Bless Us Father (21 page)

“Trouble? I caused you trouble?”

“You have grown up to be an evil, evil young woman. I can’t believe you’re my child. You were such a sweet little girl. Now you’re a liar and filled with impure thoughts and ideas. You need to go to confession.”

Defeat washed over Mary Margaret. She knew she could never win this argument. What made her think she should try to talk to her mom? Maybe she should go to confession again. But not with Father Antonio, that was for sure.

The back door opened and they both tried to quickly straighten their clothing and look as normal as possible when Mr. Riley walked in.

“Hi. How are my two best girls?” he asked. He walked over to Mary Margaret and gathered her in a hug. “What’s wrong? It feels awfully tense in here.”

“I’m glad you’re home, Daddy.”

Back at the sink, Mrs. Riley said, “We were just discussing Mary Margaret’s curfew. She seems to think that the prom is an excuse to stay out later. She says all the kids do it.”

“Is that true, Mary Margaret,” he said, tilting her chin up so he could look in her eyes.

“Yes, Daddy, they do. After the prom they go back to someone’s house and the parents let them stay up all night. The parents serve food and chaperone, so it’s not like they’re out somewhere alone, or anything like that.”

“Ellen? I don’t think that sounds unreasonable. Do you?” he asked.

“Well, yes, I do. Our daughter has been on one date only. She hasn’t proven to me yet that she can be trusted completely. I don’t want her out all night.”

“She hasn’t given us any reason not to trust her,” Mr. Riley said.

“Oh, hasn’t she?” Mrs. Riley answered, looking at Mary Margaret.

“No, Ellen, she hasn’t,” Mr. Riley said. “I have an idea. We’ll chaperone a party here. How about that?”

Mrs. Riley took her apron off and slammed it down on the counter. “We should have discussed this first. I have enough work to do around here without having to host a big party.”

“It doesn’t have to be a big party. Just a few of her friends and their dates,” Mr. Riley said. “We haven’t entertained any of Mary Margaret’s friends here before. I think it’s time we started.”

“Whatever you say, Sean, you’re the man of the house.”

Mary Margaret watched her mother stomp out of the room, followed closely behind by her father. There was going to be another fight tonight, she could see that. Nothing was turning out the way she wanted it to. And what friends did she have to invite over after the prom anyway?

Gossip needn’t be false to be evil, there’s a lot of truth that shouldn’t be passed around.

-Frank A. Clark-

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Mary Margaret was waiting at the door when Todd arrived to pick her up for her prom. This time, Mrs. Riley was nowhere to be seen. Mr. Riley greeted Todd and then sent them on their way.

“Do you mind if we go to my house for a few minutes?” Todd asked as he helped Mary Margaret into the car. “My mom and dad want to meet you and take some pictures.”

“Okay, I guess,” Mary Margaret said, not at all sure she wanted to go meet his parents. What if they didn’t like her?

“You’ll like my mom and dad. They’re cool for parents.”

Todd’s home was on the way to the women’s club, where the prom was being held, and the drive was short.

“Mom, Dad, I’d like you to meet Mary Margaret Riley.”

“Hello, Mary Margaret,” Mrs. Hunter said, embracing her with a hug. “I’ve heard so much about you it’s nice to finally meet you.”

Once released, Mary Margaret stepped back and smiled at the pretty woman in front of her. She looked just like Todd, with darker red hair and the same long eyelashes. Her eyes sparkled and she smiled just like him, too.

“It’s really nice to meet you. Todd and I had a great time at his prom.”

“So we heard,” Mr. Hunter said, smiling warmly. “All Todd has done this last month is talk about you, and I think it’s about time he brought a girl around.”

“Ah, Dad! You promised you wouldn’t embarrass me.” Todd said, blushing to the roots of his red hair.

“Well, it’s true, Toddy,” Mrs. Hunter said. “We were both getting a little worried. Your brothers and sisters all had dates around long before now.”

Mary Margaret giggled and looked at Todd out of the corner of her eye. He was even redder and beads of perspiration had appeared between the freckles on his forehead.

“We’ve got to get going,” Todd finally said, grabbing Mary Margaret’s hand. “We don’t want to be late to the dance.”

“Not so fast. We haven’t taken any pictures yet,” Mrs. Hunter said. “We’ll stop teasing you.”

“Promise you won’t call me Toddy again?”

“I promise.”

“Todd showed us the pictures your parents took of your prom, and we want some of our own,” Mr. Hunter said. “Shall we go into the living room?”

Todd and Mary Margaret posed for several photos, and then left for the prom. Todd’s parents waved to them from the porch and wished them well.

“Your parents are nice. They made me feel right at home. You’re lucky.”

“Lucky?” Todd glanced sideways at her. “You’re an only child and get all the attention. My house is always chaos.”

“Believe me, you’re the lucky one,” she said, just as they pulled into the parking lot of the women’s club.

The entrance to the club was flanked by two large palm trees, and chaperones wearing Hawaiian muumuus greeted the prom attendees. Inside, it had been transformed into a tropical paradise. Music from the movie, South Pacific, was playing in the background and someone had obtained posters advertising the movie. They now flanked the makeshift stage where the band was setting up.

“Oh my gosh!” Todd exclaimed. “This is really cool. Your school went way out.”

Mary Margaret was so busy looking at all of the decorations that she couldn’t respond for a moment. The parents really had done a great job.

“The moms did all the decorating. Apparently mothers of girls are more creative than mothers of boys, or something,” Mary Margaret finally answered.

The tables were set with different colored pastel tablecloths and each had a square of Hawaiian printed material in the center. The centerpieces were made of coconuts, pineapples, hibiscus flowers and little paper umbrellas.

“Do you see any of your friends you want to sit with?” Todd asked.

Mary Margaret looked around, pretending to search for friends all the while knowing full well she wouldn’t find any. “No, I don’t see anyone. Let’s go sit over there,” she said, pointing to a table in the back of the room.

They sat and watched as others filed into the hall. Mary Margaret watched Linda come in with her date, someone she didn’t recognize. Linda was laughing and giggling, and waving her princess wave at all the cheerleaders and their dates. Mary Margaret couldn’t believe they had ever been best friends. She didn’t recognize the girl Linda had become.

The tables were almost all full when Candace and Wilma walked up, pulling their dates along behind them.

“Is anyone sitting here?” Candace asked, pointing to the obviously empty chairs around the table.

“No one has claimed them yet,” Todd volunteered. “Sit down. We’d like the company.”

Mary Margaret glared at Todd, but he didn’t seem to notice.

She would rather be alone than sit with Candace and Wilma. They were two of the biggest nerds in the class. They were best friends and belonged to the chess club. She’d never had a single conversation with them in her entire high school career.

Candace picked the chair next to Todd, and waited for her date to pull it out for her. “This is Mike, everyone.”

“Hi Mike,” Mary Margaret and Todd said in unison.

“And this is John,” Wilma said, gesturing to her date.

“Hi John,” they said.

Candace fussed with her pink strapless dress of chiffon ruffles that looked like she was wearing a hoop skirt underneath. Her white oyster shell, cat’s eyes glasses matched, in an odd sort of way.

Wilma’s dress was a simple straight gown in bright red. She had a bow in her hair the same color as the dress, and her glasses were dark horn-rimmed frames.

“So, who’s your date, Mary Margaret?” Candace asked, leaning close to Todd.

“Oh, sorry. This is Todd Hunter, everyone. He goes to St. John Bosco in Bellflower. We went to his prom a couple of weeks ago.”

“Have you been dating long?” Candace asked, her eyes fixed on Todd’s.

Irritation was creeping up Mary Margaret’s neck. She hardly knew these girls. Why had they decided to sit at her table and why was Candace flirting with Todd?

“No, we haven’t,” she answered. “We just met each other about a month ago, but we’re having a great time together. How about you and Mike?”

“We’ve been going out about a year,” Candace said, turning her attention back to Mike. “Mike is a Senior and he’s going to join the Air Force after he graduates.”

“Really?” Todd asked. “What about Viet Nam? Aren’t you afraid you’ll get sent there?”

Mike and John looked at each other. “I’m joining, too,” John said. “We’re not really worried about Viet Nam. Besides, if we’re in the Air Force, we won’t be in the line of fire, anyway. We’d rather join up than get drafted.”

“I’m just glad I won’t have to go,” Todd said.

“Why won’t you?” John asked.

“My eyes are too bad and I can’t see without glasses, that’s why. I’m 4F.”

“That’s good, isn’t it?” Mary Margaret asked. “You don’t really want to go to war anyway, do you?”

The three young men looked at each other, then away.

“None of us want to go, but it’s our duty to defend our country if we’re called,” Mike finally answered.

“Oh, let’s not talk about this old war stuff. Let’s go dance,” Wilma said, dragging John to his feet.

The band was playing surfer music and the dancers were doing
The Swim
. Even though Mary Margaret wasn’t friends with these girls and their dates, she found she was having a great time dancing and soon was lost in the music.

Dinner was served while the band took a break. They ate roasted pork, rice, green beans and pineapple upside down cake.

“Is this South Pacific food?” Candace asked while stuffing her mouth with cake.

“I don’t know. I’ve never been to the South Pacific,” Wilma giggled.

“Where is the South Pacific, anyway?” John asked.

“I guess it’s somewhere in the South Pacific,” Todd said, dissolving in fits of laughter.

Mary Margaret couldn’t remember when she’d had this much fun. Oh yeah, it was at Todd’s prom a few weeks ago. This was something she could get used to.

“Uh...I was wondering...” she said. “Would you guys like to go back to my house after prom for a pizza party? My parents are getting pizza and cokes for us and my dad said my mom is going to bake chocolate chip cookies.”

Candace and Wilma looked at each other.

“You probably have other plans,” Mary Margaret said. “I should have invited people earlier.”

“No, we don’t have any other plans. We’d love to come, wouldn’t we?” Wilma said.

Relief flooded over Mary Margaret. She hadn’t known how she would explain to Todd that there weren’t any friends to come back to the house with them. She hadn’t wanted him to know she didn’t have any, and now she wouldn’t have to tell him.

“Great! Just follow us after the prom is over, okay? My dad said he was going to get pizzas from the Pizza Prince. They have really great food.”

Mary Margaret couldn’t be any happier. Finally, she was enjoying her high school experience, and regardless of who she was enjoying it with, she was having fun.

Picking up her purse she said, “I have to go powder my nose. I’ll be right back.”

She asked one of the chaperones where the restroom was and found it empty when she arrived. She locked herself inside one of the stalls, and was just finishing when she heard someone else come in and go into the stall next to her.

She washed her hands, and was drying them on a paper towel when Linda emerged from the other stall.

“Well, if it isn’t my old friend Mary Margaret,” Linda said as she approached the sink. “Are you having a good time with your new friends?”

“As a matter of fact, I am.”

Linda looked around the restroom to see if anyone else was there. She checked all the stalls to make sure they were empty before she said anything more.

“I’m glad,” Linda said with sincerity. “I’ve been really worried about you, and after what I heard recently, I’m even more worried.”

A chill ran down Mary Margaret’s spine.

“What do you mean?” she asked.

“Mary Margaret, you remember when I told you I had funny feelings about you and Father Antonio, right? And you just got mad at me, and then you wouldn’t speak to me after I said your mom was bitch.”

“How could I forget either of those?”