My Baby

Page 3

“Father O’Connor wants to have a little talk to you. Go into the lounge room. I will bring you both a cup of tea in a minute”, said mum.

“Now Joan dear, I need to talk to you because you have forsaken the words of the Lord”, he said, placing his hand on my knee.

“Please do not call me dear. My name is Joan, and please take your hand off my knee”

He left it there.

“You have sinned against God’s will. You have forsaken the words of Jesus” he said, moving his hand further up my knee.

“You talk bullshit”, I said, and I pushed his hand away. “I love Bob, and he loves me, and this is all that matters in this rotten world of yours”.

“You are both sinners, and, what’s more, you will both burn in perpetual hell”, he said, and moved his hand higher up on my thigh.

That’s when I hit him, fair and square on the nose. Blooded squirted on to his clean white shirt.

“You bloody filthy bitch!” he called out.

“What’s going on?” called out mum from the kitchen.

“He called me a bloody filthy bitch, after I punched him on the nose, because he kept touching my leg.”

“Is this true?’’ asked mum.