The Boomerang Kid by Jay Quinn

Author:Jay Quinn
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Open Road Media
Published: 2008-01-01T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eleven

MAURA STILL attended All Saints Church regularly. She had been a parishioner there from the very beginning and stayed even after the beloved parish priest had moved on and the archdiocese had brought in another, very different priest to replace him. Still, the parish was a part of Maura’s life. Kai had attended school and after-school care there until he was finished with eighth grade. Thanks to Maura’s parents’ ongoing generosity Kai had attended the co-ed Catholic high school closest to them after that, but Maura continued attending mass at All Saints, along with Kai as long as he lived at home.

Kai noted Maura’s surprise when she found him waiting in the kitchen for her quick cup of coffee before they needed to leave for the eight a.m. mass, but he could tell she was pleased. They left Matt sleeping still at seven-forty and were in their usual pew by ten of eight. Kai followed his mother’s lead and knelt for a moment once they sat down, but he didn’t actually pray. Instead, he only searched for the comfort of long habit in the spacious sanctuary. It hadn’t changed in the time he was away; it was a rock of familiarity for him. And he did find comfort in that. He followed along with the lector for the morning’s readings and even took Communion, though it had been more than two years since he’d gone to confession or even to church, with the exceptions of the Christmas Eve masses he’d attended with his mother. He never went when he lived on the beach, only when he was home, at All Saints.

After mass, Maura and Kai waited for the priest and his attendants to reach the back of the church before leaving their pew. When they joined the throng leaving the mass, Maura touched him lightly on the shoulder to get his attention. When he looked down at her, she was smiling. “It’s good to have you back,” she said happily.

Kai looked around him at all the unfamiliar faces in the familiar place and said, “It’s good to be back. This place never changes, at least.”

Maura nodded as she reached in her purse for her car keys and said, “It has changed, though. So many of these people I don’t recognize, though I come every week. A whole new group is here now, running things. The people who have been here from the start, like you and I, are now few and far between. Churches are dynamic places, I guess.”

Kai strode alongside his mother to their spot at the far end of the parking lot, closest to the exit. Beside them, cars nosed their way into the flow of traffic coming in for the next mass, while the crowd from their mass was trying to leave. “The neighborhood has changed as well. You must be one of the last original owners in Sawgrass Estates,” Kai remarked.

Maura pressed the button on her key that automatically unlocked their doors as they reached

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