Me New eBuke....

Starting the publicity here and now for my new eBook. It's called “Absolution” but since I have just done the final draft I am open to changing that name to “Grammie” or “The Wicker Man”.

I like that last idea because Georgie has managed for a long time to hide his crimes and the bodies away. Now that he has cancer he wants to be absolved of his sins and kidnaps the priest to achieve that.

It's a pity he pissed off Bishop Mahon by doing that. The Bish decides he is still a player like he was during the Northern Troubles and calls in a favour from Shane O'Neill.

It's a pity that Mahon was naughty while a Chaplain with the Irish Army in Lourdes and got a girl pregnant.

It's a pity also than when Sonny Mc Entaggart finally finds out who his father is that Sonny is on the run from the law, dealing drugs from the Continent and using the name Shane O'Neill.

Maybe I will change the name to “The Crucifixion of Bishop Mahon” .

Absolution (or maybe The Wicker Man) by Lazarian Wordsmith © Jan 2014

1

It’s life Jim: but not as we know it!

The words kept running through his mind, all the way back from the Hospital. He couldn’t recall where, or when he had heard the words, or why they had now come from deep in his memories, but the sentiments, that phrase was appropriate for him: now. Living with – no, not now: dying with cancer was life, but not as he knew it.

The Doctor had been brief, professional in the way he delivered the news. “It’s advanced lung cancer. An aggressive strain. Hard to control. No matter what we do, it’s only a matter of time. But look on the bright side: you have time to put any affairs you have in order, time for a good holiday, perhaps that trip you always intended to take. You have some time, use it well. I would if it was me!”

Georgie wasn’t listening. All the words after cancer were lost, incomprehensible, garbled, not understood. Cancer! A death sentence! No hope! All the words, the sentiments attacked him. Overwhelmed him. Contributed to the hot and at the same time cascading rivulets of cold perspiration that now erupted on his brow and back. He could feel some of it run down, inside his thigh, between the tweeds and his skin. Another quick panic seized him. He glanced down. Was it sweat? Had he pissed himself?

It’s life Jim: but not as we know it: Star Trek. He entered his office and sat behind his desk. Mister Spock!

He took the bottle from the desk drawer and poured a large whiskey. He gulped half of it down and felt it sting. Sting the blasted cancer he thought. Burn the shagger. Burn him just like I’ll be burning soon in Hell. He hadn’t though about the next life in a long time. But now he did it’s impending closeness terrifying him.

He needed to confess, to tell a priest about the girls. Be forgiven, be clean. He needed forgiveness: but how? If he told: he would lose. Be disgraced. Let the family down. Jesus it would destroy all of them.

2

If you asked Detective Fanahan what he was doing he would tell you that himself and The Prick were having one of their regular discussions about religion. It was a part of their pub conversation and was going on as long as they had been meeting in Milos for the end of week drink, or in Fanahans case his end of shift until tomorrow session.

An argument about the rite of confession in the two religions had begun a long time ago when Fanahan, in one of his moods, first started teasing The Prick about not having to go to confession regularly to tell his sins to a priest and receive absolution.

“We always envied you Proddie boys, when we were growing up. You could take the girlfriend out for a night, drop the hand and grope her gee and never have to tell anyone you did it. You could just go away and forget about it. We had to go to bloody confession to get absolution before we could feel better. If you didn’t go they had you so well conditioned, that you were guilt ridden until you did go. If you told one of our lads that you got a handful of gee over a weekend, they’d hit the shaggin’ roof. One head banger asked me to send the little girl in to see him, so he could have a talk with her.”

When Mumsie and Grammie had been unsure of where exactly Georgie would eventually fit into Family Affairs: although the Major was unlikely to accept him as a true blood Siney, they had hopes. Instead of sending him to attend the local Protestant Schools, they placed him out of the way, in the more distant Catholic School.

Georgie used the scant illicit knowledge of ‘Religion’ gained there, to formulate and argue views designed to annoy Fanahan. Sometimes he even managed to see the anger in Fanahan when one of his taunts struck home.

“Shay, if a man committed a murder and then went to a priest and confessed and received forgiveness from God, then no court of man could find him guilty since a higher court, that of God, had forgiven him and in effect had made him clean.

Forgiveness is absolute whether it’s for stealing sugar or murder. Once you have a firm resolution at the time of confessing, not to do the act again you would be forgiven, once you were contrite the priest has no option but to forgive you and therefore what he binds on earth will be bound in heaven. You are clear then with God and you guys are out of your jurisdiction.”

Normally Fanahan would just laugh at this, but recently he was rising more to the bait and would get involved in trying to argue. “Look as usual you are talking through your hole! When we went to school we had this kind of thing belted into us. Christ! I can still reel some of it off by heart.”

In a deep sonorous authoritarian voice, he posed the question, “What is forbidden by the fifth commandment?

In a childlike voice, the intoned reply, “It forbids murder and suicide and all other acts that inflict bodily injury on ourselves or on others.

Now Georgie the next bit is for us.” Intoning again, he added, “What else is forbidden by the fifth commandment?

The answer my boy is: it also forbids drunkenness, quarrelling, anger and revenge; and if you keep on at me like this I might have to break this commandment And while I’m at it and remembering, what about this one? When they were talking about the sixth commandment being a danger to chastity they made us learn that the chief dangers to chastity are: idleness, intemperance, bad companions like you - you prick, improper dances, immodest dress, company keeping and again you and me indecent conversation, books, plays and pictures; these all make you want to be ridin’ women, ridin’ women; gettin’ your hole; laying pipe; givin’ her one; cleaning yer tubes. But there was never anything in there about rodgering altar boys, was there?

On the train journey home, Georgie took time to reflect on the conversation. Long ago he had come to the conclusion that once he could have forgiveness from a priest for his failings, for those girls who had wanted to go away and leave him that he had stopped from going away, he would be forgiven and would be clean and would not rot in hell in the next life. Soon he decided. I will kidnap a priest, start telling him about them, then he will forgive me and I will be clean again.