On the Fifth Day Read Online Free

tea?" said Jim.
    "That would be great."
    "More force of habit," said the Irishman. "When in need of warmth, welcome, or consolation, tea is generally the first line of attack."
    "Unless you can get to the whisky first."
    "Exactly," said the priest with a sudden grin that lit his 15
    O n t h e F i f t h D a y
    whole face. "The obligatory Catholic vice. You fancy a small one?"
    "Bit early for me," said Thomas, adding almost apologeti
    cally as the lie struck him and registered, "not today."
    "Fair enough," said the priest. "Then tea it is."
    They drank from heavy mugs, chipped but clean, on either side of an inadequate electric heater that was turned to its low
    est setting.
    "Completely bloody useless," said the priest, "but if I turn it up any higher it blows every light in the building."
    Thomas grinned.
    "So what's a genuine Irish priest doing in Chicago?"
    "Priest shortage," said the priest. "I fancied coming to America, so I applied to seminary here rather than at home. That was a long time ago. I think of myself as a kind of mis
    sionary," he said, grinning again.
    "Don't you think America has enough religion?" said Thomas, his gaze level.
    "That's why they need a missionary," said Jim.
    "I don't think I follow," said Thomas.
    "Forget it," said the other, shrugging it off. "Private joke. You look familiar. Have we met before?"
    "I don't think so. People say I look like Ed."
    "Maybe that's it. So when do you want to start going through Ed's stuff?" said the priest. "It won't take long. There isn't much."
    "What about . . . wherever he died?" said Thomas. "They didn't tell me. They said he was overseas, but they didn't say where." He paused, and the silence seemed long and loaded.
    "I suppose I should have asked," he added lamely. The priest made a face.
    "He wouldn't have had much with him," he said. "Nothing beyond a suitcase or two. His worldly goods, such as they are, are here, and whatever you don't claim will go to the order."
    "So what was he doing?" said Thomas. "He wasn't a mis
    sionary, right?"
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    A. J. Hartley
    "No," said Jim. "Unlike me. He had been based here for a few months. I'm a diocesan priest. He was a Jesuit--a mem
    ber of the Society of Jesus. He was sort of on loan to me here for a while, helping me out. When things calmed down, he went on retreat. I expected him back for a little while, but he would probably have been moved again by the end of the year. There was talk of him teaching at Loyola."
    Thomas nodded, but there was something in the priest's manner he found careful, even evasive despite his breezy man
    ner. He was intellectually agile, somehow, this priest, and if his scattered and disheveled appearance wasn't actually an act, it was certainly misleading.
    "So. Ed's stuff," said Thomas. "I just take what I want and toss the rest away?" It seemed wrong, disrespectful.
    "You're not so much an inheritor as an executor, as I un
    derstand it," said the priest. "The Js take a vow of poverty, so he doesn't really own property as you or I do. They are going to send a lawyer round to help out. Technically everything be
    longs to the order, though I'm sure they will respect your wishes if there are personal things you want to keep."
    "I shouldn't think there will be," said Thomas, more brusque than he had meant to be. The priest nodded and Thomas looked away. He didn't want to get into a conversation about why he had so utterly lost touch with his only brother.
    "Then it will be a short visit," said the priest, sipping his tea and watching Thomas over the rim of his mug. "But you can stay the night, if you like."
    "That won't be necessary," said Thomas. "I live locally."
    "What's 'necessary'?" Jim shrugged. "I could use the company."
    Thomas thought quickly. It was not as if he had anything to rush home to, and odd though it seemed, there was suddenly something appealing about being in his brother's space, in what had been his life, if only for a moment.
    "Okay," he said. "Thanks."
    "You can take