Point of View

Chapter 8- Connections

"I think God Himself is shedding some tears because it's January, and it's raining like crazy. It feels like Noah's Ark could actually become a reality right now, and it's so cold that my dick thinks this is Alaska."

But I guess it's just a normal winter. "Gabriel Dorojan, the priest."

I know this is not a conventional speech for a priest, but I'm not a conventional one.

The memories I still have from Africa made me a different man.

I used to have cold shivers with dreams, or better yet, nightmares about the past, and I started choosing alcohol as a medicine to clear my mind.

Now I get shivers if I don't drink, and I still have the same memories, so I guess this didn't solve much, but I can't complain- not everything is bad. I managed to secure my spot in this community by being a man of God, or at least that's how these people see me, maybe because they don't know the rest.

Today was just a normal day for me with my normal routine.

I woke up to the bells from the church at 8 AM, I don't know why, but I always wake up scared with a startle, and my arm extends from the bed, always knocking something off the small table beside my bed.

Sometimes it's the glass of wine I left there from the previous night, other times it's the picture of Jesus Christ.

Today, the same thing happened, I dropped something, and when I looked, both had fallen. When I reached for the picture, it was covered in wine.

I thought to myself, this must be a sign from God, telling me I need to stop drinking, so, I got out of bed and prayed the same salm eight times. I promised myself I would never drink again.

After washing my face, I knew I had to be quick because I only had a few minutes before the first mass of the day, and today is Sunday-everyone will come, suddenly, I started feeling cold shivers, and I said "no" to myself, was when I boiled my coffee, dark and strong, and dressed in my cashmere tunic.

My assistant, Belloti, knocked on the door from outside.

Belloti: Good morning, Father Gabriel. I just came to wish you a nice day. I went downstairs to light the candles for the mass, and the room is almost full. It will be an amazing day to spread the word of the Lord today. Are you ready?

Gabriel: Thank you, my son. I (stutter), I am almost ready (stutter), just a few more minutes. May God be with you.

Belloti: I know He is. I'll wait for you downstairs!

Belloti started heading down the stairs when he suddenly heard a noise, like dishes falling to the ground, and came back to the door, knocking again. He asked,

Belloti: Are you okay, Father?

Gabriel (stuttering): Yes, my son, I'm okay. It was just a fork that fell down, don't worry. (Stutters) Go downstairs and receive the people.

Belloti: Okay, sir.

A bit confused, wondering how big that fork must have been, he went down the stairs to continue his tasks of receiving people for the mass.

In reality, the noise was the boiling pot of coffee that had fallen and made Gabriel's tunic completely dirty with coffee. At this point, he didn't have any other clothes to change into and almost no time left. The cold shivers started to get even stronger, and he began to curse in his mind, "You're such an idiot, piece of shit boiler, now what do I do?"

He thought, "Okay, I need to calm down," picked up the small leftover of coffee he could save into a cup, and filled the rest with whiskey. He took a sip and didn't stop. In his mind, he became more lucid than ever and had an idea to sort out the situation. He screamed: