ANOTHER JOAN?
(Disclaimer: I have no business connection with JOAN. My only purpose in writing this story is to have fun and maybe share it)
(Author's Note: This story is part of a series that takes place in the year after the JOAN OF ARCADIA TV show ended. A listing of the other stories is on my profile. The main events that have happened since May 2005 are
(1) Joan has let Grace, Luke, and Adam into her secret
(2) Joan and Adam got married in June, 2006.
(3) Joan, Adam, and Grace have graduated from high school. Luke was jumped a year and allowed to graduate with them.
(4) The four friends have just finished a two-week trip in Europe. Grace got a job and stayed behind.
(5) Kevin and Sister Lily have been married for a year.
This story starts in August, 2006)
(Additional Note: I thought of this idea back when the series was still running, before the introduction of the Ryan Hunter character, but hadn't worked it into my stories until now.)
Chapter 1 Crazy Girl
CHANGE THE NAMES, AND THE STORY COULD BE ABOUT YOU --- Horace
Marriage is good for business, Lily Girardi thought sardonically.
She had worked as a counselor at the Arcadia church ever since leaving the monastery. Young people thought she was cool because she used their slang and could talk about surfing as well as salvation. But since she married Kevin Girardi, she noticed that couples and families came to her more often. No matter what the doctrine said about the unique role of the father-confessor, her visitors seemed to think a married woman would have more empathy with family problems than a celibate priest.
Not that there was anything mercenary about her marriage. Kevin's salary as a newspaperman was not much larger than Lily's, and a lot of it went toward special tools and gadgets to deal with his paralysis. They had to economize by living in a small, but neat, apartment. She had to do some "guy" chores at home that Kevin couldn't. But all that was OK with Lily, because she loved Kevin. And she was amazed at how some of the couples who came to her managed to screw up their marriages -- though she was careful not to put it that way when counseling them..
Now another couple was coming for counseling. This pair, called the O'Brians, seemed affectionate enough. They were in their mid-thirties, which was older than Lily was used to; many of the people who came for advice were young and inexperienced.
She asked some preliminary questions. They were from a suburb of Kansas City, and were longtime Catholics. Recently Mrs. O'Brien had been promoted to head of their company's Maryland branch, and so they had moved to Arcadia two months ago with their 14-year-old daughter, Deborah. It seems the Deborah was the problem.
"She says she talks with Jesus," said Mr. O'Brian.
"And that's bad?"
"I'm not talking about praying," said the mother. "Debbie says she CHATS with him. Not just religious matters, but about horseback riding and her favorite Internet sites. She says that he comes to visit her."
"Are you sure some imposter isn't taking advantage of her?" Lily remembered a disturbing British story, WHISTLE DOWN THE WIND, about a con man exploiting the faith of a naïve religious girl.
"I don't think it's anybody flesh and blood," said Mr. O'Brian. "There was one evening when the house was thoroughly locked and the burglar alarm activated, and she said that he still came."
"Does Debbie have any friends?" asked Lily.
"I'm afraid not," answered Mrs. O'Brien. "By the time we moved in, school was out and the children of the town had scattered. She's met with some girls at the riding stable or on-line, but she doesn't seem that close with them. And she hasn't stayed in touch with her pals back in Missouri."
So maybe a lonely girl had dreamed up an imaginary friend. For the friend to take the form of Jesus seemed odd, but not unheard of. There was a hymn with the refrain "He walks with me and He talks with me." Still, 14 sounded rather old.
Lily tried another tack. A supposed religious vision could be cover for a spirit of rebellion. After all there was the Joan of Arc story, which seemed to fascinate Lily's in-laws. "Has Debbie ever used Jesus as an excuse for anything? Like, you forbade this or that, but Jesus said it was OK?"
"Hardly ever," said the father. "There was one occasion where we wanted to take her to a movie, and she said no, Jesus was coming for a visit. Otherwise, she's never been any trouble."
"Do you think you could bring Debbie in?"
"I don't think that would be a good idea," said Mr. O'Brian. "She realizes we're skeptical, but if we she knew we were bringing in an outsider, she'd feel betrayed."
"We ARE betraying her, aren't we?" asked the mother, looking guilty.
"You're trying to protect her," Lily soothed. "Is it all right with you if I consult with some people over the next few days?" This might be out of her league.
The mother pondered a few seconds. "If you don't name names," she said finally. The husband nodded in agreement.
"Good. Then if you can come back in a few days---"
I feel sorry for the couple. Suppose some child in my family suddenly announced that she was chatting with God?
-----
Lily's younger in-laws were back from Italy, but their time at home was strictly temporary. Come September, Joan, Adam, and Luke would all be going off to college. Will Girardi therefore decided to celebrate togetherness while they had it.
Unfortunately the trio did not come home in a triumphal mood.
Adam, the Girardis' son-in-law, was the only one with a completely positive outlook. While in Italy he had attended the Opera and had realized for the first time how a work of art could be enhanced by music. Even before coming home, he had E-mailed Helen and asked her to find somebody who could teach him how to read music in a couple of weeks. (Joan knew how, but apparently she was not a perfect teacher)
Joan's attempt to find the Girardi's "roots" in Italy had ended bizarrely, when she found a dying village woman who was apparently a great-something-aunt. Joan and two of her friends had gotten her to a hospital and attended her death-bed. Lily thought her sister-in-law had performed admirably in the emergency, but Joan didn't want to talk about it.
Luke had a more conventional problem. He had apparently spent a lot of European time in bed with Grace Polonski. But Grace had agreed to stay in Italy working for a world famine-relief organization, while Luke had to get ready to go to Harvard. What was worse, Luke had fallen off a horse while trying to impress Grace with his equestrian skills, and was on crutches for a while.
Will insisted on going on with the dinner anyway: maybe it would cheer the kids up. He even took a hand in the cooking to prepare some family dishes, ignoring Kevin's observation that the travelers might be tired of Italian cuisine by now.
When several attempts to ask the travelers about Italy fell flat, Will decided to lighten the mood by discussing an amusing case that had happened during their absence. He had been called to a club to investigate a reported theft, only to find that it was an unofficial nudist colony, and nobody had dressed up to greet the Law. Will wisely avoided going into anatomical details and instead stressed the incongruity of the situation. "Normally I'm not allowed to do strip searches, but this time I didn't even have to ask. I'd just look at the suspects."
Lily giggled, but none of the younger ones took the bait.
Helen picked up the ball. "I wonder if any of the club members would be willing to go into modeling? It's so hard to find sitters willing to pose au naturel--"
"Yeah," said Adam.
Joan glared at him. "I'm willing to pose for you."
"Right," said Luke drily. "And then you're too embarrassed to let anybody see the picture afterward, even me."
Yikes, don't let the Traumatized Trio spoil the mood. Lily decided to bring up her own story. "I get odd cases of my own. It's not as risque as Will's story, and I can't name names, but there's a case of a teenage girl who claims that she gets visits from God---"
CLANKETY-CLINGCLING-CLACK.
Lily looked around in astonishment at the reaction to her story. Joan, Adam, and Luke had simultaneously dropped their eating utensils. It was Joan who first found her voice.
"She WHAT?"
TBC