Free No Greater Love by William Kienzle Page B

permitted to be a priest, or even an altar boy.
    Andrea knew what it was to want something she couldn’t have. She knew what it was to want her entire personality returned after it had been buried under layers of unwelcome and undeserved fatty tissue. She knew what it was to want her tormentors to be her friends again. She knew what it was to have her respected and revered parents believe she was possessed by the devil. She knew what it was to prefer death to life in an alien body.
    Andrea was quite sure Patty Donnelly did not know what she knew. It wasn’t that Andrea had not walked in Patty’s moccasins; it was vice versa. But, true to their friendship, Andrea would do her utmost to see that Patty would never have to walk in those moccasins.

Nine
    Andrea blew across the surface of her coffee, then sipped. She had done well in brewing this batch and she was pleased. “You’re right, Patty: I haven’t walked in your moccasins.” She looked across the room in thought. “I wonder if anyone can do that. None of our experiences can be totally identical.
    â€œBut I think I know where you’re coming from. I think I might have wanted to be ordained almost as much as you do if it hadn’t been for that crazy priest.”
    â€œWhich crazy priest?”
    â€œOh, I know I’ve told you about when I tried to become an altar server and the dear Father told me that, as a girl, I was ‘unworthy.’ Unworthy! He didn’t know me well enough to pronounce me—specifically—unworthy. But it’s really something when your entire sex is unworthy.”
    â€œYou know what they say,” Patty reminded. “If a priest is a jackass, there isn’t a Roman collar in the world big enough to hide his ears.”
    â€œI’ve heard that—from you … frequently.”
    â€œIt deserves repetition.” Patty paused for a moment, enjoying her coffee. “But you know, Andy, I’ve thought of that experience you had … being called ‘unworthy’ Isn’t that a classic incident? I mean somebody has dealings with a clerical weirdo and he or she takes this to mean that the whole Catholic Church is reflected in this guy’s behavior. And it isn’t, you know.”
    Andrea grinned. “Pat! Are you trying to entice me to get behind you in a line that’s going nowhere?”
    Patty returned the smile, though not as enthusiastically. “Why not? The only way you’re gonna know that this line is moving is if you join it. I mean, forget the silly priest who claimed you’re unworthy. If he hadn’t said that, wouldn’t you want to be a priest … or, at least, be thinking about it seriously?”
    Andrea warmed her hands by rotating the coffee mug between them. “I think, maybe, some years ago I might have. But it’s too late now.”
    â€œEven if nobody’s standing in your way?”
    Andrea was sensitive to Patty’s tone. Patty seemed to be seeking encouragement to continue her so-far discouraging pursuit of the priesthood. Andrea could understand Pat’s need for reassurance. Pat needed Andrea’s backing, reinforcement, moral support—something that testified to the worthiness of her goal and the possibility of attaining it, be that possibility ever so remote.
    â€œYes,” Andrea replied. “If the M.C.P. priest hadn’t thrown me out of the altar servers well before I could even get in. And if no one were able to block my equal opportunity … yes, I think I’d be with you.”
    Patty looked relieved.
    â€œBut, as it is,” Andrea concluded, “I’m going to be in pastoral ministry in a parish where you’re the pastor.”
    Both laughed equally heartily.
    Their gaiety disgruntled Deacon Bill Page. “Damn! Damn! Damn! That Polack broad has spoiled everything. Here we had Donnelly on the verge of tears and now Mary Poppins comes along delivering