The Fancy Dancer by Patricia Nell Warren

Author:Patricia Nell Warren
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: gay, romance, novel
Published: 2013-10-02T16:00:00+00:00

» a a

“Wake up, you crummy amateur sinner.”

Vidal was bending over me.

My eyes seemed to be held shut by cobwebs, and my tongue was a mildewed velvet pillow. An ax of doom was splitting my skull.

“What time are you supposed to be at your folks’ house? Twelve?” Vidal asked.

The bathroom mirror showed me a stranger’s swollen face with a butterfly on it, all smudged under the eyes. I scrubbed at it with soap and water. Panic: it wouldn’t come off. But finally it did. Shaking, I managed to wash up and shave.

Vidal leaned in the doorway, watching me coolly. He was wearing jeans and his Yucatan wedding shirt

“I thought you were mad at me,” I said.

He shrugged. “I can’t stay mad at you, you’re such a mess. But your hangups get me sometimes. And then you went off and danced with that goddam queen.”

“You danced with plenty of people.”

He grinned. “I’ll be damned. The priest is jealous.” At twelve on the dot, we got to Stuart Street.

My mother was at the door with her usual little shriek.

“Mom and Pop, this is a friend of mine from Cottonwood, Vidal Stump,” I said as casually as I could.

My parents looked him up and down, and smilingly said they were pleased to meet him. Rosie set an extra place at the table, and we ate dinner at one. My parents were very nice to Vidal, but I could detect a little strain in the air. But how could they possibly know, or even guess, what we’d been doing the night before?

When we were having our after-dinner Drambuie and my mother was showing Vidal some of her coins, my father said quietly, “Tom, you look awful tired. Can’t you take a vacation?”

“I guess you’re right,” I said wearily. “There’s a conference coming up in Denver. Maybe Father Vance will let me go for a week.”

“A conference isn’t a vacation,” said my father. “Maybe you’d like to just come here and eat and sleep for a week.”

“Believe me,” I said, “just getting away from Cottonwood for a week will be a vacation.”

“Well, you ought to do it,” my father said. “I can’t remember when I’ve seen you look so bad. You look like something the cat brought in.”

After a moment, he asked, even more quietly, “Tom, maybe it’s none of my business, but . . . have you been drinking?”

a a a

Next I was supposed to drive over to Carroll College for confession. But I didn’t have the nerve. I called Father Matt, told him I was exhausted, and canceled.

Father Matt said, “Tom, I’ve begun to feel that you’re hiding something from me.”

“Hiding something?” My stomach plunged with fright. “No, I’m not hiding anything. I’m just halfcrazy from being tired.”

I talked a lot into the phone about my fatigue and 142

pretty much convinced him. Finally he said, “The conference .. . that’s the one at Regis College, isn’t it? Why don’t I give Father Vance a call and tell him I think you need a

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.