Called for action

Frontiers, 1999 by Currans-Sheehan, Tricia

Lillian Lammers started coughing like she was having one of her jags that she sometimes got in church. "Smoking too many of those cigarettes, hey Lily?" he asked.

"She'll be okay once she gets outside," Mom said, moving toward the door.

Father looked at Nadine. "Don't you two ladies come together anymore?"

"I told her to stay home, but she decided to come anyway."

Father looked at Nadine with a funny expression on his face. "What's that stuff you're wearing?"

Her mother stopped and Lillian did, too. Both turned around. Nadine looked at Father. "It's my Call for Action button, an NRA button, and an IRA one."

Father looked at them from the bottom of his bifocals. "Didn't you hear that you can get excommunicated for that?"

Nadine said, "For the NRA button? I heard you belong, Father. I guess you don't mind that all sorts of crazies use assault weapons to slaughter children on playgrounds."

He was getting angry. "You know damn well I don't mean the NRA button."

"Oh then, the IRA one? Aren't your relatives in it?"

"You know what I mean. Didn't you read the bulletin last week?"

"I wasn't here."

"Well, you wear that again and I won't give you communion."

Nadine smiled. "You did this morning."

Lillian was pushing Pearl, who was mumbling, "Oh Lord," down the aisle, toward the door.

"So you wore this just to test me, is that it?" His bald head had turned pink.

"I suppose you could say that."

"Well, I'm tired of cafeteria Catholics like you, thinking you can pick and choose what you want to believe." His head quivered while he bit off each word. "You wear that tomorrow and you won't get communion. And I'd advise you, while you are visiting your mother, to have some consideration for her position in this church."

Father took off up the center aisle heading toward the altar. His steps were short and fast, like he was in a big hurry.

Nadine walked toward the door. Once outside she saw that Lillian and her mother were almost home. As Nadine neared them, she heard sobs coming from Mom.

When she got inside the house, she saw Lillian was helping Mom take off her coat. "I want to go to bed," Mom said.

Nadine came forward. "Here, I'll help with her now," she said.

Mom hissed, "Don't you get near me. You've shamed me."

Nadine could see Mom's hurt. God, now they would probably have another silent battle. Nadine figured it would take Mom another couple years to get over this one. But then she didn't know how many years Mom had left. Lillian helped Mom into bed and turned on the electric blanket. When Nadine saw that Mom was settled, she packed her suitcase and drove out to stay at her sister Doris's farm, seven miles south of town.

She sat on the deck that overlooked the west branch of the Des Moines River. The fields of soybeans and corn in the bottomlands had about a month of growth, and from a distance she could still see the rows of green against the black soil. Give the crops another two weeks and soon they would be a mass of green, filling out and spreading over into the black rows.

Doris came out and handed her a glass of wine.