The hot summer sand was a great place to play on the New England shores. It was fine sand filled with crystals that shimmered like stars in the sun and sometimes in the moonlight. Brianne and Andy had been playing there together every summer in that sand since they were babies. The blue umbrella that hid them from the sun was everything from a rocket ship to a ten-bedroom mansion. They were perfect friends in a perfect world. They just knew what the other was thinking and feeling. It was like a psychic chemistry that to others seemed a bit creepy. As the pretending changed from one made up situation to another, they both changed with it without having to say a word.
Andy loved Brie at least as much as an eleven-and-a-half-year-old can. She loved him too, as much as a ten-year-old can. This just made it that much harder when the time came, as it always does, for it to end. Every day they ate at each other's houses and raided whatever pantry had the most stuff and was closest to go to their umbrella on the beach.
Andy's house was a large, typical home for the New England shores. All the walls in the rooms and the hallways were stained to look like light oak mid-way up to the white ceiling and walnut down to the gray marble looking floors. Eight bedrooms, a huge living room, a playroom, four all marble looking bathrooms, huge kitchen with two fridges perfect for raiding, a big separate dining room and even Andy's room was big enough to land a plane in with an enormous king-sized bed and wall-to-wall toys -- most of which Andy had never played with. It was a great place to play when it was raining.
Whenever Brie spent thenight there, there were just so many rooms that she would get scared and nearly always after an hour or so of trying to sleep in the room they gave her, she would quietly knock on Andy's bedroom door and Andy would take her in, and the two would spend the night giggling until they both fell asleep faced the wrong way on the huge four poster bed.
Andy's parents would listen for the knock and chuckle to themselves as Andy's door opened to let Brie in. Despite their comfortable life and living, Andy's family were not pretentious in any way. Brie was like the furniture; she came with the house every summer. She was a lovely child who was kind and polite and with her sun-bleached hair, delicate features, and disarming smile, she was going to be a real heartbreaker some day.
Brie's place was a four-room cottage so there wasn't much room for Andy to sleep over. But Andy loved the simple foods they had like hot dogs so Andy would often come over for supper. Even though they didnt have much, they were always willing to share. It was near the surfside shore but not on stilts which gave away its age.
It was a sweet innocent time of fun. At the end of this particular summer, however, the time for fun had come to an end. Andy waited for Brie under the umbrella, but she was late and even though Andy couldn't put his finger on it, something else was different. After about an hour Andy saw Brie running to him and he stood up but as she got closer, he could tell she had been crying. She ran up to him and kissed him hard on the lips. She had never done that before, but Andy hardly noticedbecause of the flood of tears.
She choked and cried every time she looked at Andy. Were leaving, Brie finally managed to say.
Yeah, I know we do it at the end of every summer, Andy replied, hoping that is what she meant.
No idiot! Were moving out west. My dad got a good job out there, but it means we wont be coming back here for the summers.
What, no you can't. We were supposed to be together every summer until we got married and then our kids would spend the summers here. You said that's what you wanted! Andys angry voice was really meant for the situation of losing his best friend but true to form Brie did not take it personally.
Of course, it was... And is but ... We can't control what the grown-ups do, Brie sobbed while hugging Andy tightly.
Brie broke the hug and said, one day we'll remember our time together as the best time of our lives. And then Brie started to walk away.
Andy didnt know what to say or do. I love you, Brianne!
She kept on walking but once she was far enough away, she yelled back, i love you too Andrew!
As she walked away Andy noticed something else. In her white top and small white shorts. Brie was kind of like a girl. That actually made saying goodbye that much harder.
As she got to the top of the grassy part of the dune which was more than a thousand feet away. She turned and yelled, I'll be back! Somehow, someway I'll be back.
At least that's what Andy thought she said. She could have said something about the weather with the wind and all, but he chose to believe she said she would come back.
Each summer when his family returned to the shore Andy would make apoint of sitting under the blue umbrella in hopes that maybe he'd see brie one more time. There was one time three or four years after brie left when he and his new group of young friends were sitting under the umbrella and laughing and having a good time, he thought he saw Brie in the distance. His friend Tommy had a girlfriend named Candace that everybody called Candy and she was almost excessively flirty. She hugged and kissed Andy like he was just one of the boyfriends. Andy didn't mind because Candy was a very pretty girl. At the same time, even years later, he worried that Brie could be watching and think the wrong thing.
Then that one summer where he thought he might have seen Brie in the distance, she never came and sat with them under the umbrella. As the years went by, she became nothing more than a fond memory of his favorite friend when he was a kid.
When he was 18, he went off to university and even though his family had enough money that he didn't have to do anything for money other than sit on the beach, he decided that he should work every summer. Meaning that he no longer went to the beach on the Surfside Nantucket shores in the summer to sit in the beige sand and marvel at the star-like glassy reflection.
Over the years girls would come and go with no one serious to fill the void left by his childhood friend. The only relationship that was even remotely serious was with Candy, his friend Tommy's former girlfriend, a raven-haired beauty who nearly always wore a yellow too-revealing bikini and loved the attention the boys and even some of the girls gave her. But even Candy gave up on Andyand their relationship, if you can call it that, fell by the wayside over time.
Andy went to a well-known American university for his undergraduate studies and after four years of taking political philosophy he made a hard change and decided to take his graduate studies at a seminary in Toronto Canada. When he graduated from seminary school, he became an Anglican priest or as it's known in the United States, an Episcopalian priest.
Andy got a posting in a small community in New Brunswick Canada where he loved the people and the people loved him, but he still longed to return home to his New England island town by the shore. Especially after his parents died in a small plane crash.
After a few years, when a posting in nantucket came up, as much as he loved it in New Brunswick Canada, he decided that he would apply for and eventually get that posting back in his summer home.
Father Andrew Livingston was 27 years old now, happily single but yes, each summer he sat under the now very ratty looking blue umbrella and waited see to see his fondly remembered childhood memory come alive again.
One day after church on a beautiful Sunday afternoon with the sun shimmering over the bay, Andy decided to sit under the umbrella and watch the big waves with their small white caps crash against the shore as he had done so many times before. But this time something was different. Walking up to him from the water was a girl with bright strawberry blonde hair. As she got closer, he knew at once who it was.
She hid her excitement as she said, my God, have you been sitting here this whole time? It's been sixteen years! Brie joked.
Andy likewise pretended not to be surprised, like she neverleft. Well, I've been waiting for you for a while if that's what you mean. They both laughed as Brianne Stanley took her usual spot under the dilapidated umbrella right beside him just like when they were young. Then as things got quiet, Andy said, how are you, Brie? I just heard, when I was shopping in town the other day, how your mom and dad are no longer with us, Andy said trying not to trigger a heavy emotional response.
Yeah, it's a sad time but in a way it's what brought me here. Turns out my parents never sold the cottage. I came back here once when i was fifteen, but you were tangled up with some pretty brunette girl and i didn't wanna get in the way.
Don't worry she was my friend's girlfriend. A little excessively flirty but a nice person. She just tended to be very touchy feely. So, there was nothing to it. You should have come over. I thought I saw you but then i just thought it was wishful thinking. Anyway, so what do you do now? Andy asked trying to change the subject.
Well, I just finished my graduate studies in marine biology and now I'm looking for work. But I have a bit of a nest egg, so I won't have to worry for a while. What have you been doing?
Well, it's a little hard to explain but I'm a priest.
What? That's very odd. I didn't even know you were religious.
Yeah, well being a priest is a tough gig: you're there for the beginning of life for baptism and at the end of life for the last rites. You're there for weddings and funerals and sometimes you even get invited to parties where, as you can tell, you get to eatmore than you should and probably drink more than you should, he said pointing at a small chubby tummy. But the best part of the job is giving people comfort at the lowest times of their lives.
So, you don't have a girl then?
I've had girls. That girl you saw me flirting with back when I was sixteen is still around and we are a convenient date for each other when we need one but neither of us have any interest in each other beyond that. But no one serious.
I thought priests couldn't have girls. Its sort of a rule or something.
I'm an Episcopalian priest. We can marry, have families, fight with our spouses, kill and eat puppies and children and all that great stuff.
Brie laughed hard at Andy's joke but then asked, how come you're not wearing a collar or a sign or something like a tee shirt that says, religious freak back off?
Well, it's not the best beachwear and it tends to scare off the girls. Not to mention mothers hiding their children because they think I'm a predator. So, wearing a white alligator shirt and shorts seems to be a better outfit than a cassock and surplice.
Yeah, i'll buy that. Men with collars are intimidating and scary, Brie said with a small chuckle. I heard about your parents; sorry I was not able to get to the funeral. They were always so nice to me.
So, what about you? What have you been doing? Andy asked trying to change the subject. It had been a few years, but it still hurt to talk about.
Hmmm my family moved out west as you know, and I grew up in California or at least I grew older in California. Brie looked around at the beach with the houses just over the grassydune, the light blue sky with no clouds, a light wind and the white capped ocean water quietly pounding the shore. I missed this place so much and I missed you! She said as she sat closer beside him and hugged him with one arm. It's weird isn't it, how a childhood friendship could mean so much even years and years later?
Yeah, I was thinking the same thing, Andy said while grabbing her hand. So, what about men? Not that i really want to know. But I want to know about your life, Andy asked while looking into her blue green eyes that seemed to change colour the more you looked into them.
Well, I dated a few guys in high school and in university. But there was one who was a lot like you. He was a little older than me... About 10 years older. He was a widower with two young kids. He was a kind, gentle and loving man... A gorgeous person inside and out. We got married and our life together was so happy at first. He put up with my quirks and peculiar study habits. He worked from home so he could spend more time with his kids, and he made a good living. Which enabled me to get my degree without worry about where the next meal was going to come from. He was a terrible tease, but he had the best sense of humour, and we laughed a lot. He was physically very attractive so other things were good too if you catch my drift, Brie smiled at her own over-sharing. But a few months ago, he left me. Brie was trying desperately not to cry. I'm sorry I don't mean he left me for a younger woman or whatever. He left this life. He had everything, love, two fantastic children and so on but his business was becoming harder and harder to manage. He'd become very unhappy and no matter what I did. I just couldn't make him happy. He fell into a deep dark depression. He took a shot gun into the woods by our house one day and never came back except as a body with no face! Brie screamed. God, I miss his face. Brie was full on crying now. I told him about you, and I think you'd have liked him. So now here I am a single mom with two stepchildren whose mother and father are both gone. I've lost my mom, dad, and my husband. So, if this is some sort of divine plan it sucks, she paused for a moment and then thought the heck with it she might as well finish her thought. ... And I'm just starting my career as a marine biologist which I guess is what brought me back here to Nantucket.
You know they say everything happens for a reason. But I have absolutely no idea why some people must suffer so much. Other than it can bring some to God and make others realize how lucky they are. Up until now I felt lonely and sad but hearing what you've been through, I feel much better, Andy joked but it fell flat. After a long pregnant pause Andy went on, sorry about your husband, it must have been a cruel blow.
Childhood friends meet many years later. A story about friendship, love, and a miracle.
It was. So please don't spend a lot of time trying to sell me on religion. He died a broken man, and he mostly broke me in the process.
I am not trying to sell you anything except abit of comfort from an old friend. For now, let's just sit under the umbrella and watch the waves. They sat there for a while until it was starting to get dark. Then Andy asked, hey Brie, where are your kids?
Oh my god Andy, I am a terrible mother. I left them playing with the neighbour children. I should have been back an hour ago. Pray for me father that my neighbour doesn't kill me.
I'm sure it will be fine. I'll put in a good word for you at social services, Andy teased.
Not funny Andy. Not funny at all, she said walking away briskly.
Even now Andy couldn't help but notice the beauty of the female form as she started to run. Brie was beautiful. But there was a sadness in every step. No matter how bright a day it was, there was a dark cloud hanging right over her.
On the other side of the grassy dune was Brie's neighbour's house where the kids were. Lena was 11 years old, but she could pass for older and was already into boys. She was a bright attractive tween who surprisingly looked like Brie even though they were not related. Linda was almost 10 with bright blue eyes that seemed to glow in the dark. She had long dark brown hair and was even more mischievous than her sister. Both girls were going to be heart breakers if they didn't break Brie's heart first.
Both kids missed their mother and father and while Brie was far from perfect, she was all they had. They both clung to Brie like glue and were terrified when it took so long for her to come back.
When Brie got there her neighbour gave a soft smile as if to say it wasn't a huge deal, but she stillpointed at her watch. Brie nodded and mouthed I'm sorry.
Brie then addressed the kids, oh girls i am so sorry. I ran into an old friend I had not seen since we were your age and I guess we lost track of time.
So, was this a guy friend or a girl friend? Lena asked.
It was a guy friend... Brie began.
I understand. My dad said women have needs, Lena teased.
Oh no it was nothing like that. We were just reminiscing about our time as kids, Brie said.
So, while your stepchildren were left alone with a stranger, you were making sexy time with an old flame, Linda, who was way too sophisticated for her age, jokingly accused Brie.
Oh no it was nothing like that. Besides he is a priest, Brie defended.
Oh my god that is so much worse. You were trying to use your feminine wiles and hot looks to take a man away from God, Lena teased.
It was nothing like... Oh you're teasing me aren't you, Brie asked.
Of course, we are, Linda said and all of them hugged. Our dad didn't just leave us. He left you too. So, its ok if you talk to a friend. Just please let us know where you are, ok? Linda was probably a bit too grown up because of all the sadness she had known in her young life losing her mother a few years ago and her dad just a few months ago.
If anything, Brie felt even worse. The neighbour asked if they wanted to stay for dinner, but Brie politely declined and took the girls to a restaurant in town so Lena could get a milkshake.
As luck would have it, Andy was there. So, she walked past everyone in the diner to say hello.
Hey Andy, these are my girls Lena and Linda,Brie introduced each girl.
You didn't say he was good looking, Lena blurted out.
Lena! Brie scolded.
Brie and Andy both laughed awkwardly. Andy turned bright red, and Brie couldn't help but laugh. He was wearing his black collar with khaki pants and a black suit coat. Brie thought about it and Lena was right, he did look rather handsome in his priestly garb. He was sitting with a heavy-set older couple who promptly made excuses and left the booth they were sitting in.
Ill see you Sunday, Andy said to the couple.
Yup well see you then padre. The man said with a very thick New England accent.
Andy slid over to the corner so someone could sit beside him. Wont you sit down? He motioned to Brie and the girls. Lena and Linda sat opposite him, and Brie sat beside him.
Linda looked like she was accusing him of something but then just asked, what was momma-Brie like as a kid?
Bitchy most of the time, Andy joked and both girls laughed hysterically. They were not expecting that answer at all. I'm joking, Brie was the sweetest girl, funny, always teasing and was such a good sport. We would spend whole weeks together where she would sleep over, have dinner with my family, laugh and tell jokes till dawn, have breakfast and head to the beach and sit under the blue umbrella until it was dark. We were the best of friends, Andy said remembering.
The best... Brie chimed in and gave Andy a high five.
Were you guys like boyfriend and girlfriend? Lena asked
No, we were too young for that. I left when I was almost 11, Brie said sadly.
The waitress came to take the order. She was attractive but the tan uniform with the white maids apron didnt do much for her. She looked like shehad a thing for Andy. But she smiled genuinely at the girls. Do you want this on your tab father?
Yes, please Millie, and don't forget to give yourself 20 percent, Andy smiled.
You don't have to do that, Brie said.
I think Millie deserves a good tip, she's a good waitress, Andy joked.
You know that's not what I meant. I mean I can pay for it. My husband, God rest him, left me a fair amount of money to look after the girls, Brie said somewhat exasperated.
Well, ok you can get the next one, Andy said somewhat amused.
The two girls seemed to study the menu forever, but both finally decided on pancakes and strawberry milkshakes. Andy and Brie both ordered club platters and chocolate milkshakes made with chocolate ice cream, chocolate milk and extra chocolate sauce.
You two are starting to freak me out, Linda said. Like two peas in a creepy pod.
Everyone laughed and it served to break whatever tension was there.
While the girls had only lost their father a few months before, he had isolated himself from them for a very long time. They had moments of laughter and fun but over the last year or so before his death but very few. This time in the restaurant with Andy and their stepmom was the most fun they have had in a long time.
Brie was worried that the girls would get the wrong idea. Maybe it was because he was a minister or an old friend who had lots of funny stories about Brie when she was their age, they seemed to just accept Andy like he was family. Normally they might have thought Brie was being disrespectful to their father's memory but for now they were just enjoying the moment.
The girls both had banana splits for desert while Father Andyhad a cherry cheesecake which of course Brie ate after saying she couldn't eat another bite. She knew that Andy had only ordered it for her anyway. Afterall, it had only been sixteen years or so, it's not like people change.
When dinner was over, they all agreed to meet again soon but as they said their goodbyes, Andy was sure Brie was just being polite. He would show up almost every day at the ratty old blue umbrella where he and Brie used to meet but she never showed.
As almost a month had passed, Andy finally gave up looking for Brie. He thought things had gone well with the kids and everything, but they ghosted him as the kids say these days.
The truth was that the girls were visiting their mother's sister for a few weeks and Brie had been busy looking for and finally getting funding for a study on the impact of climate change on marine migrations. She was not really avoiding Andy just very busy.
Nevertheless, Andy went to the umbrella to wait for Brie almost every day. Some of his congregation, comprised mostly of well-to-do suburbanites on vacation, thought he had lost it.
It was getting later in the season and sometimes the beach was frigid cold. Andy came prepared and brought a gas fired space heater which heated the ratty-looking and hole filled umbrella pretty well. So much so that Andy fell asleep.
As he slept the beautiful blonde Brie came up to him wearing a tiny red bikini. Her body looked sculpted by a renaissance artist. She gently kissed Andy as he lay there and softly lifted his head and put it on his rolled-up jacket. He awoke seconds later prepared to kiss and hold Brie until all the problems just melted away.
Alas when Andy woke up,there was no Brie. The cold sand had not been disturbed. It seemed so real, but he realized he was dreaming. Although his jacket was rolled up and he had been using it as a pillow. He must have done that in his sleep, he thought.
He put his jacket back on and packed the heater and headed back to his large empty old victorian style house. He missed his mom and her fancy cooking and his dad who couldnt stop complaining about it. They were good natured and surprisingly patient with him. It had been a while since they died in a plane crash, but he remembered hearing the plane near the house sputter and fall out of the sky and the subsequent explosion. When the police showed up at the front door, he knew at once his parents were gone. He had been visiting from his parish in New Brunswick Canada and they flew over from Hartford to Nantucket just to see him. It took him a long time to come to terms with it, so he understood what Brie was going through now.
Several weeks had gone by and Brie never showed up on the beach. It was too cold now, even with the heater to wait for her. So, he went about his priestly duties trying not to think about her. Knowing she was close by made it even worse. He missed his friend who had returned after all those years. Oh well, a love that began and ended when they were children, probably wasn't sustainable anyway, he mused to himself.
Brie had come by the umbrella a few times but it was late in the season so she figured he probably wouldn't be there. She could have walked the hundred feet or so to the house behind theumbrella, but she could not think of an excuse. Just saying she missed him would have been too embarrassing, especially with the kids in tow. Finally, she decided that she and the girls would see the animal in its own habitat. They would go to the church.
Before the multitude of tragedies, her husband's suicide, losing her parents and not being the mother, she hoped she would be, she had a faith of sorts. She was a scientist but also believed there must have been a creator. If there was a God and he could not get the people to understand what was important but still wanted them to have choice to know him or not, isn't it logical that he would have to come and explain that loving one another was more important than sacrifice and ritual? So, in a way the Christ story was sort of believable from that perspective.
Brie wasn't entirely convinced but was curious how an ordinary guy like Andy could get so deluded that he would become a spokesman for the questionable deity.
Andy didn't see it that way. He wasn't selling God or religion. He showed love to people who needed it. He took to heart that passage in Matthew that said, whatever you did not do for the least of these, you did not do for me. To Andy, real religion, Christian or otherwise was a demonstration of compassion. So, while he prayed a lot, his mission, as far as he was concerned, was helping people in the dark times of their lives.
As Brie and the girls walked up to the aging white church, Brie almost decided to go home but the girls seemed eager to see Andy in his natural habitat. She was handed a bulletin and sat down toward the front of thechurch. In any Anglican or Episcopalian church there is a fight for the back pews while the front pews often go empty. Some would say they don't want the priest to hear them snore or they don't want to be seen.
The walls of the church inside were white with stain glass windows on all sides. The lights were long crystals hanging from the ceiling. At the front of the church there were 3 levels. The first was where the choir sat. The second was where the lectern and pulpit were located. The last step was where the bishop's chair and the altar were pressed against the wall. Unlike many churches, the celebrant faced the wall as he or she prepared the communion.
Brie was a bit nervous as she did not know how the service would go since the only times she had been to any church was for her wedding and the funerals. But it was too late to back out now. Besides Linda and Lena were curious about the church and about the priest who seemed so normal, as Linda said. Plus, they were decked out and really this is the only place they could wear these clothes. Brie was wearing an all-white 3-piece skirt suit, Lena was in a respectable blue mini with a blue shirt and Linda was in white with a red vest. The rest of the congregation acknowledged them but had no idea who the visitors were. Most of the rest were in their sixties or seventies so young people were a welcome distraction.
From the back of the church Brie heard a familiar voice, good morning, everyone.
The congregation all said good morning and Father Andrew said, as we have many visitors, so today we will do matins or as some say, morning prayer. We'll beginour service by singing hymn 401 from the blue hymn books in front of you.
An 8-year-old boy who was wearing a red cassock with a white surplice was carrying a brass cross on a 5-foot poll and he began the procession with ten members of the choir clad in blue following. In front of Andy who was wearing a white brother's robe tied with a white nylon rope, was a lay minister wearing a white surplice over a black cassock as they all walked to the front of the church singing heartily.
Brie couldnt help but notice how the crowd seemed to love Andy and judging by the look on Andy's face, the feeling was mutual.
When the song was over the lay minister began the service with the exhortation or call to confession. Brie was a bit confused, but Linda opened the prayer book to the page where the service was and handed it to her.
Other than the absolution, the lay minister did the bulk of the service, but Andy was doing the sermon.
There had been a recent mass shooting and many children Linda and Lena's age had been killed. Plus, there were wars going on that robbed the world of men and women for causes that often made no sense.
Andy spoke of many things but the one that caught Brie's ear was,
each year on December 28 we remember the sacrifice of the innocent children of Israel who died for the jealousy of Herod. Herod had ordered all of the children under the age of 2 killed in order to stop the messiah from coming. In the process of that we remember all the innocent children who die in their youth and try and accept with joy that they are greatly blessed in the kingdom of god.
We often think of thelittle joys on the earth that children who die will miss, the first time they hear themselves called mommy and daddy, the look on their childrens faces at christmas - yes life can be special, but the pleasures are so few and fleeting without the love of god. Its hard to accept that children robbed of life were taken because of the sins of terrible, misguided people who had suffered themselves. There are people suffering today because someone in their life has lost hope. But there is hope... Hope in the kindness of others, hope that dreams are possible and there is hope in God. His love can make things happen... Often not the way we want or expect them to. The loss of someone close to us is often the loss of hope. Then you meet someone who has lost so much and yet continues to fight on and hope is reborn. The innocents missed the simple joys of life, but the joy they gave us in life was a miracle and now they have the everlasting joy of the Kingdom of God.
Much of the rest of the service was lost on Brie. She left the church in a daze and cried violently for her mom and dad and her husband. She thought about all they would miss and all she lost without them. The girls were crying too but mostly out of empathy for their stepmom. Then it occurred to them, they weren't stuck with her. They loved her and she them.
Brie?
Yes?
Thank you for staying with us even though you didn't have to, Linda said tearily.
I love you guys so much. Without you I don't know if I could have made it through, Brie said crying.
Andy came out shaking hands with the parishioners and working his way overto Brie and the girls. When he saw them crying, geez was it something I said? Andy teased.
Desperate for comfort, Brie pulled Andy into a bear hug. The girls joined the hug and the three of them kept crying. Andy didn't have to ask why. The crowd were getting uncomfortable, so they gradually walked away and got in their cars and left. Finally, the choir and the reader left, and Andy and the girls were alone.
Andy walked back into the church and took off his smock like a stripper which made the girls laugh. He put the robe on a hook and grabbed his suitcoat. He locked up and started walking home and without asking, Brie and the girls went with him.
It has been a while and I started to think I would never see you again, Andy said as he opened to the door to his family's mansion which was very close to the church.
Brie and her stepdaughters walked past Andy and headed right to the kitchen. Love what you haven't done with the place. It looks exactly the same except for the dirt and the cobwebs, Brie teased as she made her way to the fridge to find something to make for lunch.
Andy looked sort of stunned and amused as she put on a pot for spaghetti that she found in the cupboard to go with the cheese she got out of the fridge, and a can of tomatoes she found in a very large but mostly empty pantry on the other side of the fridge.
Then it suddenly dawned on Brie that she had invited herself and the girls without asking, oh my god Andy is this alright?
It's great actually. I usually eat alone, and no one cooks for me....
If you call what Momma Brie just did ascooking, Linda teased, and they all laughed.
The girls and Andy sat at the large brown island facing the brown cupboards, the shiny steel fridge, an eight-burner stove and the sink that might have looked white if someone had done a better job cleaning it. Brie drained the spaghetti and threw in the cheese and the tomatoes some spices and voila it was done. She found four bowls and served it up.
Andy asked Linda to say grace to which after a considerable pause she said, every time a bell rings, an angel gets his wings.
Andy did a fairly spot on Jimmy Stewart impression as he said, that's right, that's right... Way to be Clarence. They all laughed hard, and Brie mouthed, thank you to Andy. Andy smiled thinking that having a family wasn't so bad.
After lunch they adjourned to the living room with the girls each in a large chair and Andy and Brie on the couch. They turned on the tv and watched Toy Story until the network broke in with a hurricane warning. Looks like the storm is headed up the coast but it probably won't hit land util it gets to Maine, the announcer said.
Well let's hope so, Andy said out loud not even noticing that Brie was asleep in his lap.
Lena whispered, please don't move yet, she really needs this.
Andy nodded and gently moved the hair from Brie's sleeping face.
Linda saw it and whispered, you have feelings for her.
Andy just replied, well we are friends.
No no, I can tell by the way you look at her, its more than friendship, Linda whispered loudly.
It doesn't matter anyway. With all that guys have gone through. The timing is all wrong. But yes, i guess i do have feelings for her. I think i always have, Andy whispered back.
Well, Ican't wait to say my stepfather is a father...
Brie was getting up, if you people are done marrying me off, i think it's time to go.
Andy was embarrassed but as Brie got to the foyer, she turned around and gave Andy a kiss on the cheek and said, me too.
As the girls and Brie left, they could hear Andy in the background saying, me too. What does that mean, me too?
The sky was almost black in the mid-afternoon. The air was pleasantly warm and there was no wind... Yet at least. Luckily Brie and the girls didn't have far to go. It was less than a city block to Brie's late parents cottage. It was small and a bit flimsy but, in all likelihood, it would protect them from the worst of the hurricane if it hit there. By the looks of the sky, it was going to hit Nantucket and hard. So much for it by-passing the east coast until it got to Maine. When they got to the cottage, they bolted the door and Brie got a hammer, some nails and some sheets. She nailed the sheets around the windows in case the glass shattered.
Andy's mansion had shutters for all the windows, and most were double or even triple glazed so the hurricane wasn't likely to do much damage. After he closed all the shutters, he went out to the beach to fold the umbrella which was by the fence to his property. When he got there the umbrella was already partially under water from the storm surge. The wind was howling now, and Andy could barely stand up. He immediately called one of the church wardens just in case they lost a cell tower.
Mrs. Jenkins, the church warden Andy called said the church was ready and thebasement was a great place to ride out the storm, so she had been calling people she knew who might be safer in the church. Andy told her his late parents' house which had been doubling as the rectory, was also well protected so she could send people there. Mrs. Jenkins, a heavy-set woman in her 50s, reminded Andy that the little house Brie was staying in was not a safe place to be in one hundred plus mile-an-hour winds.
After Andy got off the phone, he ran toward Brie's house, but the progress was slow, and the wind was so intense now that debris was flying everywhere. A piece of metal from someone's roof caught Andy just above the eye and he was knocked out for a moment. He was bleeding heavily but luckily a pillowcase flew in from nowhere and landed right on his head which he was able to use as a makeshift bandage. Andy just looked up and said, "thanks" to God and giggling to himself he kept walking toward Brie's place. But the wind was so strong he was blinded by blood and wind and he virtually had to take two steps back for every step forward.
The wind was so strong that it was blowing up the beach sand like a dessert sandstorm which made it nearly impossible to see. Andy prayed for strength and that God would guide him to Brie and her step kids. He managed to get to the fence which divided the beach from the houses. He was walking and holding the top wire of the rusty old fence when he got hit in the stomach by an old steel bucket. It was a gut punch so hard that it made Andy bend over and throw up. As he straightened himself up,he realized that he must have a couple of cracked ribs as the pain was excruciating.
He could not stop. He knew that something was driving him forward, in spite of everything. A little bent forward he pressed on. When he finally got to the cottage, he realized that a trip that normally took a few minutes had taken him the better part of an hour.
As he got there the dark green shingles from the old roof were flying around everywhere. One of them hit Andy in the shin causing him to curse but strangely taking his mind off his burning ribs. Just then the entire roof of the cottage started to lift and then came crashing down on the flimsy walls. Like a horror story made all too real, the cottage collapsed right in front of Andy's eyes.
Strangely the door and doorway did not fall with the rest of the house and like a cartoon Andy still went to the door. He kind of laughed at himself as he went to knock but reality hit him quickly as he heard Brie screaming under the rubble for her stepdaughter Linda. Brie yelled for Lena who just said, I'm right here... Under a pile of crap but I am fine... I think.
The severe wind, rain, thunder, lightning and blowing sand were now complicated by the storm surge which had now made it over the dune and was now up to Andy's ankles. The wind was now helping Andy as he painfully dug through the rubble. The pain too was giving him extra adrenaline which helped him lift whole sections of wall, ceiling, roof and furniture. He called out for Brie and he heard a muted voice asked, Andy? What the hell are you doing here?
I think I am rescuing you although thatremains to be seen. Andy followed Brie's voice and picked up a six-foot-long two-by-four for leverage. Andy saw a foot and placed the two-by-four under that section of roof and rubble. As he lifted Brie slid out easily as she was beside a kitchen counter which had not yet collapsed.
When she looked at Andy she was horrified. He was bleeding from his head and stomach. She knew he had risked everything just to get to them, but appreciation would have to wait. She knew Lena was nearby and probably protected by the sofa which had blown over in the wind. Andy nearly passed out from the pain and blood loss, but he was not going to stop now.
Lena was screaming in terror, holy... Is that water? It's getting higher. First your God, Andy, tried to crush me and now he is trying to drown me? Why? What did I ever do to him?
Lena's complaining actually helped Andy find her amidst the destruction. He was able to get the two-by-four wedged on something to lift a large section of roof up just enough for Lena to float out. As she stood up, she was a little embarrassed as her top had become see-thru in the water. Brie had told her to put on her small training bra but of course because she was in her tween years, she ignored her. Andy either didn't or at least pretended not to notice.
In his agony he would not have noticed anyway. He was dizzy from the head wound and almost doubled over from the pain in his lower ribs. He wanted to collapse but he heard both Brie and Lena calling out for Linda. The too-old-for-her-age super intelligent ten-year-old was not making a sound. They all feared the worst but kept yelling for heranyway. If she was on the floor, the water was high enough now that she would be drowning. Yet there were still many places in the tiny cottage that were so covered by wreckage that they might not hear her anyway. They kept calling for her for more than half an hour but there was no response.
The hurricane was starting to subside which brought more and more people out of their nearby houses to help dig through the rubble, calling out Linda! As they did. They searched for over an hour but there was no sign. Brie and Lena were both crying and getting hysterical screaming for Linda and fearing the worst as time went on.
Suddenly Andy spied what he thought was just an old red running shoe. He went to kick it out of the way but quickly realized that it was still stuck to a little girl. He called the searchers to help him and in minutes they pulled the roof and wall parts off the lifeless form of a ten-year-old girl. Linda's skin was blue-grey, and she was not breathing.
Brie was screaming Linda's name over and over again as Andy, in spite of his pain, picked up Linda's limp lifeless body. It was like picking up a rag doll. Linda was dead.
Andy looked at Lena who had lost so much in the last few years. She had lost her mother, father and now her sister. Just looking at her you could tell she was broken. Brie collapsed where she stood, sitting in the water. She looked at Andy with pleading eyes and just said, please!
Eyes filled with tears for the child, the blood in his eye and the physical pain he was in, as well as, the pain in the eyes of her stepmother and her sister,Andy scooped up the lifeless body and prayed for gods healing power. As he started doing CPR chest compressions and doing the occasional breath into her lungs, he said, oh lord please breathe life back into this child. Her stepmom, her sister and I need her. This world needs her intelligence. We pray for your love to heal her. Let it be your will to fill this body with life; nevertheless, your will be done.
Although still in pain, Andy pulled Linda's body hard to him but after a few minutes she was still not breathing. Brie looked at Andy and just said, no... Please no.
Andy let the child's body fall back to the ground. He turned to Brie and tried to hug her, but she was not receptive. Brie and Lena held each other crying.
Several minutes passed and then suddenly Linda coughed up a bunch of water and turned to the people and said, what the hell is everybody crying about?
Oh my god Linda you're alive, Brie said running over to the child and grabbed her into a hug.
Of course, I am. Momma Brie, you're smothering me, Linda said, and everyone laughed. Oh my... What happened to our house? She said looking around at the destruction.
Lena ran up to her and grabbed her away from Brie. It doesn't matter, well find a place to live.
You already have one, Andy said. And he motioned to his house in the distance.
Oh, cool I love your place, Linda said.
Our place, Brie chimed in as she pulled Linda back into a hug.
One of the rescuers was a nurse and she looked over Linda who had a few bumps, bruises and small cuts but otherwise was fine. Amazing! I think we saw a genuine miracle here folks. This girl was dead and now she isfine, the old nurse said. But you Father Livingston look like you lost a prize fight and then had a car accident. The cut on your head is pretty deep and it looks like you've fractured a couple of ribs. So please get to a hospital as soon as you can, the nurse said.
I'll get him there, Brie said to the nurse and then she grabbed Andy's hand and gave him a small kiss on the lips. Lets go home.
-30-
Andy loved Brie at least as much as an eleven-and-a-half-year-old can. She loved him too, as much as a ten-year-old can. This just made it that much harder when the time came, as it always does, for it to end. Every day they ate at each other's houses and raided whatever pantry had the most stuff and was closest to go to their umbrella on the beach.
Andy's house was a large, typical home for the New England shores. All the walls in the rooms and the hallways were stained to look like light oak mid-way up to the white ceiling and walnut down to the gray marble looking floors. Eight bedrooms, a huge living room, a playroom, four all marble looking bathrooms, huge kitchen with two fridges perfect for raiding, a big separate dining room and even Andy's room was big enough to land a plane in with an enormous king-sized bed and wall-to-wall toys -- most of which Andy had never played with. It was a great place to play when it was raining.
Whenever Brie spent thenight there, there were just so many rooms that she would get scared and nearly always after an hour or so of trying to sleep in the room they gave her, she would quietly knock on Andy's bedroom door and Andy would take her in, and the two would spend the night giggling until they both fell asleep faced the wrong way on the huge four poster bed.
Andy's parents would listen for the knock and chuckle to themselves as Andy's door opened to let Brie in. Despite their comfortable life and living, Andy's family were not pretentious in any way. Brie was like the furniture; she came with the house every summer. She was a lovely child who was kind and polite and with her sun-bleached hair, delicate features, and disarming smile, she was going to be a real heartbreaker some day.
Brie's place was a four-room cottage so there wasn't much room for Andy to sleep over. But Andy loved the simple foods they had like hot dogs so Andy would often come over for supper. Even though they didnt have much, they were always willing to share. It was near the surfside shore but not on stilts which gave away its age.
It was a sweet innocent time of fun. At the end of this particular summer, however, the time for fun had come to an end. Andy waited for Brie under the umbrella, but she was late and even though Andy couldn't put his finger on it, something else was different. After about an hour Andy saw Brie running to him and he stood up but as she got closer, he could tell she had been crying. She ran up to him and kissed him hard on the lips. She had never done that before, but Andy hardly noticedbecause of the flood of tears.
She choked and cried every time she looked at Andy. Were leaving, Brie finally managed to say.
Yeah, I know we do it at the end of every summer, Andy replied, hoping that is what she meant.
No idiot! Were moving out west. My dad got a good job out there, but it means we wont be coming back here for the summers.
What, no you can't. We were supposed to be together every summer until we got married and then our kids would spend the summers here. You said that's what you wanted! Andys angry voice was really meant for the situation of losing his best friend but true to form Brie did not take it personally.
Of course, it was... And is but ... We can't control what the grown-ups do, Brie sobbed while hugging Andy tightly.
Brie broke the hug and said, one day we'll remember our time together as the best time of our lives. And then Brie started to walk away.
Andy didnt know what to say or do. I love you, Brianne!
She kept on walking but once she was far enough away, she yelled back, i love you too Andrew!
As she walked away Andy noticed something else. In her white top and small white shorts. Brie was kind of like a girl. That actually made saying goodbye that much harder.
As she got to the top of the grassy part of the dune which was more than a thousand feet away. She turned and yelled, I'll be back! Somehow, someway I'll be back.
At least that's what Andy thought she said. She could have said something about the weather with the wind and all, but he chose to believe she said she would come back.
Each summer when his family returned to the shore Andy would make apoint of sitting under the blue umbrella in hopes that maybe he'd see brie one more time. There was one time three or four years after brie left when he and his new group of young friends were sitting under the umbrella and laughing and having a good time, he thought he saw Brie in the distance. His friend Tommy had a girlfriend named Candace that everybody called Candy and she was almost excessively flirty. She hugged and kissed Andy like he was just one of the boyfriends. Andy didn't mind because Candy was a very pretty girl. At the same time, even years later, he worried that Brie could be watching and think the wrong thing.
Then that one summer where he thought he might have seen Brie in the distance, she never came and sat with them under the umbrella. As the years went by, she became nothing more than a fond memory of his favorite friend when he was a kid.
When he was 18, he went off to university and even though his family had enough money that he didn't have to do anything for money other than sit on the beach, he decided that he should work every summer. Meaning that he no longer went to the beach on the Surfside Nantucket shores in the summer to sit in the beige sand and marvel at the star-like glassy reflection.
Over the years girls would come and go with no one serious to fill the void left by his childhood friend. The only relationship that was even remotely serious was with Candy, his friend Tommy's former girlfriend, a raven-haired beauty who nearly always wore a yellow too-revealing bikini and loved the attention the boys and even some of the girls gave her. But even Candy gave up on Andyand their relationship, if you can call it that, fell by the wayside over time.
Andy went to a well-known American university for his undergraduate studies and after four years of taking political philosophy he made a hard change and decided to take his graduate studies at a seminary in Toronto Canada. When he graduated from seminary school, he became an Anglican priest or as it's known in the United States, an Episcopalian priest.
Andy got a posting in a small community in New Brunswick Canada where he loved the people and the people loved him, but he still longed to return home to his New England island town by the shore. Especially after his parents died in a small plane crash.
After a few years, when a posting in nantucket came up, as much as he loved it in New Brunswick Canada, he decided that he would apply for and eventually get that posting back in his summer home.
Father Andrew Livingston was 27 years old now, happily single but yes, each summer he sat under the now very ratty looking blue umbrella and waited see to see his fondly remembered childhood memory come alive again.
One day after church on a beautiful Sunday afternoon with the sun shimmering over the bay, Andy decided to sit under the umbrella and watch the big waves with their small white caps crash against the shore as he had done so many times before. But this time something was different. Walking up to him from the water was a girl with bright strawberry blonde hair. As she got closer, he knew at once who it was.
She hid her excitement as she said, my God, have you been sitting here this whole time? It's been sixteen years! Brie joked.
Andy likewise pretended not to be surprised, like she neverleft. Well, I've been waiting for you for a while if that's what you mean. They both laughed as Brianne Stanley took her usual spot under the dilapidated umbrella right beside him just like when they were young. Then as things got quiet, Andy said, how are you, Brie? I just heard, when I was shopping in town the other day, how your mom and dad are no longer with us, Andy said trying not to trigger a heavy emotional response.
Yeah, it's a sad time but in a way it's what brought me here. Turns out my parents never sold the cottage. I came back here once when i was fifteen, but you were tangled up with some pretty brunette girl and i didn't wanna get in the way.
Don't worry she was my friend's girlfriend. A little excessively flirty but a nice person. She just tended to be very touchy feely. So, there was nothing to it. You should have come over. I thought I saw you but then i just thought it was wishful thinking. Anyway, so what do you do now? Andy asked trying to change the subject.
Well, I just finished my graduate studies in marine biology and now I'm looking for work. But I have a bit of a nest egg, so I won't have to worry for a while. What have you been doing?
Well, it's a little hard to explain but I'm a priest.
What? That's very odd. I didn't even know you were religious.
Yeah, well being a priest is a tough gig: you're there for the beginning of life for baptism and at the end of life for the last rites. You're there for weddings and funerals and sometimes you even get invited to parties where, as you can tell, you get to eatmore than you should and probably drink more than you should, he said pointing at a small chubby tummy. But the best part of the job is giving people comfort at the lowest times of their lives.
So, you don't have a girl then?
I've had girls. That girl you saw me flirting with back when I was sixteen is still around and we are a convenient date for each other when we need one but neither of us have any interest in each other beyond that. But no one serious.
I thought priests couldn't have girls. Its sort of a rule or something.
I'm an Episcopalian priest. We can marry, have families, fight with our spouses, kill and eat puppies and children and all that great stuff.
Brie laughed hard at Andy's joke but then asked, how come you're not wearing a collar or a sign or something like a tee shirt that says, religious freak back off?
Well, it's not the best beachwear and it tends to scare off the girls. Not to mention mothers hiding their children because they think I'm a predator. So, wearing a white alligator shirt and shorts seems to be a better outfit than a cassock and surplice.
Yeah, i'll buy that. Men with collars are intimidating and scary, Brie said with a small chuckle. I heard about your parents; sorry I was not able to get to the funeral. They were always so nice to me.
So, what about you? What have you been doing? Andy asked trying to change the subject. It had been a few years, but it still hurt to talk about.
Hmmm my family moved out west as you know, and I grew up in California or at least I grew older in California. Brie looked around at the beach with the houses just over the grassydune, the light blue sky with no clouds, a light wind and the white capped ocean water quietly pounding the shore. I missed this place so much and I missed you! She said as she sat closer beside him and hugged him with one arm. It's weird isn't it, how a childhood friendship could mean so much even years and years later?
Yeah, I was thinking the same thing, Andy said while grabbing her hand. So, what about men? Not that i really want to know. But I want to know about your life, Andy asked while looking into her blue green eyes that seemed to change colour the more you looked into them.
Well, I dated a few guys in high school and in university. But there was one who was a lot like you. He was a little older than me... About 10 years older. He was a widower with two young kids. He was a kind, gentle and loving man... A gorgeous person inside and out. We got married and our life together was so happy at first. He put up with my quirks and peculiar study habits. He worked from home so he could spend more time with his kids, and he made a good living. Which enabled me to get my degree without worry about where the next meal was going to come from. He was a terrible tease, but he had the best sense of humour, and we laughed a lot. He was physically very attractive so other things were good too if you catch my drift, Brie smiled at her own over-sharing. But a few months ago, he left me. Brie was trying desperately not to cry. I'm sorry I don't mean he left me for a younger woman or whatever. He left this life. He had everything, love, two fantastic children and so on but his business was becoming harder and harder to manage. He'd become very unhappy and no matter what I did. I just couldn't make him happy. He fell into a deep dark depression. He took a shot gun into the woods by our house one day and never came back except as a body with no face! Brie screamed. God, I miss his face. Brie was full on crying now. I told him about you, and I think you'd have liked him. So now here I am a single mom with two stepchildren whose mother and father are both gone. I've lost my mom, dad, and my husband. So, if this is some sort of divine plan it sucks, she paused for a moment and then thought the heck with it she might as well finish her thought. ... And I'm just starting my career as a marine biologist which I guess is what brought me back here to Nantucket.
You know they say everything happens for a reason. But I have absolutely no idea why some people must suffer so much. Other than it can bring some to God and make others realize how lucky they are. Up until now I felt lonely and sad but hearing what you've been through, I feel much better, Andy joked but it fell flat. After a long pregnant pause Andy went on, sorry about your husband, it must have been a cruel blow.
Childhood friends meet many years later. A story about friendship, love, and a miracle.
It was. So please don't spend a lot of time trying to sell me on religion. He died a broken man, and he mostly broke me in the process.
I am not trying to sell you anything except abit of comfort from an old friend. For now, let's just sit under the umbrella and watch the waves. They sat there for a while until it was starting to get dark. Then Andy asked, hey Brie, where are your kids?
Oh my god Andy, I am a terrible mother. I left them playing with the neighbour children. I should have been back an hour ago. Pray for me father that my neighbour doesn't kill me.
I'm sure it will be fine. I'll put in a good word for you at social services, Andy teased.
Not funny Andy. Not funny at all, she said walking away briskly.
Even now Andy couldn't help but notice the beauty of the female form as she started to run. Brie was beautiful. But there was a sadness in every step. No matter how bright a day it was, there was a dark cloud hanging right over her.
On the other side of the grassy dune was Brie's neighbour's house where the kids were. Lena was 11 years old, but she could pass for older and was already into boys. She was a bright attractive tween who surprisingly looked like Brie even though they were not related. Linda was almost 10 with bright blue eyes that seemed to glow in the dark. She had long dark brown hair and was even more mischievous than her sister. Both girls were going to be heart breakers if they didn't break Brie's heart first.
Both kids missed their mother and father and while Brie was far from perfect, she was all they had. They both clung to Brie like glue and were terrified when it took so long for her to come back.
When Brie got there her neighbour gave a soft smile as if to say it wasn't a huge deal, but she stillpointed at her watch. Brie nodded and mouthed I'm sorry.
Brie then addressed the kids, oh girls i am so sorry. I ran into an old friend I had not seen since we were your age and I guess we lost track of time.
So, was this a guy friend or a girl friend? Lena asked.
It was a guy friend... Brie began.
I understand. My dad said women have needs, Lena teased.
Oh no it was nothing like that. We were just reminiscing about our time as kids, Brie said.
So, while your stepchildren were left alone with a stranger, you were making sexy time with an old flame, Linda, who was way too sophisticated for her age, jokingly accused Brie.
Oh no it was nothing like that. Besides he is a priest, Brie defended.
Oh my god that is so much worse. You were trying to use your feminine wiles and hot looks to take a man away from God, Lena teased.
It was nothing like... Oh you're teasing me aren't you, Brie asked.
Of course, we are, Linda said and all of them hugged. Our dad didn't just leave us. He left you too. So, its ok if you talk to a friend. Just please let us know where you are, ok? Linda was probably a bit too grown up because of all the sadness she had known in her young life losing her mother a few years ago and her dad just a few months ago.
If anything, Brie felt even worse. The neighbour asked if they wanted to stay for dinner, but Brie politely declined and took the girls to a restaurant in town so Lena could get a milkshake.
As luck would have it, Andy was there. So, she walked past everyone in the diner to say hello.
Hey Andy, these are my girls Lena and Linda,Brie introduced each girl.
You didn't say he was good looking, Lena blurted out.
Lena! Brie scolded.
Brie and Andy both laughed awkwardly. Andy turned bright red, and Brie couldn't help but laugh. He was wearing his black collar with khaki pants and a black suit coat. Brie thought about it and Lena was right, he did look rather handsome in his priestly garb. He was sitting with a heavy-set older couple who promptly made excuses and left the booth they were sitting in.
Ill see you Sunday, Andy said to the couple.
Yup well see you then padre. The man said with a very thick New England accent.
Andy slid over to the corner so someone could sit beside him. Wont you sit down? He motioned to Brie and the girls. Lena and Linda sat opposite him, and Brie sat beside him.
Linda looked like she was accusing him of something but then just asked, what was momma-Brie like as a kid?
Bitchy most of the time, Andy joked and both girls laughed hysterically. They were not expecting that answer at all. I'm joking, Brie was the sweetest girl, funny, always teasing and was such a good sport. We would spend whole weeks together where she would sleep over, have dinner with my family, laugh and tell jokes till dawn, have breakfast and head to the beach and sit under the blue umbrella until it was dark. We were the best of friends, Andy said remembering.
The best... Brie chimed in and gave Andy a high five.
Were you guys like boyfriend and girlfriend? Lena asked
No, we were too young for that. I left when I was almost 11, Brie said sadly.
The waitress came to take the order. She was attractive but the tan uniform with the white maids apron didnt do much for her. She looked like shehad a thing for Andy. But she smiled genuinely at the girls. Do you want this on your tab father?
Yes, please Millie, and don't forget to give yourself 20 percent, Andy smiled.
You don't have to do that, Brie said.
I think Millie deserves a good tip, she's a good waitress, Andy joked.
You know that's not what I meant. I mean I can pay for it. My husband, God rest him, left me a fair amount of money to look after the girls, Brie said somewhat exasperated.
Well, ok you can get the next one, Andy said somewhat amused.
The two girls seemed to study the menu forever, but both finally decided on pancakes and strawberry milkshakes. Andy and Brie both ordered club platters and chocolate milkshakes made with chocolate ice cream, chocolate milk and extra chocolate sauce.
You two are starting to freak me out, Linda said. Like two peas in a creepy pod.
Everyone laughed and it served to break whatever tension was there.
While the girls had only lost their father a few months before, he had isolated himself from them for a very long time. They had moments of laughter and fun but over the last year or so before his death but very few. This time in the restaurant with Andy and their stepmom was the most fun they have had in a long time.
Brie was worried that the girls would get the wrong idea. Maybe it was because he was a minister or an old friend who had lots of funny stories about Brie when she was their age, they seemed to just accept Andy like he was family. Normally they might have thought Brie was being disrespectful to their father's memory but for now they were just enjoying the moment.
The girls both had banana splits for desert while Father Andyhad a cherry cheesecake which of course Brie ate after saying she couldn't eat another bite. She knew that Andy had only ordered it for her anyway. Afterall, it had only been sixteen years or so, it's not like people change.
When dinner was over, they all agreed to meet again soon but as they said their goodbyes, Andy was sure Brie was just being polite. He would show up almost every day at the ratty old blue umbrella where he and Brie used to meet but she never showed.
As almost a month had passed, Andy finally gave up looking for Brie. He thought things had gone well with the kids and everything, but they ghosted him as the kids say these days.
The truth was that the girls were visiting their mother's sister for a few weeks and Brie had been busy looking for and finally getting funding for a study on the impact of climate change on marine migrations. She was not really avoiding Andy just very busy.
Nevertheless, Andy went to the umbrella to wait for Brie almost every day. Some of his congregation, comprised mostly of well-to-do suburbanites on vacation, thought he had lost it.
It was getting later in the season and sometimes the beach was frigid cold. Andy came prepared and brought a gas fired space heater which heated the ratty-looking and hole filled umbrella pretty well. So much so that Andy fell asleep.
As he slept the beautiful blonde Brie came up to him wearing a tiny red bikini. Her body looked sculpted by a renaissance artist. She gently kissed Andy as he lay there and softly lifted his head and put it on his rolled-up jacket. He awoke seconds later prepared to kiss and hold Brie until all the problems just melted away.
Alas when Andy woke up,there was no Brie. The cold sand had not been disturbed. It seemed so real, but he realized he was dreaming. Although his jacket was rolled up and he had been using it as a pillow. He must have done that in his sleep, he thought.
He put his jacket back on and packed the heater and headed back to his large empty old victorian style house. He missed his mom and her fancy cooking and his dad who couldnt stop complaining about it. They were good natured and surprisingly patient with him. It had been a while since they died in a plane crash, but he remembered hearing the plane near the house sputter and fall out of the sky and the subsequent explosion. When the police showed up at the front door, he knew at once his parents were gone. He had been visiting from his parish in New Brunswick Canada and they flew over from Hartford to Nantucket just to see him. It took him a long time to come to terms with it, so he understood what Brie was going through now.
Several weeks had gone by and Brie never showed up on the beach. It was too cold now, even with the heater to wait for her. So, he went about his priestly duties trying not to think about her. Knowing she was close by made it even worse. He missed his friend who had returned after all those years. Oh well, a love that began and ended when they were children, probably wasn't sustainable anyway, he mused to himself.
Brie had come by the umbrella a few times but it was late in the season so she figured he probably wouldn't be there. She could have walked the hundred feet or so to the house behind theumbrella, but she could not think of an excuse. Just saying she missed him would have been too embarrassing, especially with the kids in tow. Finally, she decided that she and the girls would see the animal in its own habitat. They would go to the church.
Before the multitude of tragedies, her husband's suicide, losing her parents and not being the mother, she hoped she would be, she had a faith of sorts. She was a scientist but also believed there must have been a creator. If there was a God and he could not get the people to understand what was important but still wanted them to have choice to know him or not, isn't it logical that he would have to come and explain that loving one another was more important than sacrifice and ritual? So, in a way the Christ story was sort of believable from that perspective.
Brie wasn't entirely convinced but was curious how an ordinary guy like Andy could get so deluded that he would become a spokesman for the questionable deity.
Andy didn't see it that way. He wasn't selling God or religion. He showed love to people who needed it. He took to heart that passage in Matthew that said, whatever you did not do for the least of these, you did not do for me. To Andy, real religion, Christian or otherwise was a demonstration of compassion. So, while he prayed a lot, his mission, as far as he was concerned, was helping people in the dark times of their lives.
As Brie and the girls walked up to the aging white church, Brie almost decided to go home but the girls seemed eager to see Andy in his natural habitat. She was handed a bulletin and sat down toward the front of thechurch. In any Anglican or Episcopalian church there is a fight for the back pews while the front pews often go empty. Some would say they don't want the priest to hear them snore or they don't want to be seen.
The walls of the church inside were white with stain glass windows on all sides. The lights were long crystals hanging from the ceiling. At the front of the church there were 3 levels. The first was where the choir sat. The second was where the lectern and pulpit were located. The last step was where the bishop's chair and the altar were pressed against the wall. Unlike many churches, the celebrant faced the wall as he or she prepared the communion.
Brie was a bit nervous as she did not know how the service would go since the only times she had been to any church was for her wedding and the funerals. But it was too late to back out now. Besides Linda and Lena were curious about the church and about the priest who seemed so normal, as Linda said. Plus, they were decked out and really this is the only place they could wear these clothes. Brie was wearing an all-white 3-piece skirt suit, Lena was in a respectable blue mini with a blue shirt and Linda was in white with a red vest. The rest of the congregation acknowledged them but had no idea who the visitors were. Most of the rest were in their sixties or seventies so young people were a welcome distraction.
From the back of the church Brie heard a familiar voice, good morning, everyone.
The congregation all said good morning and Father Andrew said, as we have many visitors, so today we will do matins or as some say, morning prayer. We'll beginour service by singing hymn 401 from the blue hymn books in front of you.
An 8-year-old boy who was wearing a red cassock with a white surplice was carrying a brass cross on a 5-foot poll and he began the procession with ten members of the choir clad in blue following. In front of Andy who was wearing a white brother's robe tied with a white nylon rope, was a lay minister wearing a white surplice over a black cassock as they all walked to the front of the church singing heartily.
Brie couldnt help but notice how the crowd seemed to love Andy and judging by the look on Andy's face, the feeling was mutual.
When the song was over the lay minister began the service with the exhortation or call to confession. Brie was a bit confused, but Linda opened the prayer book to the page where the service was and handed it to her.
Other than the absolution, the lay minister did the bulk of the service, but Andy was doing the sermon.
There had been a recent mass shooting and many children Linda and Lena's age had been killed. Plus, there were wars going on that robbed the world of men and women for causes that often made no sense.
Andy spoke of many things but the one that caught Brie's ear was,
each year on December 28 we remember the sacrifice of the innocent children of Israel who died for the jealousy of Herod. Herod had ordered all of the children under the age of 2 killed in order to stop the messiah from coming. In the process of that we remember all the innocent children who die in their youth and try and accept with joy that they are greatly blessed in the kingdom of god.
We often think of thelittle joys on the earth that children who die will miss, the first time they hear themselves called mommy and daddy, the look on their childrens faces at christmas - yes life can be special, but the pleasures are so few and fleeting without the love of god. Its hard to accept that children robbed of life were taken because of the sins of terrible, misguided people who had suffered themselves. There are people suffering today because someone in their life has lost hope. But there is hope... Hope in the kindness of others, hope that dreams are possible and there is hope in God. His love can make things happen... Often not the way we want or expect them to. The loss of someone close to us is often the loss of hope. Then you meet someone who has lost so much and yet continues to fight on and hope is reborn. The innocents missed the simple joys of life, but the joy they gave us in life was a miracle and now they have the everlasting joy of the Kingdom of God.
Much of the rest of the service was lost on Brie. She left the church in a daze and cried violently for her mom and dad and her husband. She thought about all they would miss and all she lost without them. The girls were crying too but mostly out of empathy for their stepmom. Then it occurred to them, they weren't stuck with her. They loved her and she them.
Brie?
Yes?
Thank you for staying with us even though you didn't have to, Linda said tearily.
I love you guys so much. Without you I don't know if I could have made it through, Brie said crying.
Andy came out shaking hands with the parishioners and working his way overto Brie and the girls. When he saw them crying, geez was it something I said? Andy teased.
Desperate for comfort, Brie pulled Andy into a bear hug. The girls joined the hug and the three of them kept crying. Andy didn't have to ask why. The crowd were getting uncomfortable, so they gradually walked away and got in their cars and left. Finally, the choir and the reader left, and Andy and the girls were alone.
Andy walked back into the church and took off his smock like a stripper which made the girls laugh. He put the robe on a hook and grabbed his suitcoat. He locked up and started walking home and without asking, Brie and the girls went with him.
It has been a while and I started to think I would never see you again, Andy said as he opened to the door to his family's mansion which was very close to the church.
Brie and her stepdaughters walked past Andy and headed right to the kitchen. Love what you haven't done with the place. It looks exactly the same except for the dirt and the cobwebs, Brie teased as she made her way to the fridge to find something to make for lunch.
Andy looked sort of stunned and amused as she put on a pot for spaghetti that she found in the cupboard to go with the cheese she got out of the fridge, and a can of tomatoes she found in a very large but mostly empty pantry on the other side of the fridge.
Then it suddenly dawned on Brie that she had invited herself and the girls without asking, oh my god Andy is this alright?
It's great actually. I usually eat alone, and no one cooks for me....
If you call what Momma Brie just did ascooking, Linda teased, and they all laughed.
The girls and Andy sat at the large brown island facing the brown cupboards, the shiny steel fridge, an eight-burner stove and the sink that might have looked white if someone had done a better job cleaning it. Brie drained the spaghetti and threw in the cheese and the tomatoes some spices and voila it was done. She found four bowls and served it up.
Andy asked Linda to say grace to which after a considerable pause she said, every time a bell rings, an angel gets his wings.
Andy did a fairly spot on Jimmy Stewart impression as he said, that's right, that's right... Way to be Clarence. They all laughed hard, and Brie mouthed, thank you to Andy. Andy smiled thinking that having a family wasn't so bad.
After lunch they adjourned to the living room with the girls each in a large chair and Andy and Brie on the couch. They turned on the tv and watched Toy Story until the network broke in with a hurricane warning. Looks like the storm is headed up the coast but it probably won't hit land util it gets to Maine, the announcer said.
Well let's hope so, Andy said out loud not even noticing that Brie was asleep in his lap.
Lena whispered, please don't move yet, she really needs this.
Andy nodded and gently moved the hair from Brie's sleeping face.
Linda saw it and whispered, you have feelings for her.
Andy just replied, well we are friends.
No no, I can tell by the way you look at her, its more than friendship, Linda whispered loudly.
It doesn't matter anyway. With all that guys have gone through. The timing is all wrong. But yes, i guess i do have feelings for her. I think i always have, Andy whispered back.
Well, Ican't wait to say my stepfather is a father...
Brie was getting up, if you people are done marrying me off, i think it's time to go.
Andy was embarrassed but as Brie got to the foyer, she turned around and gave Andy a kiss on the cheek and said, me too.
As the girls and Brie left, they could hear Andy in the background saying, me too. What does that mean, me too?
The sky was almost black in the mid-afternoon. The air was pleasantly warm and there was no wind... Yet at least. Luckily Brie and the girls didn't have far to go. It was less than a city block to Brie's late parents cottage. It was small and a bit flimsy but, in all likelihood, it would protect them from the worst of the hurricane if it hit there. By the looks of the sky, it was going to hit Nantucket and hard. So much for it by-passing the east coast until it got to Maine. When they got to the cottage, they bolted the door and Brie got a hammer, some nails and some sheets. She nailed the sheets around the windows in case the glass shattered.
Andy's mansion had shutters for all the windows, and most were double or even triple glazed so the hurricane wasn't likely to do much damage. After he closed all the shutters, he went out to the beach to fold the umbrella which was by the fence to his property. When he got there the umbrella was already partially under water from the storm surge. The wind was howling now, and Andy could barely stand up. He immediately called one of the church wardens just in case they lost a cell tower.
Mrs. Jenkins, the church warden Andy called said the church was ready and thebasement was a great place to ride out the storm, so she had been calling people she knew who might be safer in the church. Andy told her his late parents' house which had been doubling as the rectory, was also well protected so she could send people there. Mrs. Jenkins, a heavy-set woman in her 50s, reminded Andy that the little house Brie was staying in was not a safe place to be in one hundred plus mile-an-hour winds.
After Andy got off the phone, he ran toward Brie's house, but the progress was slow, and the wind was so intense now that debris was flying everywhere. A piece of metal from someone's roof caught Andy just above the eye and he was knocked out for a moment. He was bleeding heavily but luckily a pillowcase flew in from nowhere and landed right on his head which he was able to use as a makeshift bandage. Andy just looked up and said, "thanks" to God and giggling to himself he kept walking toward Brie's place. But the wind was so strong he was blinded by blood and wind and he virtually had to take two steps back for every step forward.
The wind was so strong that it was blowing up the beach sand like a dessert sandstorm which made it nearly impossible to see. Andy prayed for strength and that God would guide him to Brie and her step kids. He managed to get to the fence which divided the beach from the houses. He was walking and holding the top wire of the rusty old fence when he got hit in the stomach by an old steel bucket. It was a gut punch so hard that it made Andy bend over and throw up. As he straightened himself up,he realized that he must have a couple of cracked ribs as the pain was excruciating.
He could not stop. He knew that something was driving him forward, in spite of everything. A little bent forward he pressed on. When he finally got to the cottage, he realized that a trip that normally took a few minutes had taken him the better part of an hour.
As he got there the dark green shingles from the old roof were flying around everywhere. One of them hit Andy in the shin causing him to curse but strangely taking his mind off his burning ribs. Just then the entire roof of the cottage started to lift and then came crashing down on the flimsy walls. Like a horror story made all too real, the cottage collapsed right in front of Andy's eyes.
Strangely the door and doorway did not fall with the rest of the house and like a cartoon Andy still went to the door. He kind of laughed at himself as he went to knock but reality hit him quickly as he heard Brie screaming under the rubble for her stepdaughter Linda. Brie yelled for Lena who just said, I'm right here... Under a pile of crap but I am fine... I think.
The severe wind, rain, thunder, lightning and blowing sand were now complicated by the storm surge which had now made it over the dune and was now up to Andy's ankles. The wind was now helping Andy as he painfully dug through the rubble. The pain too was giving him extra adrenaline which helped him lift whole sections of wall, ceiling, roof and furniture. He called out for Brie and he heard a muted voice asked, Andy? What the hell are you doing here?
I think I am rescuing you although thatremains to be seen. Andy followed Brie's voice and picked up a six-foot-long two-by-four for leverage. Andy saw a foot and placed the two-by-four under that section of roof and rubble. As he lifted Brie slid out easily as she was beside a kitchen counter which had not yet collapsed.
When she looked at Andy she was horrified. He was bleeding from his head and stomach. She knew he had risked everything just to get to them, but appreciation would have to wait. She knew Lena was nearby and probably protected by the sofa which had blown over in the wind. Andy nearly passed out from the pain and blood loss, but he was not going to stop now.
Lena was screaming in terror, holy... Is that water? It's getting higher. First your God, Andy, tried to crush me and now he is trying to drown me? Why? What did I ever do to him?
Lena's complaining actually helped Andy find her amidst the destruction. He was able to get the two-by-four wedged on something to lift a large section of roof up just enough for Lena to float out. As she stood up, she was a little embarrassed as her top had become see-thru in the water. Brie had told her to put on her small training bra but of course because she was in her tween years, she ignored her. Andy either didn't or at least pretended not to notice.
In his agony he would not have noticed anyway. He was dizzy from the head wound and almost doubled over from the pain in his lower ribs. He wanted to collapse but he heard both Brie and Lena calling out for Linda. The too-old-for-her-age super intelligent ten-year-old was not making a sound. They all feared the worst but kept yelling for heranyway. If she was on the floor, the water was high enough now that she would be drowning. Yet there were still many places in the tiny cottage that were so covered by wreckage that they might not hear her anyway. They kept calling for her for more than half an hour but there was no response.
The hurricane was starting to subside which brought more and more people out of their nearby houses to help dig through the rubble, calling out Linda! As they did. They searched for over an hour but there was no sign. Brie and Lena were both crying and getting hysterical screaming for Linda and fearing the worst as time went on.
Suddenly Andy spied what he thought was just an old red running shoe. He went to kick it out of the way but quickly realized that it was still stuck to a little girl. He called the searchers to help him and in minutes they pulled the roof and wall parts off the lifeless form of a ten-year-old girl. Linda's skin was blue-grey, and she was not breathing.
Brie was screaming Linda's name over and over again as Andy, in spite of his pain, picked up Linda's limp lifeless body. It was like picking up a rag doll. Linda was dead.
Andy looked at Lena who had lost so much in the last few years. She had lost her mother, father and now her sister. Just looking at her you could tell she was broken. Brie collapsed where she stood, sitting in the water. She looked at Andy with pleading eyes and just said, please!
Eyes filled with tears for the child, the blood in his eye and the physical pain he was in, as well as, the pain in the eyes of her stepmother and her sister,Andy scooped up the lifeless body and prayed for gods healing power. As he started doing CPR chest compressions and doing the occasional breath into her lungs, he said, oh lord please breathe life back into this child. Her stepmom, her sister and I need her. This world needs her intelligence. We pray for your love to heal her. Let it be your will to fill this body with life; nevertheless, your will be done.
Although still in pain, Andy pulled Linda's body hard to him but after a few minutes she was still not breathing. Brie looked at Andy and just said, no... Please no.
Andy let the child's body fall back to the ground. He turned to Brie and tried to hug her, but she was not receptive. Brie and Lena held each other crying.
Several minutes passed and then suddenly Linda coughed up a bunch of water and turned to the people and said, what the hell is everybody crying about?
Oh my god Linda you're alive, Brie said running over to the child and grabbed her into a hug.
Of course, I am. Momma Brie, you're smothering me, Linda said, and everyone laughed. Oh my... What happened to our house? She said looking around at the destruction.
Lena ran up to her and grabbed her away from Brie. It doesn't matter, well find a place to live.
You already have one, Andy said. And he motioned to his house in the distance.
Oh, cool I love your place, Linda said.
Our place, Brie chimed in as she pulled Linda back into a hug.
One of the rescuers was a nurse and she looked over Linda who had a few bumps, bruises and small cuts but otherwise was fine. Amazing! I think we saw a genuine miracle here folks. This girl was dead and now she isfine, the old nurse said. But you Father Livingston look like you lost a prize fight and then had a car accident. The cut on your head is pretty deep and it looks like you've fractured a couple of ribs. So please get to a hospital as soon as you can, the nurse said.
I'll get him there, Brie said to the nurse and then she grabbed Andy's hand and gave him a small kiss on the lips. Lets go home.
-30-
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