A tall middle-aged man entered the hospital and went to the reception desk to get information
on how to find the ward he needed. He wore a plain black suit, and only a knowledgeable eye would notice a
white collar and recognise a Catholic priest.
Not that the visits of priests were common at the hospital,
but they wouldn’t astonish anyone either. Some nurses and visitors of other patients, who met the priest in the long
hospital corridors, gave him understanding and sympathetic looks. If he wasn’t visiting a relative or a friend, then
he just came to hear the confession of a dying patient.
But a young woman, who was sitting on the hospital
bed in her ward, obviously wasn’t dying. Her face was pale, and dark shadows under her eyes didn’t improve her
appearance, but, apart from that, there seemed to be nothing wrong with her.
The priest closed the door behind him and examined
the woman with a long look of his attentive and kind eyes.
“My child, I’ve heard you wanted to relieve
your soul by means of a holy sacrament of confession. As you can’t walk and couldn’t come to the church, I am
here to see you”.
The young woman looked at the priest, and her look
astonished him. Very few people wouldn’t be moved by the unbearable torment in her eyes.
“Forgive me, Father”, she finally spoke,
then stumbled. “It’s not a start of my confession, not yet. I just want to ask for your forgiveness... It’s
been a very long time since my last confession. Some years. I don’t even remember how many. I haven’t been a very
good Catholic, Father”.
The priest kept silent for about a minute. Then he
spoke.
“It’s never too late to return to God,
child. It’s never too late to realise your mistakes and clear your soul. Have no fear. All my time and my attention
are now yours”.
The young woman nodded.
“Then I... I’d better start”. She
waited a few minutes, as if hesitating; her eyes were a picture of deeply hidden torture. “I need to tell you all this,
I need to confess, and then...” She stopped, trying to think of appropriate words to express her feelings, then spoke
again. “And then I need to decide how I’m going to live... You know... With this”.
The priest was looking at her attentively and calmly.
“Forgive
me, Father, for I’ve sinned... I don’t know whether God forgives me... I don’t know... I still don’t
know what I’ve done wrong, where my sin started. It’s... As if... As if it was meant to happen. As if I was meant
to cause the other girl’s death”.
She stopped again and looked at the priest pleadingly.
His eyes were kind and encouraging.
“My name is Liz... Liz Coleman. And I work as
a travel agent”. She stopped again. “Actually, I don’t know whether I still work there. It all started when
I...”
***
It all started a few months ago, when Liz Coleman first
came to a busy office of a central travel agency as a new employee.
She was a fresh college graduate, eager to start working
and very enthusiastic. At the same time, she was a little nervous about her new colleagues, and the way they were going to
welcome her. She hoped she would get on with them. At least, she was ready to make every effort.
Liz smiled, trying to cheer up. She thought that at
least her new boss wasn’t going to be troublesome. Or she seemed so.
Liz remembered her meeting with an office manager after
she received a letter saying she was accepted. She was pleasantly surprised to discover that her boss-to-be was also a young
woman, probably only a few years older than herself.
As Liz came into an office, the young woman stood up
and greeted her with attentive and very friendly look of her large, dark-blue eyes. Then she smiled, and her face lit up and
sparkled with genuine cordiality.
“Hello, Elizabeth”. She stretched her hand out. “I’m glad to welcome you as a
new colleague. I’m an office manager here, my name is Vicky Rogers”.
