Corn, Cows, and the Apocalypse

The Act of Appreciation

Since strays were not welcome, I did my best to feed my rehabilitated pet in the hopes that he might make it on his own in the wild. Unfortunately, his days without drugs were making his stomach reject anything that didn't make him high. The trembling that set in was a little scary, but August assured me it was a good thing. It meant everything was officially out of his system.

Being sober wasn't something that Priest was good at anymore, and the mood swings were enough to make August demand that he finish his recovery at his church. Despite my misgivings about returning him to the home of his vices, I knew his sobriety wasn't strictly contingent on his location.

I jumped out of the driver's side of the truck and jogged around to the passenger's side to help him out, but he waved me off with a shaking hand. "I'm not a cripple, just a drug addict."

"I know. That's why I'm trying to help. A cripple would be able to function on his own." He glared at me, but the smile I wore left him defenseless. It was funny and he knew it.

"Will you walk me in?" he requested and reached out his hand. I wasn't entirely sure what to do with it, so when I didn't respond to it, he let it drop. "I'm so sorry, Lenore."

"Oh, please don't start apologizing for that now."

"I wasn't. I will and I am, but I'm apologizing now for not being thankful for your rescue. You are a good person. I shouldn't have made you feel bad for saving me."

"I don't feel bad for saving you," I corrected immediately. "You are a good person too."

He looked down at his shaking hands and shook his head. "I'm fallen, Lenore. I have disgraced God. I have degraded my title."

"Okay, first off, I think fallen only gets to be used for people in love, or angels—and..." I looked behind him for wings. "I don't think you're one of those. Second, you haven't done anything new. It may be new to you, but guess what, sex, drugs, and strawberry fields have been around long before you discovered them."

"But my thoughts, my anger. You have no idea the things I have done to ridicule my creator."

I smiled. "I'm sure I've accidentally walked in on some of them. Kudos for your stamina, by the way; pent-up celibacy apparently works better than Viagra." He flushed at the comment. "My point is, none of that matters, because you're not a priest anymore." I flicked his freshly laundered black shirt that he insisted on buttoning to the strangulation level.

His eyes narrowed, and I thought for a moment he was mad, but he smirked at me. "Have I seriously been too stoned to remember your sharp tongue or has your training changed you that much?"

I shrugged, taking on the blush this time. "It's all me... and maybe a little of the training. At any rate, I'm just more of me than I was before. A better version of me. Lenore 2.0."

Priest nodded. "I like it." He paused, looking me over. "I wish I could be a better version of myself."

I took his hand in mine, and he looked down at it like I had stuck a snake in his hand. "Come on, cripple man. Let's get you situated." I dragged him inside the church.