other living arrangements for myself."

"How come?"

"Because, this house is funded for the express propose of seeing to the needs of expectant mothers and the mothers of newborns. And, due to that miscarriage I had, I no longer qualify under the residency requirements.

"Fact is, Mrs. Spalding has let me stay here a lot longer than she was supposed to..."

"So, when do you have move out?"

"Soon... Mrs. Spalding said that since the house wasn’t operating at capacity, there was no immediate rush, but that I had best start looking for other accommodations..."

"So," Karen asked, "where are you thinking of going?"

"I’m not really sure as yet. Mrs. Spalding told me that she’d look into some of the other halfway houses in and around the area. That’s to say that she said that she would see if they have any openings at present. And, if that doesn’t pan out, there are a couple of girls that were here before you arrived that moved into an apartment together, and I’m pretty sure that they would put me up until I can make some other arrangements... "

+

 

A few minutes later, as the two young women lay in their beds, Karen sheepishly intoned, "Gabriella?"

"Yes!" Gabriella returned gruffly.

"Promise me that I’m not going to loose you as a friend."

"Must we go through all of this again?" Gabriella, in a huff, replied. "Look, Karen! I if I’ve told you once, I’ve told you a hundred times! I’m your friend! You’re my friend! And, that’s the be all and end all of it!

"Look! Just because you’re moving in with those new parents of yours and I’m going to be living somewhere else, that doesn’t mean that we’re not going to be seeing each other. Besides... unless you’ve had a change of heart about the natural childbirth business, or you’ve changed your mind about me being your coach, we’ll be seeing each other at least twice a week at the Lamaze Classes you’ve enrolled us in...

"And, then there’s the godmother business! "I mean, you do still want me to be the godmother of that baby of yours, don’t you?"

"Of course I do, Gabriella."

"Well, just so you know, I plan to take this godmother business seriously. Plus, while we might not be related, I expect that little girl of yours to grow up calling me Aunt Gabriella..."

+

 

Jean and Gus Miller did everything they could and then some to facilitate their daughter’s homecoming. While Jean had been busy getting Karen’s room back in shape, Gus had gotten a jump on turning their guest bedroom into a nursery. First, enlisting his next door neighbor’s help, he moved the existing furniture to the basement. Then, in an effort to get as much of the bulk work done before Karen moved back in, Gus spent a couple evenings applying several coats of the pastel pink paint that his wife and daughter had picked out to the nursery’s walls and ceiling.

 

+

 

The thing that troubled Karen the most about trying to pass herself as Gus and Jean’s daughter hinged on the fact that she did not possess the real Karen Miller’s memories. While she had amassed a fair amount of anecdotal information through her prior association with the Millers, their friends, family and relatives, Karen wasn’t all that sure that the sketchy information that she possessed would prove sufficient.

Luckily, her parents had decided to make a fresh start. They had decided to leave the more contentious days of the past in the past. While they would occasionally refer to some of the good times they had all shared together over the years, they did not dredge up the bad.

Also, adding into the equation revolving around the fairly noticeable gaps in Karen’s memory was the fact that Gus and Jean were keenly aware that their daughter had been heavily into the use of illegal drugs. That being the case, the two of them were very understanding when it became obvious to them that their daughter couldn’t remember certain things. In other words, they didn’t make an issue out it. And Karen, for her part, was grateful that they didn’t.

Jean Miller, curious to meet this Gabriella person that her daughter was always talking about, had Karen invite her girlfriend over for dinner on the following Sunday. Though admittedly the quirkiest person they had even met, the Millers took an immediate shine to the bubbly nineteen-year-old self-proclaimed psychic. Within the week, keenly aware of the stabilizing influence that Gabriella was having on Karen, the Millers began to accord Gabriella the status of an adopted daughter. Taking his wife by complete surprise, one evening at the dinner table early on in the second week of Karen’s stay, an exuberant Gus Miller suggested that they could solved Gabriella’s housing problem by having her move in with them. Pointing out the fact that hey had a whole set of bedroom furniture that no one was using at present stored in their basement clubroom, Karen’s dad continued on to say that they might as well put it to good use by letting Gabriella stay with them.

Needless to say, Gabriella, spurred on by Karen’s urgings, gladly accepted Gus Miller’s more than generous offer.

+

 

Several days after Gabriella had taken up residence in the Miller’s basement, Karen met Mickey De Angelo, a young police officer who had an occasion to stop in the MacDonalds where she worked. Their friendship started innocently enough with a casual exchange of words while waiting upon his hash browns. The following day, while Karen was taking her mid-morning break, Mickey approached the booth she occupied and inquired if she might like some company. Surprising herself, Karen politely replied, "Sure. Why not? Please, have a seat."

Their conversation was pleasant - pleasant and unthreatening.

Mickey, Karen learned, was new to the area. He told her that he had been an MP in the Army, but had decided not to re-up. Having been stationed at a nearby base for a six month tour of duty during one of the earlier years his enlistment, Mickey, upon hearing the scuttlebutt about how the local police department was willing to pay a signing bonus for any individual who had a prior law enforcement background, decided to see if the area suited him.

Karen, on her part, told Mickey a little of her life. She made mention of the fact that she was single and presently living with her parents. She also told him that if things went as planned, she was hoping to take a few college courses come fall.

Two days later, Officer Mickey De Angelo, with tray in hand, once again asked Karen if she would like some company during her break.

+

 

"Aunt Jean," Gabriella playfully intoned as the three women sat at the kitchen table conversing one week later. "Did Karen make mention of the fact that she’s got herself a new boyfriend?"

"Gabriella!" Karen’s voice snapped harshly. "That’s not true! He’s not my boyfriend!"

"He isn’t?"

"No! He most certainly isn’t!"

"Well, does he know he isn’t your boyfriend? I mean, to hear you tell it, this nice policeman of yours certainly seems to make sure he conveniently shows up almost every morning around your break time, now doesn’t he? And, correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t this the third day in a row that he’s stopped back around when you get off so that he can give you a lift home in his squad car? And, unless the police department has changed its polices here of late, isn’t something like that strictly verboten..."

+

 

"Gabriella!" Karen softly intoned when the two of them were alone later that evening. "Do you really think that Mickey likes me?"

"Well, given the fact that he sure seems to be investing a lot of time trying to get to know you, I’d have to say yes. I do believe he likes you a lot."

"You mean as a girlfriend, and not just a friend who just happens to be a girl?"

"If you’re asking me if he sees you as a prospective girlfriend, I’d have to say yes. All the indications point that way."

"Shit!" Karen fumed. "Though I was hoping that wasn’t the case, I guess I’d have to say that I kind of thought so too...

"Trouble is, he’s a really nice guy. And, I have to admit that I like him. He’s easy to talk to, and I find that I really like shootin’ the shit with him. But, I like him the way one guy likes another guy...

"So, tell me, Gabriella. What in the world am I supposed to do now? I mean, given that I’m still a guy up here in this head of mine, there’s no way I’m cut out to be anybody’s girlfriend. Oops, let me qualify that by saying that I’m not cut out to be any ‘guy’s’ girlfriend..."

"The answer to your problem is simple," Gabriella said as she reached over and compassionately enfolded Karen’s hands in hers. "You just need to be honest and up front with him. You tell him that while you value his friendship, you’re not looking to hook up with a boyfriend right now. You tell him that you’ve got a baby to think about and that the last thing you need right now is a boyfriend...

"You just tell him the truth. You tell him that if he wants to be your friend, that’s all fine and dandy. But, if he’s looking for something else from you, you just tell him that he needs to look elsewhere..."

+

 

The next day Karen did as Gabriella suggested. During her mid-morning break, she told Mickey flat out that while she liked him a lot as a friend, she wasn’t interested in him as boyfriend.

Mickey responded by informing Karen that he understood her position perfectly. He made it clear to her that while he would be honored to be her boyfriend, he wasn’t looking for anything more than her friendship. Her baby, he repeatedly assured her, had to be her first priority. Everything else had to take a back seat in her life. If friendship was all that she was capable of giving him, he would accept that and be grateful for it.

What he did ask for was to be a part of her life. He wanted to help her in any way he could. By his own admission, being that he was new in town, Mickey informed Karen that he was lonely. And that because he was lonely, he was aggressively endeavoring to establish a base of friends; suggesting in so many words that if Karen would do him the honor of being one of those friends, he would feel honored.

Within a week of that pivotal conversation that defined the parameters of Karen and Mickey’s ongoing relationship, the Millers found that by unspoken accord of the prior members, their extended family had gained another member, and Gus had found himself a new fishing buddy.

+

 

"Hey!" Karen beamed. "I just had a thought."

"You did, did ya!?" Gabriella sarcastically replied.

"Yes. Yes, I did. I was thinking that since you and Mickey get along so well, maybe the two of you ought to start dating."

"I don’t think so."

"Why not? I mean, I think the two of you would be perfect for one another."

"Well, maybe you better think again."

"No! I really mean it, Gabriella. I think the two of you would make a great couple."

"No we wouldn’t."

"And, why’s that?"

"Because!" Gabriella replied in a huff.

"Because isn’t going to cut, Gabriella!" Karen said, proving that she could be just as stubborn and tenacious as her friend could be. "I want to know why you don’t think you and Mickey couldn’t make a go of it."

"Because... I’m psychic. And, I know that I’m not the right girl for Mickey."

"Well, if you aren’t, then could you please tell me who is?"

"You are!" Gabriella replied heatedly. "Or, I should have said, you will be."

"That’s ridiculous. May I remind you that while I might have a young woman’s body, my mind’s still as manly as it ever was.

"In other words, sexually speaking, I’m still attracted to women. And, that’s a problem in and of itself.

"You see, Gabriella, now that I’ve got this female body, I find that I’m more attracted to women now than I ever was before. That’s to say that I have come to terms with the fact that I’m a lesbian. All right?

"So, psychic or not, you can get that silly notion out of your head right now about me and Mickey ever hooking up with one another. ‘Cause take it from me. It ain’t never going to happen. Not in a hundred thousand years..."

Just then, just as Karen was really getting herself worked up over Gabriella’s silly-assed suggestion, a pain, both sharp and searing, wracked her being.

"Gabriella!" Karen gasped as another contraction hit her. "I think it’s high time for you to go tell my parents that we all need to start thinking about getting me to the hospital..."

 

 

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