Set about three years after the last chapter.
Major Ian Booth sat quietly in the rectory office, waiting to see the priest. The elderly woman who had greeted him had returned with a cup of coffee and a plate of Christmas cookies, offering them to Ian. He thanked her and smiled as he made his selection. The woman sat down behind her desk and tried to begin a conversation.
"Have you been overseas for a long time, Major?" She spoke quietly, sensing the soldier's sadness, and wondering if he had come to visit the priest for spiritual counseling.
"Yes, ma'am...two and a half years on a Navy hospital ship. We saw a lot action in the last conflict." He sipped his coffee. "It's good to be home for the holidays."
"I imagine so." The receptionist waited to see if the major had anything else to add, but she was met with silence, so she returned to her computer until the phone chimed. "Father can see you now." She pointed toward the office door. "Bless you, Major. Merry Christmas."
Ian nodded his thanks and hesitantly walked toward the door. He paused briefly before entering.
"Henry? How the hell are you? Man, it's good to see you…." Ian grabbed his brother into a bear hug, and then stood back to look at him. Noticing the Roman collar, he grinned sheepishly. "I guess I should address you as Father Henry and avoid using swear words. Sorry. You'll always be my smelly brother, you know?"
The priest laughed out loud as he shook his head. "You can call me Henry or Hank….but definitely not Stinky. When it's just us or our family, you don't have to call me Father..." He motioned for his brother to sit down. "I do think Father Henry sounds better."
"Father Henry, then. So are you getting things wrapped up here?" Ian looked around the bare office. "When will your replacement arrive?"
"Two weeks from today. I'll celebrate Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve and then I'll spend two weeks getting him oriented and allowing the congregation to get used to him. And then I'm off to the Army." Henry pulled a small box from his desk drawer. "They already sent me my insignia." He proudly showed Ian the tiny gold crosses that would mark Henry as an Army chaplain.
Ian smiled when he saw the gleam in his brother's eye. "So I guess being a diocesan priest just wasn't your cup of tea, right? Too boring?" Ian sat back in his chair, noticing the hint of embarrassment in his brother's expression at the question.
"I don't know. It's been a long journey to get to this point." Henry brushed his fingers over the small crosses. "I really thought I was going to be a monk for my entire life, but when it came time to my final vows….with a lot of soul searching and through discussions with my confessor, I realized I was too restless to be confined by a monastery." He glanced at Ian and saw his confusion.
"I thought that was the point, Henry….you wanted to get away from the world so you could pray and contemplate God…." Ian cocked his head and smiled gently.
"I know….but we Booths are social creatures, and the monastic lifestyle….well, let's just say I drove the other monks crazy and they drove me crazy." Henry chuckled. "I was never one to follow rules completely, you know. I imagine the Abbot was jumping for joy in his prayer closet when I told him I wouldn't be taking my final vows as a monk. He was the one who suggested that I'd be a better fit as a parish priest, and he was right. I've enjoyed having a congregation."
"But now you're bored with being a parish priest? Is that why you're going to be an Army chaplain? Why deliberately put yourself on the front line?" Ian ran his fingers across the edge of Henry's desk, avoiding eye contact with his brother. "Aren't there enough souls around here to save?"
Henry laughed quietly. "It's hard to explain, Ian. The Archbishop sent out an urgent request for priests to consider the military chaplaincy, and as soon as I read it, I knew the Lord was calling me to that mission field. I know it sounds wild, but it's like this has been the plan for my life the whole time."
Ian sighed and closed his eyes. Henry had always been a dreamer, out to save the world, but the world right now was not a safe place to be. "Maybe you can stay stateside instead of going to the war zone…."
"Hell, no!" Henry grimaced. "Sorry, that swear word just slipped out. I gotta be where the action is. They're gonna embed me with an active unit after I undergo my final training for the Army." He noticed that his brother was tearing up. "What's wrong, Ian? I can take care of myself, and what I can't do, the Lord will do for me." He reached across his desk and put a hand on his brother's arm. "It's gonna be okay."
Ian sniffled as he wiped his eyes. "I just want you to be safe and out of danger. Anytime there's any sort of conflict you could be in the line of fire and there's usually no place to hide. The world is a scary place during a war, Henry, even when you're not directly involved in the action. I mean, look what happened to Greer..."
So that was it. Henry's normally cheerful brother had seemed to be wrapped in blankets of sorrow since Greer's death. "Ian...did you go for grief counseling like I suggested? Did you talk to someone? What happened to Greer wasn't your fault. You know that…."
"I know it wasn't my fault...and I did go to counseling, but I'm still so angry….angry with the situation, angry at Greer, angry at God…." Ian spoke softly as he remembered the young corpsman who had been his aide. "Greer wasn't even supposed to be there. He took over someone's rotation because the guy was sick. And then when they get the air ambulance there to pick up the wounded, Greer stepped out for just a second without his body armor, and a laser sniper got him." Ian swore to himself as he wiped his eyes. "One small slip in procedures and he was gone, just like that. I don't understand it." Ian continued, shaking his head. "Greer was a good man, and he would've made a fine doctor. It seems like God shouldn't have taken him so young….and then I had to write his parents and tell them that their son was gone because of some stupid mistake…." He wiped tears from his eyes. "Their Christmas holidays will never be the same without their son."
Henry nodded as he listened. Poor Ian, carrying the weight of the world over something he couldn't control. "I don't believe God took Greer, Ian….I believe God welcomed him home. You're right...the world is a scary place. I could get caught in crossfire on a battlefield, or I could stay home and get hit by a bus. One day, I'm gonna die, so I might as well be useful until that happens."
"Don't even put that out there, Henry….you're gonna die in your bed at the clergy retirement home when you're 96. We got good genes….Pops is still kicking at 93." Both men laughed as they thought of their grandfather bossing his grandkids around from his wheelchair. "Grammy's still with us, even though she doesn't remember much any more, and Dad is still teaching at the Academy, even though he's in his sixties. You just gotta be sure to keep your head down when you're out in the fray with your unit."
"I guess that's part of what they teach us at our chaplaincy training….how to duck. Trust me, I'm gonna be good at that. I got those quick Booth reflexes, you know?" Henry leaned back in his desk chair and looked out the window. "I know you're worried about me, Ian. I'm not really cut out to be a military man, I guess, and maybe you weren't, either. But we both gotta do what we're called to do."
"You're right. I know that. It's just…" Ian sighed heavily…."I'm afraid I'm gonna lose you, Henry. That's why I've been trying to talk you out of going overseas. But, seeing how you're determined to go, I've brought you something." Ian pulled a metallic object out of his pocket and handed it to Henry. "Since you're going on active duty, it's your turn to have this."
"A beat up old lighter? Are you kidding me? Why would I need this piece of junk? Henry laughed at his brother until he saw the serious expression on his brother's face. "What's wrong, Ian?"
"This 'piece of junk', as you called it, has gone with a Booth on active duty since 1943. It's part of our family tradition: a Booth man in the military carries that lighter with him to remind him of all the men who have served before him. That's why you get it now."
Henry took the lighter and held it with the kind of awe he usually reserved for religious relics. "I had no idea, Ian. I'm sorry I showed such disrespect." He ran his fingers over the rounded edges, and ran his thumb across the dent in the lid. Tilting it toward the weak winter sunlight he saw all the scratches and smaller dents on the the case. "So every Booth in the military going back to Great Great Grandpops has carried this lighter? That's just amazing…"
"Yeah, and his brother had it before it came to him. It's been all over the world, and I bet it'll go to space one day." Ian paused for a moment, lost in thought. "I know it's silly, but that lighter helped me get through some tough times. I'd be worried, or stressed, or even scared while I was at sea, but I'd find that lighter in my pocket and I'd remember that the other men that had the lighter probably felt the same way, and they all made it home okay. I figured if they did, I would, too."
Henry smiled as he put the lighter on the desk. "It's not any sillier than wearing a St. Christopher medal or carrying a rosary. I mean, I guess this hasn't been blessed by a priest, but I can take care of that myself, right?" They both chuckled at the joke. "But don't you still need this, Ian? You're in the reserves, right?"
Ian shook his head. "I won't be when this tour is over. I'm not going to reenlist. I've met a wonderful woman, and I'm going to stay home and marry her, and do something calmer than working on a hospital ship...like maybe working in the emergency room at a busy city hospital." Ian wore a huge smile. "Maybe Marissa and I can plan our wedding for a time when you can get some leave, so you can do the wedding. What'dya say?"
"Sounds good to me. Where did you meet Marissa? Was she a nurse?"
"Hell, no….she was the captain of the ship I was on! She retired from the Navy last year and we've been in a serious relationship since then. She's wonderful. I hope she can come by to meet you before you ship out." Ian grew serious again. "Hey...will you have time to come see Mom and Dad before you go?"
"I'm planning on it...Mom would kill me if I didn't." Henry smiled as he gently picked up the lighter and held it in the palm of his left hand. "Let's pray, okay?" Ian bowed his head as Henry made the sign of the cross over the lighter. "Father, we ask your blessing on this lighter and those who carry it. Help those who carry it to be the Light of the World to others, and keep them safe and in Your care. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit."
"Amen." Ian rose and extended his hand toward his brother. "Stay safe, Henry. Keep in touch, okay, buddy?"
"Yeah, of course." Henry slipped the lighter into his pocket before grabbed his brother's hand and shook it. "Let me know about the wedding, okay?"
They walked out of Henry's office together, laughing and talking, each proud of the other, and each proud to be able to serve their country using the talents God had given them.
