Goodbye, Carol

Untitled Part 2

     As Carol strode into the building, she was feeling light as a feather which somewhat puzzled her friend Delia. She had her arms crossed and impatience was etched all over her face. "What took you so long? Everyone's already in their assigned rooms except us."

     Carol held Delia's face and she had this strange smile as she told her friend, "Do you know who that was I was talking to?" Delia  brusquely removed Carol's hands as she said, "Yeah, a priest." Carol was jumping up and down still beaming with the smile of  a child who has just been handed a big bar of chocolate. "Delia, that was Jake" "You're kidding,"Delia said unbelieving. " It's really him..."  Delia said, "I find that hard believe since almost everyone in school thought he got married to a girl from another school." "You'll find out soon," Carol replied as she started walking toward their assigned room.

     Five students were assigned to each room. The retreatants arrived at around 5:00 in the afternoon and they were allowed a one hour rest before the start of the session for the day. Carol and Delia decided to walk around the seminary to wallow in its peaceful surroundings. They were careful not to wander too far from the main building since dinner will be served at around 6:00 in the evening. After dinner, that's when the first session begins. "No  wonder Jake was drawn to this place..." Carol thought to herself. Unknown to Carol, Jake had attended a retreat in another seminary. Just like Carol, Jake was also overcome by the serenity of the place and before he knew it, he found himself being drawn to the secluded life.

     Carol and Delia decided that it was time for them to go back to the main building. They were just a few steps away from the main building when they saw their adviser make her way near the steps and started ringing the bell she had in her hand. Carol and Delia smiled at each other. "Chow time.." they both thought. "Go to the mess hall, ladies. Dinner will be served in a few minutes." "Yes, Ma'm" Carol replied.

     When Carol and Delia entered the mess hall, they saw that a few of their classmates were already seated at the table. They were later joined by their other classmates as well as by their adviser. After a few minutes of waiting,  dinner started to be served by the seminarians. The retreatants had smiles on their faces as 3 large plates of hot steaming rice were placed on the table. This was followed by two plates of fried chicken, 30 pieces of fired tilapia, and two large bowls of hot mushroom soup. The seminarians also brought in 2 large pitchers of pineapple juice. Their adviser led the students in saying grace before partaking of the delicious mouth-watering dinner. As the retreatants happily ate their dinner, they talked about the events of the day and of other things.

     As soon as the retreatants had finished having their dinner, they stood up and walked toward the large session hall where they were going to have their retreat. While waiting for the retreat master to arrive, a lay brother from the seminary gave them a short orientation on how the retreat will be conducted. They were also brief about the schedule for the next two days. As the lay brother was about to end his little speech, Carol and Delia saw Fr. Jake walk into the hall. Fr. Jake smiled at Carol as he pulled up a chair and sat down behind the last row of chairs. "Are there any questions?" the lay brother asked. The retreatants shook their heads which the lay brother took as a sign that everything he said was understood clearly by the participants. "Very well," the lay brother said with a smile. " I turn you over to your retreat master, Fr. Jake Santos." Fr, Jake smiled as he stood up from his seat. He casually walked to the front of the room and faced the retreatants. "Thank you, Brother James," Father Jake said as both men tapped each other's shoulders.

"Hello," Father Jake said. "There's that smile again," Carol whispered. Unknown to Carol, that smile mesmerized her classmates who stared at the priest as if they were held in a trance. "Did everyone have a good dinner?"  The retreatants replied with a big smile on their faces and vigorous nodding of their heads. "Before we begin, it would be better if we first know each other's names. Let us start with you Ma'm," Father Jake said to the adviser of Carol's class.The adviser introduced herself by saying her name and not forgetting to mention that she was the adviser of the retreatants. Father Jake repeated her name to himself as the girl beside the adviser stood up to introduce herself. Father Jake nodded, smiled, and repeated to himself the name of each retreatant. This went on until it was Carol's turn to introduce herself. Carol stood up with a shy smile on her face and said her name. Then she sat down and she noticed that Fr Jake was smiling at her in a different way.

After the last retreatant introduce himslelf, the priest said, "And I'm Father Jake Santos. So without much further ado, let's start the ball rolling. Why are you here?"  The first session went on for two hours. At exactly 9:00 in the evening, Father Jake wrapped up the retreat. Carol and her classmates were only too happy that they were through for the day. Many of them stretched their arms and began to yawn. One by one, they stood up to go to their respective rooms to turn in for the night. As Carol was about to leave the hall, Father Jake looked up and smiled at her. Carol gave a small wave at Father Jake who did the same. "Good night everyone. I'll see you in the morning."  Carol can't tell if she was just imagining things when Father Jake winked at smiled at her as he left the room.

Inside their room, Carol and her companions lay in their respective beds. Carol smiled at Delia who was already fast asleep. Because she was already tired, Delia immediately started her journey to dreamland two minutes after her body pressed against the soft cushion of the bed. It was already midnight and yet, sleep seems to elude Carol who had her head cushioned by her crossed arms. She kept thinking about her meeting with Father Jake after she got off the bus that brought her and her classmates to the seminary. "So this is where I'll just find him," Carol though to herself.  "After all these years, this is just where I'll find him. I wonder if he still loves me?" With these thoughts, Carol gave a deep yawn and finally feel asleep.