I sat quietly in St Patrick‘s cathedral.
Just me and the Little Dog strangely all alone in that vaulted place.
I have no idea how or why I ended up there. I wanted avocado on toast at Gitane not a divine intervention.
I genuflect and bow my head.
I knelt right at the front, first pew, and looked up at the painting of Jesus who in that particular church is part cherub.
I don’t really believe in Jesus. It’s a lovely idea but nah…Jesus is not my friend. God, on the other hand, is my friend and it was to him that I genuflect, to him that I kneel and to him that I found myself praying with some adolescent insistence.
I kept on praying for the strength to forgive. Please let me have the strength to forgive him. Forgive his childish letter, forgive him for so crudely lying his way into my life. Forgive him for being ordinary. Yes, that sounds cruel but I wanted him to be extraordinary and he just isn’t.
We only have a few more days before I face The Penguin in court and all I want is to forgive him, to look into his face and forgive him. I am praying hard that happens.
I don’t mind listening to anything he throws at me…I know he is fighting for his life…as long as I am at peace. He made some really, really silly mistakes. Mistakes that not only impacted on my life but on every person around him.
If only he had the guts to just say that he was sorry, he has no idea how forgiving I can be.
I spoke to John yesterday about unanswered questions and he made a very good point.
If, for instance, I asked my step-father why he did what he did to me, he really wouldn’t know. He didn’t know. When I confronted him all those years ago he collapsed into my arms. Defeated by my directness. It was the only time I ever saw him vulnerable.
The Penguin has no idea why he did what he did so it’s really no use asking him why. Even though I want to know so badly.
Last night I rolled around a large bed with a young man I met in the park. He walked to my house, brought me lilacs, paid for my dinner and as people are want to do, flicked through various photographs on my iPhone left over from when I first met The Penguin.
He said, “He looks like me.”
Yes, I said. “He does look like you but he’s not at peace like you are.”
NYC is jam-packed with beautiful jewish boys.