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The darkness was pierced suddenly by the sliding open of the channel between Clay and the father. Inside the cramped iron maiden the thick dust could be tasted but not seen. Clay let out a choked whispered prayer for forgiveness later rattling on uninterrupted about the plethora of sins both new and previously omitted or more likely forgotten. The father sat in silence out of disbelief or perhaps even shame over his fellow man’s emotionless enumeration of his adventures. When silence finally returned to the chamber the father groaned and pulled from his vocabulary the one word Clay did not expect to hear.
****
“No I shant have it, your my guest. Well, my father’s guest. Take a seat and I shall fetch the tea.” The foppish man waved his arms hysterically before retrieving his spectacles from his pocket. He seemed old in motion but youthful when still – his dress reflected something of a by-gone era but his angular features and beardless face made it look modern and stylish if not slightly outlandish. He wore a navy blue bowtie and suspenders over a plane white dress shirt. He had draped his sports coat over a antique looking chair before shooting off into the kitchen.
“I think we have some misunderstanding.” Elle pleaded while still standing.
“Nonsense. I see things all too clear. My father, like all men, has given into the nature of our kind and found himself a youthful mistress. For what other reason would you be in his study without a stitch of clothing on.” He paused as he fiddled with the oven. Elle searched for the proper words to say, to come clean, to admit to her sinful night and beg for this strangers forgiveness. But before her heart compelled her to speak, he continued.”
***
“You cannot be forgiven. What you have done is completely contrary to God’s will and you have done it more than enough times to make a habit of it. Until some way of education can be devised to purge from you the taste for sin I cannot in good conscious forgive your sins.”
“Is it a sin to give into your nature?”
“To be a beast?”
“To be too human?”
“You cling to your beastliness for justification but what of the other side… the higher side?”
****
“This explains why father was so happy before he died. Even as the Alzheimer’s gripped his mind he kept saying: My soul has ascended. The old man was all doom and gloom ’til that moment. He would shuffle around this house finding solace in antiques and books from exotic places. It was unnatural. A man cannot go that long without a woman’s touch.” Something in the way he spoke brought comfort to Elle. The man wanted his father to be happy, and if that belief kept this man afloat than why bother his bliss with such a trivial matter of detail.
“I’m afraid I didn’t catch your name.”
“Pierce Fletcher. Yours?”
“Elle Scardenelli.”
“A beautiful name, for a beautiful woman.”
***
“Even Adam, before sin gripped his bones, was undone by a beautiful woman.”
“You quote scripture to suit your purpose, but you throw out the rest. Even the devil can quote scripture for his purpose, Clay.”
“I need this.”
“For what, Clay? To write another one of your trashy novels.”
“With your grace perhaps I can make them more than trash.”
“You’ll have to ask the Lord about that issue. I have a higher side to worry about as well, and it will do nohting but poison my spirit if I forgive you on the grounds you have provided.”
“Then educate me. What is it that I can do to atone?”
***
“I write novels. Well, sort of. Father said it was always a waste of time, that I would never be like Homer or Shakespeare, so why bother? Unlucky to be born at such a point in history were all understanding of art has lost. It takes a civilization of immense culture to produce such a writer. By we’ll never know if we don’t try, right? I want to write something great, something sweeping, a definition of our time and place.”
“What will it be about?”
“Haven’t really gotten that far yet. I am taking a trip for inspiration.”
“Where to?”
***
“I know some monks that might take you in.”
“Monks?”
“Yes. They live a secluded life up in the mountains. They offer a retreat for spiritual travelers looking to come to the grace of God. I believe one of the brothers there was a writer like yourself. People go to him for teachings on the written word.”
“And if I don’t go. You don’t forgive me.”
“That’s the deal.”
“I suppose the fresh air might do me some good. Where is this place?”
***
“Kentucky.” The foppish man replied without missing a beat.
“Kentucky?” Elle prodded further.
“The trappists have a monastery down that way.”
“A monastery?” Elle tried to imagine this professorial type in robes.
“A trappist monastery. In New Haven. Its called the Abbey at Gethsemani.”
****
“You want me to go to a monastery. In Kentucky.”
“Only there will you find salvation.”
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