Sins of the Fathers
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You've got to get yourself together
You've got stuck in a moment
And you can't get out of it.

- U2

I've always REMEMBERED it.

I'm in
the basement
of the rectory
of the Church
of the Immacolata
in Richmond Heights, MO,
a suburb of St. Louis.

Sitting on the floor.

Quietly.

Listening.

For something.

Someone.

HIM.

No, not all of it.

After what feels like hours,
but is probably
just minutes,
I decide it's safe,
and get up
the courage,
to get up
and make a run for it.

Not the worst of it.

I run up the stairs,
turn the corner.
and run to the West,
inner door of the rectory.

I'm hit with a flash of blue,
but also greenish,
I guess washed-out, light
as I open the inner door.

It lools like the sky.

But weird.

And it stuns me.

But the stuff right before and after.

I'm looking at the latch
of the door.

The screen door
on the West door
of the rectory.

The Church of the Immacolata

It's a muted silver color.

And I push on it.

I just didn't UNDERSTAND it.

I'm free.

But not completely.

Not yet.

I step outside.

But into a tunnel.

The distance can't be
more than 100 feet.

Though it looks like a mile.

But HIM could be behind me.

So I start to run.

I make a beeline for
the back of the church.

For safety.

As I do,
my eyeline jumps up
and then back down.

As I hurdle something?

I glance back over my shoulder.

But then I'm at the curve
of the back of the church
and I follow it around
until I'm running West.

I clear the last of the grass
and run to the corner
where the driveway
on the West side of the church joins up
with the sidewalk on the South side
of Clayton road.

I'm running on the sidewalk,
headed West.

I run past the entrance to Berkshire,
glance back over my left shoulder again,
and reach the intersection
of McCutcheon and Clayton roads.

I cross Clayton Road
and dive through the branches
of the right pine tree
in front of the house at the T of
McCutcheon and Clayton.

I'm panting.

Gasping for air.

Hoping my chest won't explode.

Mc-Cutch-e-on.
Mc-Cutch-e-on.
Mc-Cutch-e-on.

And my ass feels like it's on fire.