Bless Us Father (10 page)

“Come on, Linda. I don’t even know who the popular girls are. I just know that if you work hard enough at something you’ll eventually succeed.”

Mary Margaret watched as Linda composed herself and stood back up to continue practicing. “Okay. That’s better. Now let’s practice our jumps. You watch me first and then I’ll watch you and tell you what I think you’re doing right--or wrong.

“What about your rectory job?” Linda asked before resuming jumping. “Are you going to be able to get time off for practice if you get on the squad?”

“I hope so. I’ll have to start an hour later one or two nights a week and have Friday nights off during football, but I’m sure it will be fine with Father O’Malley and Mrs. Hunter.”

“Yeah, but are you sure it will be fine with Father Antonio?” Linda asked. “Didn’t you say you’re his assistant now?”

Mary Margaret frowned and looked down at the floor. “I don’t know. I’ll have to ask him, I guess. He hasn’t said there are any more projects for me to do, so I think it’s going to be all right.”

“It better be. You learned these cheers really fast. You’ll get picked for sure.”

“You, too. You’re really bouncy and enthusiastic. The judges will love that.”

“Do you know who the judges are?”

Linda stopped midway through the kick. “I suppose it will be our gym teacher, Miss Groban and the head cheerleader, Andrea Noble. And from our school it’s the principal, Sister Marianita. I don’t know who it will be from St. Dominic’s.”

“What do you mean from St. Dominic’s?”

“You are so lame, Mary Margaret. Surely you don’t think we’re going to be cheerleaders for St. Mary’s. We don’t have any teams to cheer for.”

“I know that, you dummy, but what right do they have to come over from St. Dominic’s and choose cheerleaders?”

“Oh, please. St. Dominic’s has the best football team in the diocese. Their cheerleaders have to look good.”

Mary Margaret smoothed her clothing and hair. “I didn’t know they were in on the judging, that’s all. Is it the principal of St. Dominic’s?”

“I don’t know for sure, but I guess it would be the principal and probably the boy’s football coach, too.”

Mary Margaret sat down on one of the folding chairs lining the wall of the hallway outside the gymnasium. “I’ve got to rest a little before they call me in for the tryout. I don’t want to be all sweaty.”

“Me, too. I wonder why we’re the last two to be called in? All the other girls have gone already.”

“I don’t know. Maybe they went by classrooms or something. We’re the only two in psychology class that are trying out, and we were the last ones to come in here to wait.”

Linda crossed her legs. “I’m so nervous I feel like I’m going to pee my pants.”

Just then, the door to the gymnasium opened and Sister Marianita stuck her head out and said, “Mary Margaret Riley. We’re ready for you.”

“Oh my gosh, this is it. Wish me luck.”

“Good luck. You’re doing great. You’ll get it for sure.”

Mary Margaret followed Sister Marianita to the bleachers where the rest of the judges were waiting. Just as she’d thought, they included the gym teacher and head cheerleader from St. Mary’s, along with a man that looked like a coach. He was bald and wore a green tee shirt with the St. Dominic’s logo on it. Next to him was a priest Mary Margaret had never seen before. He was also bald and his black clerical shirt was stretched tightly over a large belly.

Mary Margaret was smiling as widely as she could and tried to make eye contact with each of the judges. She was bouncing a bit on her toes and clutched her pom poms tightly.

The gym teacher, Miss Groban spoke first. “Welcome, Mary Margaret. Could you please tell us why you want to be on the cheer squad?”

“I just love football and I know St. Dominic has a great team. I think the cheerleaders are really important and I want to help school spirit.”

The head cheerleader, Andrea Noble asked the next question. “How do you feel about working with the other girls? Are you friends with any of them?”

How should she answer this question? Of course those girls weren’t her friends. They were all in the in crowd, and she wasn’t.

Smiling even broader than before, she said, “The cheerleaders are wonderful girls and I would love to be part of the team and help out any way I can.”

Andrea nodded affirmatively and jotted something on the paper clipped to her clipboard.

“All right, Mary Margaret. You may proceed with the cheers you’ve practiced if you’re ready.”

“I’m ready,” she said and then started her routine. She’d practiced so much that it came easy. She cheered, she jumped, she did a cartwheel, she chanted, shouted and smiled the whole time. Her ponytail bobbed and swung from side to side. She’d washed and even ironed her gym clothes, and she’d polished her gym shoes as well.

She finished her routine with one more cartwheel, and turned back towards the judges. They were smiling back at her and actually looked pleased.

“Excellent, Mary Margaret. You may go change into your uniform and go back to class now. We’ll post the results on the bulletin board outside the gym by Friday,” Sister Marianita said.

“Thank you all very much,” Mary Margaret said. “This has been a lot of fun.”

She ran all the way to the locker room, still smiling and feeling on top of the world. Certain that she’d made the squad, she now needed to figure out a way to convince Father O’Malley and Mrs. Hunter that she could still do her job even though she’d have to take a few hours off now and then. And, she would now have to talk her mother into helping her pay for her cheerleading outfit.

She changed back into her school uniform as slowly as she possibly could, hoping that Linda would get back to the locker room before she finished. It would be so great if the two of them were on the squad together.

Just as Mary Margaret was locking her locker, Linda burst through the doors. “Oh my gosh! I think I made it. I didn’t flub up even once, and they all looked happy with my routine. This is gonna be so cool.”

“I think I made it, too. I did really well and they all smiled at me, too. I can’t believe it. Oh, I’m going to say the Rosary every day between now and Friday. You’d better, too,” Mary Margaret said. “I’ve got to go back to class. I’ll see you later.”

“Call me from the rectory tonight if you have a chance and let me know what Father Antonio says about you being a cheerleader.”

Mary Margaret stopped walking but didn’t turn around to face Linda. “Don’t you mean Father O’Malley and Mrs. Hunter?”

“No, Mary Margaret, I don’t. They’re both big football fans and they’ll be happy if you make the squad. I mean Father Antonio. I don’t think he’s going to be pleased at all.”

Still not turning around, she said, “I don’t know what you’re getting at, Linda.”

“Think about it then and call me later.”

Mary Margaret left without another word. Her prior joy was gone, and in its place warning bells were going off. Linda was right. Father Antonio wasn’t going to be happy. If she was involved with cheerleading, how could she be his assistant? He was going to be the hardest one to convince, and she hadn’t even thought about it until now. She was going to be very busy tonight at the rectory, but it wouldn’t be answering the phones. She was going to have to figure out a way to tell Father Antonio without upsetting him. Growing up and being responsible was getting to be more difficult than she’d ever thought.

Optimism is the foundation of courage.

-Nicholas Murray Butler-

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Mary Margaret grabbed Linda’s hand as they ran to the bulletin board. A crowd of girls was already gathered to check on the results of the cheerleading tryouts.

“Oh my gosh. I’m so nervous I think I’m going to faint,” Mary Margaret said.

“I know, I know. Me, too. I wish these girls would move out of the way.”

One by one, the girls in front of them either squealed in delight and jumped in the air, or hung their heads and slunk away from the crowd.

“Jesus, Mary and Joseph. I can’t wait any longer,” Linda said. “Push your way to the front.”

Just then, two tall girls standing in front parted, allowing Mary Margaret to get a glimpse of the bulletin board.

“Look at that, Linda. We’re on the squad! Can you believe it?”

Linda screeched and clasped Mary Margaret around the waist. “This is so cool. We’re part of the in crowd now,” she whispered in her ear.

“I told you, Linda. All you have to do is have a goal and work really hard, and you can do anything.” Mary Margaret said, starting to cry. “And we did it, we really did it.”

“Quit crying. Everyone is going to think we’re dorks.”

Mary Margaret dabbed at her eyes and glanced around, hoping no one had noticed.

“Come on. Let’s go to the quad and eat our lunch,” Linda said. “I want to hear what your parents said about you trying out for cheerleading, and Father Antonio, too.”

They walked along side by side, Mary Margaret silent as Linda chattered on about how much fun they were going to have at the football games. They found an empty bench and sat down to eat the peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and carrot sticks Linda’s mom had packed for them.

“What gives? You’re really quiet right now and you were so happy just a few minutes ago. Cat got your tongue?”

“I’m a little worried. I haven’t discussed this with my parents yet, let alone with Father Antonio.”

“You haven’t even told your mom? All I’ve talked about for weeks has been cheerleading tryout. I know my family is sick of hearing about it.”

“Oh come on, Linda. You know my mom. I don’t exactly confide in her.”

“I know. I wish you had someone at home you could talk to.”

Linda put her arm around Mary Margaret’s shoulder. “What about Father Antonio and Father O’Malley?”

“I haven’t told them yet, either. I didn’t think there was any point in bringing it up until I knew whether I’d made it or not.”

“Yeah, probably a good idea. You’re going to tell them when you go to work tonight aren’t you?”

“I don’t have much choice, do I? We’ve got practice starting next week and there’s a game in two weeks.”

Linda stood and gathered up the remainders of her lunch. “There’s the bell. I guess I’ll see you tomorrow. Good luck tonight.”

“Thanks, I have a feeling I’m going to need it.”

#

The remainder of the school day passed agonizingly slowly for Mary Margaret. Her dad would probably be happy for her, but what would Mom say? She did the household budgeting and was always complaining that there wasn’t enough money. She might not want to budget for a cheerleading uniform.

She walked home as quickly as she could in order to get it over with before she had to go to work. She found her mother busy in the kitchen, putting away groceries.

“Hi, Mom. Can I help you?”

Mrs. Riley glanced suspiciously in Mary Margaret’s direction. “If you think you can put the canned goods away neatly, then yes, you can help me.”

Mary Margaret took the bag holding the cans to the cupboard and put them away one by one, careful to stack the corn with the other cans of corn and making sure to move the older cans to the front of the row. She also checked that the labels were all facing forward and the vegetables were in alphabetical order on their shelf and the fruit on their own shelf. She folded the paper bag neatly and took it over to the stack Mrs. Riley already had started.

“Mom...I have something exciting to tell you.”

“Oh?” Mrs. Riley arched an eyebrow. “Are you going to be on the honor roll?”

“Well, as a matter of fact, I am, but that wasn’t what I wanted to tell you.”

“What a nice surprise,” Mrs. Riley said, looking very pleased. “Now what else did you want to tell me?”

“Linda and I tried out for the cheerleading squad and we both made it and now I need to buy my cheerleading uniform but I don’t have enough money saved up from my job so I thought....”

“Whoa, wait just a minute. I don’t know about this cheerleading business. I’ve never quite approved of all that silliness.”

“Oh, Mom! It’s so cool to be one of the cheerleaders. All the popular girls are on the squad and now Linda and I are, too. It’s so important to me.”

“You know how our finances are, Mary Margaret. I can’t take on another burden right now.”

“I’ll pay you back every cent and I do have seven dollars already saved. I don’t think it’s more than twenty or twenty-five for everything I’ll need.”

Just then, Mr. Riley entered the kitchen, carrying his black lunch pail and a rolled up newspaper. “What’s going on in here?”

“Dad, I’m going to be on the honor roll and I also got on the cheerleading squad, but Mom doesn’t want me to do it. She says we can’t afford it, but I’ll pay you back all of the money it costs for my uniform.”

“Is this true?” he asked his wife. “Are you burdening Mary Margaret with our financial difficulties again?”