Free Flower of Heaven by Julien Ayotte

end of the summer. I’m going to worry about her.”
    “Don’t give it another thought, Dick, your Aunt Jean and I don’t have any other relatives and your mom’s all we got. We’ll see to it that she gets whatever she needs to adjust to this climate. Dick, she’s sixty-five years old, she’s got to slow down a bit. I’m thinking of asking her to maybe just bake desserts for the restaurant. That should keep her busy just a few hours a day, no more. That way, she can learn to unwind and relax with Jean and me. You’ve got to make your own life now Dick, your mom too!”
    The summer months for Dick were totally different than he had been accustomed to. Sean had loaned him one of his cars to use and Alice did not want Dick working that summer at all. The time he spent walking the beaches or riding the open topped car for hours on end, were times for Dick to think about his future, about the regret he felt at not being on better terms with his father before he died, and about the coming September and going back to school. “If only we could have talked more,” Dick pondered, “I never got to tell him how much I loved him.” This tormented him that summer in Florida.
    “Dick, nice of you to call, how are you and how’s your mother?” the excited voice at the other end of the phone blurted.
    “I’m fine, Father, how’s everything at St. Barnaby’s?”
    “Well, to tell you the truth, Dick, we’ve had a good summer with lots of tourists attending Masses on weekends and the community is growing every day. We miss your smiling face, though. What’s happening with you in Florida and how’s your mom?”
    “Mom’s fine, really settled into this area and she’s gotten used to the hot summers and looking forward to her first warm winter. I think it might bother her, though, around Christmas time without the snow and all.”
    “Father, do you remember our talk last year about me breaking away from my folks and going off on my own?”
    “Sounds to me like you’ve been doing some soul searching on those Florida beaches. That’s pretty hard to do with those lovely young ladies parading around in bathing suits down there. Sure, I remember our talk. What have you come up with?”
    “I was wondering, Father, is there someone up there I can talk to about the seminary. I think I’d like to become a priest, Father.”
    The news to Father Gavin came as no surprise. Although he had deliberately avoided talking to Dick too much about the priesthood, for fear that it might look like he was pushing him in that direction, Father Gavin knew though that Dick’s interest in the priesthood was not merely a passing thought. He had recalled himself in similar circumstances some years before he had contemplated going to the seminary in Baltimore to study the priesthood.
    “That’s a big decision, Dick, are you sure you’ve really thought this out?” Father Gavin sounded like he was discouraging Dick while, in reality, Dick knew that Father Gavin’s concern was due to the seriousness of this decision.
    “I must find out, Father, that’s all I’ve thought about since my dad died, and now that mom’s doing okay on her own, I’ve got to think of my own future. After a year at Plymouth, I’m not sure that teaching history is for me.”
    “Father Romeo Gleason at the St. Ignatius Seminary in Baltimore is the guy you want to talk to, Dick. You’ll need a sponsor, too, someone who can support your genuine interest on this. I’ll call on your behalf to let him know you’ll be in touch.”
    Dick jotted down the phone number for the seminary and told Father Gavin that he’d let him know how he made out with Father Gleason as soon as he could. A visit to the seminary was customary, Father Gavin had mentioned to Dick, and a brief three-to-five day stay would also be required to acclimate potential postulants in the regimen at the seminary. This preliminary period usually eliminated the majority of the interested young men from