“You have not sunk,” added Riordan.
“I have not!” Doone stomped his foot as if to test, then, secure, he lowered his voice for fear that the priest, though gone, might catch the echo.
“And why not?” he asked the heavens.
“Why, Doone?” was the chorus.
“Because I distilled the rumors and cadged the notions that once on a time, a hundred years back, on this very spot once stood—”
He paused for the drama, then finished the act:
“A church!”
“A church?”
“Good Roman rock on uncertain Irish soil! The beauty of it distilled faith. But the weight of it sank its cornerstone. The priests fled and left the structure, altar and all, so it’s on that firm foundation that Doone, your sprinter, holds still. I stand above ground!”
“It’s a revelation you’ve made!” Finn exclaimed.
“I have! And it is here we shall conjugate our verbs and revive our faith in women in all futures, near and far,” announced Doone, way out there on the rainy moss. “But just in case..”
“In case?”
Doone waved over beyond them.
The men, straddling their bikes, turned.
And on a rise, unseen heretofore, but now half revealed to the sight, some hundred feet away, there appeared two women, not transfigured rose gardens, no, but their homely glances somehow turned fine by night and circumstance.
Short women they were. Not Irish-short but circus-short, carnival-size.
“Midgets!” exclaimed Finn.
“From the vaudeville in Dublin last week!” admitted Doone, out in the bog. “And both weighing half again less than me, should the church roof below suddenly lose its architectural roots and douse the bunch!”
Doone whistled and waved. The tiny maids, the little women, came on the run.
When they reached Doone and did not vanish, Doone called to the mob, “Will you give up your bikes and join the dance?”
There was a mass movement.
“Hold it!” cried Doone. “One at a time. We don’t want to meet back at the pub at midnight—”
“And find someone missing?” asked Finn.
Virgin Resusitas
She sounded crazy with joy on the phone. I had to calm her down.
“Helen,” I said, “take it easy. What’s going on?”
“The greatest news. You must come over, now, right now.”
“This is Thursday, Helen. I don’t usually see you on Thursdays. Tuesdays were always it.”
“It can’t wait, it’s too wonderful.”
“Can’t you tell me over the phone?”