Isaiah 7:13
Tuesday 11th September: Bob Young wasn’t expected to keep coordinating the Churchwatch group, not with his wife Mary fresh lain in grave. But people quite understood when he’d said he would rather carry on – keep his mind off things.
Churchwatch was a mechanism whereby members of the parish committed to keeping the church open as near 24/7 as they could manage. In the case of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, the doors were unlocked from 6 am each morning ‘till 9 p.m. at night. Which was impressive, even by Catholic standards. Bob kept the rota as well as managing some of the slots, which he was doing now, in partnership with Baxter’s wife, Angie Merill.
Today more than any day, churchwatch was important. Bob regarded worship as the doorstep of heaven and churchwatch as his contribution to keeping the threshold clean. Today was the anniversary of 9/11 and as such quite poignant. It was the day Bob had chosen to take up his role. But now the memorial service for the dead of the Twin Towers was long over. Angie sat at the back of the church with Bob. And there was no one else. The place was as empty as only a church could be.
Angie was dressed in black, which she thought demur, as appropriate for her churchwatch duties. But the effect was the reverse. Given her shock of blonde hair and wide slate-blue eyes for contrast, the figure-hugging dress was enchanting, despite its high neckline.
None of which Bob appeared to have noticed. They had been talking of Mary and little by little tears had filled his eyes, apparently, or so he told Angie, for the first time since Mary had died.
"She was perfect Angie," Bob was saying, "Perfect like the Blessed Mother. She was named Mary for good reason. She’d never refuse a person in need. She never said ‘No’."
Angie realized he needed to think this. It didn't make it true. Perhaps he did not know the truth, or could not face it - whatever the truth was. She smiled again, encouraging him as she would a child. "Yes, that’s right. She was like that. And so was the Blessed Mother. That was what was so important about the Mother, her saying ‘Yes’ to the Archangel Gabriel when he told her she’d bear the Christ child. She could have refused."
"Could she you suppose? Refuse the Archangel Gabriel?" Now Bob Young was smiling, showing her his strong white teeth, "I don’t think my Mary could have said ‘No’ to anyone. You ever said ‘No’ to Baxter?"
Angie Merill laughed but there was brittleness in her voice, as she replied, "No. I wish I could but apparently I can't." Not without complications, she was thinking. "Certainly not. I wouldn’t dare," she said. She shrugged the darkness back into the recess of her mind from whence it threatened to emerge and, feeling humbled and apologetic inside, she smiled again for Bob, who, thankfully, hadn't grasped what she was talking about. She changed tack abruptly. "I once met a priest, Father Sean Lennon from the Servites of Mary, who told me that our mission in life was to stand at the foot of the cross with Mary in the thousands of places throughout the world where Christ is being crucified today."
Bob Young looked at her and managed to say, "That’s beautiful Angie."
Then the tears at last really came, wrenching his body in great gulps as he gasped for air.
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