Free Bless Us Father by Kathy Pratt

compliment.
    Mrs. Riley returned without her apron. She’d put a jacket on and was shaking the wrinkles out of a black lace veil she wore during Mass.
    Mary Margaret checked her purse to make sure her white prayer cap was in its plastic pouch. It was round and her mother said it looked like a doily perched on top of her head, but Margaret didn’t care. This was what all the girls were wearing now.
    “All set?” Mr. Riley asked. “We don’t want to be late for Mass.”
    “We’ve plenty of time,” Mrs. Riley said. “Mary Margaret was actually ready before me for once. She’s really improved on her dawdling.”
    The prior Mass had just finished and people were still filing out of the church when the Rileys arrived.
    “Father O’Malley must have said the nine o’clock Mass. He always talks way too much,” Mr. Riley said knowingly.
    Mary Margaret’s heart skipped a beat. If Father O’Malley did the nine o’clock Mass, then Father Antonio would surely be doing the ten-thirty Mass.
    She looked around and noticed that there were more people arriving for this Mass than were leaving the one Father O’Malley had just done. There seemed to be a lot of women and girls, too. Or maybe it just looked that way to Mary Margaret. Father Antonio had chosen her to be his special assistant, and she didn’t like the idea of anyone else trying to weasel in on her territory.
    Mary Margaret and her mother covered their heads, dipped their fingers in holy water as they entered the church and crossed themselves. They followed Mr. Riley to the front of the church and their usual pew. They knelt down in unison, said their prayers, then sat back in the pew to wait for Mass to begin.
    The choir was singing in English today, rather than Latin.
    Mary Margaret was seated between her parents, and Mrs. Riley leaned over her in order to whisper loudly to Mr. Riley. “It’s getting far too modern for me. Before you know it the whole Mass will be in English.”
    Mr. Riley nodded his agreement then opened the Sunday bulletin and was soon engrossed in reading the church news.
    Mary Margaret was waiting for Mass to begin when Father Antonio entered the front of the church and began giving instructions to the altar boys. He was wearing green vestments and had on a beautiful embroidered stole. It was cream colored and gold, with symbols of the Eucharist on it. He stood straight and tall, and looked so dignified. His black hair was combed neatly in place, and his normal shadow of a beard was gone, indicating he had probably just shaved.
    She looked around the church and noticed that many of the women also had their eyes trained on Father Antonio. She supposed it was natural, and that most of them were just watching him in order to be prepared for the start of Mass, but it irritated her a bit just the same.
    Trying to refocus on the service, Mary Margaret opened her misalette to the readings and followed along with the reader. When it was time for the gospel to be read, she again focused on Father Antonio as he walked to the podium. Visions of the two of them in the rectory the previous evening needled their way into her thoughts. She felt herself growing warm as she remembered his hug and the feel of his lips on her neck. The warmness settled low in her abdomen, causing her to glance around to see if anyone was noticing her.
    She didn’t understand these new sensations in her body, but suspected they had something to do with sex. And sex was something she couldn’t talk about, let alone ask anyone about. Her sex education so far consisted of the school nurse taking the sixth grade girls aside to tell them how their bodies worked and to talk to them about getting their periods. The nurse had briefly explained about pregnancy, but hadn’t mentioned the man’s role in it. The girls on the playground filled in the rest, the ones with older sisters being a bit more knowledgeable. Mary Margaret did know that when a man and woman marry, they engage in