I Am the Messenger

"He doesn't like me," Marv points out.

Another bark.

"It's because you give him dirty looks and put shit on him all the time. He understands, you know."

We argue awhile longer, but Audrey breaks it up by dealing out the cards.

"Gentlemen?" She clears her throat.

We sit down, and I pick up.

In the third game, I pick up the Ace of Clubs.

Father O'Reilly, I think.

"What are you doing this Sunday, Marv?"

"What do you mean, what am I doing on Sunday?"

"What do you think I mean?"

Ritchie says, "I swear you're a goose, Marv. I believe Ed is simply asking if you're busy this Sunday."

Marv points at Ritchie now. He's all hostile today because I brought the Doorman along. "Don't you start on me, either, Pryor." Now he looks at Audrey. "And you can keep quiet, too."

Audrey's astonished. "What the hell did I do?"

I interrupt. "Anyway, not only you, Marv--all three of you." I place my cards on the table, facedown. "I need a favor."

"Like what?" says Marv.

They're all listening now.

Waiting.

"Well, I was wondering if we could all go"--I let the words hurry from my mouth--"to church."

"What?"

"What's wrong with that?" I argue.

Marv tries to recover from the shock. "What the hell do you want us to go to church for?"

"Well, there's this priest, and--"

"He isn't one of those Chesters, is he?"

"No, he isn't."

"What's a Chester?" Ritchie asks, but he gets no answer. In the end, he doesn't really care and forgets about it.

The next person to speak is Audrey, finally bringing some reason to all of this. She says, "So why, Ed?" I think she's figured out that this smells a lot like the Ace of Clubs.

"The priest's a nice guy, and I think it might be good, even just for a laugh."

"Is he going?"

Marv motions to the Doorman.