Sam entered the confessional. He chose the old type rather than face to face as this was something he was really wrestling with and preferred to discuss it in anonymity. As he knelt in the darkness the face high panel slid open and he could see a shadow of the priest sitting there. He started, "Bless me father for I have sinned. It has been about a year since my last..." he was interrupted by the priest, "Sam, is that you?". "Shit, just what I didn't want."
"Yeah, it's me. Paul?" Paul had been Sam's friend for many years and his Confessor as well, but face to face. "What's up Sam?" Father Paul was a bit perplexed as they usually met face to face but hadn't for some time now. Sam explained that he was in a sort of a delicate situation and really wanted an anonymous Confession but since they had started this maybe it was best to continue it to the bitter end. Sam requested that Paul would address him as 'my son" and he would be addressed as Father. Paul was uncomfortable with this since they knew each other so well and Sam was more than twenty years Paul's senior. Sam admitted that he was never comfortable with face to face confession saying he would be more comfortable if it took place at the local Pizzeria with a slice and beer in hand. Father Paul tried to get into why Sam was away from confession over a year. Sam responded that at his age there was very little to confess. When he was younger he had anger issues but now getting angry was too tiring. The things that placed into the occasion of sin no longer placed him anywhere. Even when he happened upon the real sexy scenes on HBO he would be bored and fall asleep. He did note that the Borgia's did bring to light that many Popes had illegitimate children but they didn't use birth control and they didn't marry. Father Paul didn't seem to happy with these observations. So he asked, "What brings you here today, my son?"
"Father, some time ago I hurt my back and was directed to a Chiropractor. When I first met her she struck me immediately of a girl I dated some fifty-seven years ago. My condition proved to be more complicated than usual which necessitated many visits for a few months for treatment. The more she treated me the more I remembered this young girl I had loved, briefly but passionately, so many years ago. I became infatuated with this young lady who was young enough to be my daughter. Every-time she touched me she aroused passions that I thought died with my wife. I did some investigation of her and hired a detective to give all the background I needed. It seems that her mother's name was Roberta which was the name of the girl I dated and which she looked so much like. It seems that her mother never married and her daughter never knew her father. While this information was being gathered I started to talk with her during my Chiropractic treatments. I got her to trust me like a father and she agreed to go out to dinner with me. We had quite a few dinners and for some strange reason she was attracted to me. We became intimate but not all the way. My Catholic upbringing! I want her passionately."
Father Paul had to admit he really couldn't see what the problem would be since there were two adult people who seemed to be genuinely in love and at this late stage there didn't seem to be a problem of an unwanted child. So even if the girl was "stupid" enough to get into a marriage with a guy who was really an "old man" there didn't seem to be any sin attached to this.
Sam responded, Father, there is a few things I haven't told you yet. Father said "Go on my son." "When I was going with Roberta we became intimate. Back then this was difficult thing for a gal to do and she became frightened that she would become pregnant. She told me she wasn't but we broke up shortly after. Her daughter, my Chiropractor, was born some months after we broke up. The woman I am in love with and have such passionate feeling about may, could be my daughter."
Father Paul was very shaken by this and insisted that Sam tell this lady everything so that a DNA test could be made. But Sam wasn't so sure he wanted to do that.Father Paul shouted in a stage whisper, "You are talking about an incestuous relationship." Sam protested that we don't know that for a fact and besides they never met before this year and they couldn't have children so what was the harm/ Father said that Sam had to follow through with this through what-ever the outcome maybe, not doing it was sinful, unfair and hurtful to the women he professed to love. In any case no absolution could be given until Sam did the right thing.
I will leave you with you choice as to how the story ends, a little like the Lady and the Tiger. The first choice is that Sam tells her and she is his daughter and they live happily ever after as father and daughter, or she is so pissed she hates him for the rest of their lives. The second door is, that Sam doesn't get the testing and they marry and are happy in connubial bliss until Sam dies in a few years with a smile on his face. The third door is that Sam wakes up from this very disturbing dream with his back still killing him but with another appointment with this pretty Chiropractor. The reader's choice? I know which one I have taken.
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