By all odds and according to all conventional wisdom, he ought to be disappointed with the impact of such a life on her, either with a sense of lost opportunity like Studs or painful disillusionment like Marcel.
In fact, she delights him, as much as in first grade if for different reasons. Better ones, come to think of it.
There’s a metaphor there someplace if he could only find it.
“I should begin the drive home before the rush hour.”
“I’ll walk you to the parking lot.”
“Thanks for lunch … and thanks for the books.” She gestures with one of them. “And thanks for coming back into our lives.”
“The gratitude should be the other way around.”
If he had walked a different path in his life, there would never have been romance between them. They were not star-crossed lovers. Whatever metaphor the Author had in mind, it did not involve sadness over what might have been, nor joy over what might yet be. They will continue to walk different paths in the years ahead, though not nearly so far apart. The metaphor is not about that sort of issue.
It was somehow more subtle or maybe more simple—like our dreams are never grand enough. No, that wasn’t it either. Close perhaps, but with metaphors, close didn’t help.
It’s all right, fella, the Author seemed to be saying, for you to use those images in your story. I play a different game, because I’m not only into surprises, but offbeat surprises. You yourself called me a comedienne, right?
Right.
He kissed her good-bye at the parking lot and promised indeed that on January 26 he would watch the Super Bowl with her family.
Go Fridge!
A wind off the lake had swept the clouds away from the Michigan Avenue skyline. As he walked east the tall buildings, framed in deep blue, shone silver and gold in the late-afternoon winter sunlight.
Life goes on, not in Gilberte but her daughter. Lucy Scanlan is the lost angel of light for one whose life does not go on.
Come on, guys, don’t try to give me those clichés!
His Author, a Hindu god turned Jewish and then turned Celtic, had a much better metaphor, not in a woman who had lost her vitality but in one who had kept it. Nor in a woman who was less than imagined but, in intricate complexity, more.
It was surely an excellent metaphor, but he didn’t quite know how to interpret it.
He might have to write another story.
Also by Andrew M. Greeley from Tom Doherty Associates
BLACKIE RYAN MYSTERIES
The Bishop and the Missing L Train
The Bishop and the Beggar Girl of St. Germain
The Bishop in the West Wing
The Bishop Goes to The University
The Bishop in the Lake
The Archbishop in Andalusia
THE O’MALLEYS IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
A Midwinter’s Tale
Younger Than Springtime
A Christmas Wedding
September Song
Second Spring
Golden Years
All About Women
Angel Fire
Angel Light
Cardinal Sins
Contact with an Angel
Faithful Attraction
The Final Planet
Furthermore!: Memories of a Parish Priest
God Game
Home for Christmas
Jesus: A Meditation on His Stories and His Relationships with Women
Star Bright!
Summer at the Lake
Thy Brother’s Wife
White Smoke
Sacred Visions (editor with Michael Cassutt)
The Book of Love (editor with Mary G. Durkin)
Emerald Magic (editor)
NUALA ANNE MCGRAIL NOVELS
Irish Gold
Irish Lace
Irish Whiskey
Irish Mist
Irish Eyes
Irish Love
Irish Stew!
Irish Cream
Irish Crystal
Irish Linen
Irish Tiger
Irish Tweed
Priest, sociologist, author and journalist, Father Andrew M. Greeley built an international assemblage of devout fans over a career spanning five decades. His books include the Bishop Blackie Ryan novels, including The Archbishop in Andalusia, the Nuala Anne McGrail novels, including Irish Tweed, and The Cardinal Virtues. He was the author of over 50 best-selling novels and more than 100 works of non-fiction, and his writing has been translated into 12 languages.Father Greeley was a Professor of Sociology at the University of Arizona and a Research Associate with the National Opinion Research Center (NORC) at the University of Chicago. In addition to scholarly studies and popular fiction, for many years he penned a weekly column appearing in the Chicago Sun-Times and other newspapers. He was also a frequent contributor to The New York Times, the National Catholic Reporter, America and Commonweal, and was interviewed regularly on national radio and television. He authored hundreds of articles on sociological topics, ranging from school desegregation to elder sex to politics and the environment.Throughout his priesthood, Father Greeley unflinchingly urged his beloved Church to become more responsive to evolving concerns of Catholics everywhere. His clear writing style, consistent themes and celebrity stature made him a leading spokesperson for generations of Catholics. He chronicled his service to the Church in two autobiographies, Confessions of a Parish Priest and Furthermore!In 1986, Father Greeley established a $1 million Catholic Inner-City School Fund, providing scholarships and financial support to schools in the Chicago Archdiocese with a minority student body of more than 50 percent. In 1984, he contributed a $1 million endowment to establish a chair in Roman Catholic Studies at the University of Chicago. He also funded an annual lecture series, “The Church in Society,” at St. Mary of the Lake Seminary, Mundelein, Illinois, from which he received his S.T.L. in 1954.Father Greeley received many honors and awards, including honorary degrees from the National University of Ireland at Galway, the University of Arizona and Bard College. A Chicago native, he earned his M.A. in 1961 and his Ph.D. in 1962 from the University of Chicago.Father Greeley was a penetrating student of popular culture, deeply engaged with the world around him, and a lifelong Chicago sports fan, cheering for the Bulls, Bears and the Cubs. Born in 1928, he died in May 2013 at the age of 85. You can sign up for email updates here.
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Contents
Title Page
Copyright Notice
Dedication
Epigraphs
In the Beginning
Jenny
Sionna Marie
Martina
Mary Jane
Julie
Lisa
Cindasoo
Peggy
Paula
Deirdre
Andrea
April Mae
Brigid
Caitlin
Laura
Maggie
Marge
Rosemarie
Patricia
Ms. Carpenter
Rita
Stranger
Gilberte
Also by Andrew M. Greeley from Tom Doherty Associates
About the Author
Copyright Acknowledgments
Copyright
Copyright Acknowledgments
“Andrea” was first published in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction; “Caitlin,” “Laura,” “Ms. Carpenter,” and “Sionna Marie” were first published in U.S. Catholic; “Cindasoo” was first published in Clues; “Deirdre,” “Paula,” and “Peggy” were first
published in The Critic; “Jenny” (under the title “The Priest and Jenny Martin”) was first published in Redbook; “Julie” (under the title “Julie Quinn”) and “Martina” were first published in The Literary Review: An International Journal of Contemporary Writing, published by Fairleigh Dickinson University. “Julie Quinn” appeared in 26 (Fall ’82): 12-22; “Martina” in 31 (Spring ’88): 333-42. “Mary Jane” was first published in The Arizona Quarterly; “Lisa” was first published in Woman’s Day; and “Marge” (under the title “A Handful of Tinsel”) was first published in Ladies’ Home Journal, December 1984. All are reprinted here by permission.
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in these stories are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
ALL ABOUT WOMEN
Copyright © 1990 by Andrew M. Greeley Enterprises, Ltd.
All rights reserved.
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ISBN 978-0-7653-2621-8
Second Trade Paperback Edition: February 2011
eISBN 9781429929769
First eBook edition: November 2018