From Cecilia Brainard: I am proud to share PAULINO LIM, JR.'s short story, AN AFFAIR TO REMEMBER. This is part of my Love Stories Series featured in my blog. This story first appeared in The Philippines Graphic Reader, June 2, 2025. It is featured in my blog with permission from the author.
AN AFFAIR TO REMEMBER
Copyright by Paulino Lim, Jr. All rights reserved.
MONSIGNOR SULLIVAN WAS SEATED at his glass-topped
desk, the letter from Vikings Cruise on a linen stationery before him. Should
he take up the offer of a free cruise in exchange for serving as chaplain for
two weeks on the ship?
He was wearing a black cassock and tinted lenses
that highlighted his cropped white hair and shaven surf-tanned face. He looked
up when he heard the knock, and said, “Come in. Oh, hello.”
His assistant Father Clive James was in his late
forties, with his trimmed brown hair, metal-framed tinted glasses, hair on the
chin but not the cheeks. He looked like a surgeon, except for the white alb he
wore at the outdoor Mass on the playground of St. Ambrose Catholic School.
“How was Mass on the grass, Clive?”
“Just a couple of Southwest Airline planes that
landed and took off from the Long Beach Airport. Deacon Charles delivered the
homily.”
“When is he leaving for Florida, by the way?”
“End of the month, during school break.”
