Delaney. Part XV

By the end of the day Delaney has learned the names of many of the flowers that adorn the Townley Hall gardens. Despite his impatience, Mr. Byrne has taken note of the diligence with which the child works, and the great interest she has taken in the garden. “And these, in the shade,” she says,…

Delaney. Part XIII

“I’ll fetch Father Fitzpatrick,” Doyle tells Brother O’Brien as he pulls Magdalene and Adrienne clandestinely through the back door and into the kitchen. Brother O’Brien is setting some bread and cheese on a plate when Father Fitzpatrick walks in. “Brother, O’Brien. We weren’t expecting you back for another month.” “I’m afraid that plague has visited…

Tell the Truth, But Tell it Slant

Sometimes the truth needs to be told from an angle. The truth head on can blind a person or scare them, like a bolt of lightning. Better to tell it in a more circuitous way. Or so it seems Emily Dickenson believed if we grasp her poem. Jesus liked to tell it slant in his…