Hale! Hale! The gang´s all here! I want to shout out, at least to help lighten the atmosphere. Someone, likely Carl and Melissa have arranged the chairs and sofas in a circle. Douglas occupies an armchair. Flanking him are Carl on his right and Melissa on his left. Then I see Jesús, Carol, Aaron, Francois, the two brothers from the community next door, George and Jeff, and three women, one of whom I saw yesterday working in the garden. Douglas is still playing Moses, staring blankly up into space, as though waiting for the hand of God to smite all of us present, his foes. The women seem to all represent different decades of life, one in her thirties, who is also the gardener, one in her forties and the third in her fifties. They are quietly chatting among themselves, one cracks a joke and now they are all giggling like private schoolgirls. They are all casually dressed, jeans or slacks, T shirts, an orange blouse in the case of the elder. George and Jeff are still wearing blue jeans and white T shirts. Their habit, I would suppose.
Carol says, "I don't suppose that Father Griffin would be on his way."
I just got a text from him", Melissa says. "He should be here in about three minutes."
Francois appears hyper alert, and taking great care not to focus on Doug. From time to time Aaron, seated next to him, tries to distract him with random comments.
"Aren't we having a stretch of lovely weather, though", says Carol.
"Beautiful", says Aaron. It's been like summer since we arrived here."
"There should be rain on the horizon", says the woman in her forties. The gardens could use it, that's for sure."
Outside a car is running, then the motor stops. A car opens and slams. There are footsteps. The doorbell is ringing...
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