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She followed hihted hall, which suely of incense

The kitchen was homey A orn, yellow linoleum floor Pale yelloalls Dark wood cabinets hite porcelain handles Gray and yellow Forerator, oven, microwave oven, toaster, electric can opener--as in any kitchen, which surprised her, though when she thought about it, she didn’t knohy she would have expected it to be any different Priests needed appliances too They couldn’t just suel to toast some bread or work a miracle to brew a pot of hot cocoa

The place s Sausages were sizzling over a low flaas stove

Father Castelli showed her to one of the four padded vinyl chairs at the chro care of her as if she were a chick and he a mother hen He rushed upstairs, returned with two clean, fluffy bath towels, and said, "Dry your hair and blot your damp clothes with one of them, then wrap the other one around you like a shawl It’ll help you get war his instructions, he went to the bathroom off the downstairs hall and fetched two aspirins He put those on the table in front of her and said, "I’ll get you soe juice Aspirin and vitaht out of you before it can take up residence" When he returned with the juice, he stood for a ured she irl, what on earth have you been up to?" He seemed not to have heard what she’d said about aliens when she’d first crossed his threshold "No, wait You can tell me over breakfast Would you like some breakfast?"

"Yes, please, Father I’ I’ve eaten since yesterday afternoon was a couple of Hershey bars"

"Nothing but Hershey bars?" He sighed "Chocolate is one of God’s graces, but it’s also a tool the devil uses to lead us into teluttony" He patted his round belly "l, race, but I would never"--he exaggerated the word "never" and winked at her--"never, not ever, heed the devil’s call to overindulge! But, see here, if you’ve been eating only chocolate, your teeth will fall out So … I’ve got plenty of sausages, plenty to share I was about to cook a couple of eggs for s?"

"Yes, please"

"And toast?"

"Yes"

"We’ve got some wonderful cinnamon sweetrolls there on the table And the hot chocolate, of course"

Chrissie washed down the two aspirins with orange juice

As he carefully cracked eggs into the hot frying pan, Father Castelli glanced at her again "Are you all right?"

"Yes, Father"

"Are you sure?"

"Yes Now I’ company for breakfast," he said

Chrissie drank the rest of her juice

He said, "When Father O’Brien finishes saying Mass, he never wants to eat Nervous stomach" He chuckled "They all have bad stomachs when they’re new For the first few months they’re scared to death up there on the altar It’s such a sacred duty, you see, offering the Mass, and the young priests are always afraid of flubbing up in some way that’ll be … oh, I don’t know … that’ll be an insult to God, I guess But God doesn’t insult very easily If He did, He’d have washed His hands of the hu priests come to that realization eventually, and then they’re fine Then they coh the entire week’s food budget in one breakfast"

She knew that he was talking just to soothe her He had noticed how distraught she was He wanted to settle her down so they could discuss it in a calm, reasonable manner She didn’t s, he turned the sausages with a fork, then opened a drawer and took out a spatula, which he placed on the counter near the egg pan As he got plates, knives, and forks for the table, he said, "You look more than a little scared, Chrissie, like you’d just seen a ghost You can cal, if a young priest can be afraid ofaMost fears are things we create in our own minds, and we can banish them as easily as we called them forth"

"Maybe not this one," she said

"We’ll see"

He transferred eggs and sausages fro pans to plates

For the first tiht As Father Castelli put the food on the table and encouraged her to dig in, Chrissie sighed with relief and hunger

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