18.

In a very short time, Father Mothers III’s reign as priest had become the most productive reign in the brief history of Pie Time. With the money he had raised from his father’s death, Mothers built a bigger and better cross on the top of Lady Blood. He used his father’s plans which had been found nailed to the smaller original cross, but he doubled the size of his father’s intended cross using the hired expertise of The Builder and the unusual strength of Lil’ Jorge. The cross was now the size of five men, and could easily be seen from anywhere in Pie Time, and perhaps from anywhere in the entire valley.

The Builder climbed up onto the new cross to test its strength, and to nail the last nail. “As God intended,” Mothers said to The Builder. “Pie Time will be safe now.”

Because of Pie Time’s recent fervor for attending church, Mothers had raised much more money than the money that he needed to build the cross. In addition, he built new pews for the growing congregation out of wood harvested from the trees west of Pie Time, and he built a new donation box out of the skull of his own father, Father Mothers II. It was, essentially, a pine box, but the lid of the box was the deceased priest’s skull. The people could open the skull’s mouth and just slide the money in. Mothers knew how much the children, especially, liked to push rolled-up cash directly through the teeth of their last priest.

However, Mothers’ most talked about update was the new confession booth. The booth was built in such a way that Mothers could sit behind a screen designed to be directly in front of the confessor, and only the priest could see through the screen, and not the other way around. In this way, the priest could see the confessor in full frontal view, but the confessor could not see the priest.

Mothers had recently taken up an interest in photography, and he liked to take photographs of the naked. He began saying things in his homilies like “A naked body is its most pure, free from sin, vulnerable to the lord.” It was his idea then to photograph the naked bodies of his confessors at the very moment that they confessed, for the sake of invoking their truest confessions, for creating a condition of vulnerability and exposure in the face of new purity, for cleansing oneself of sin. And, as he saw it, people were dying rapidly at the hands of God’s Finger, so his photographs were also taken for the sake of posterity. His record of sinners free from their sins were pinned to the north wall of Lady Blood for everyone to see. It quickly became clear to the believers of Pie Time exactly who had confessed, and who hadn’t.

The first one to step into the new confession booth on its first morning of use was Vera Good. She was wearing a black veil and June Good’s fur coat and pearls. Until she lifted the veil, Mothers thought he might be seeing the ghost of Mrs. Good.

“Good morning, Vera.” Mothers took his place at the back of the confession booth behind the screen. Vera opened the door, and skeptically examined the new booth.

“What is this?” she asked, looking for a seat other than the seat that was placed directly in front of the screen.

“It’s the new booth. Do you like it?”

Vera didn’t answer. She set her veil on the hook on the back of the door. She saw another room to the side, behind a curtain, and took a step toward it. “There’s another room? What’s in there?”

“That’s the changing room.”

“What’s it for?”

“I’m going to need you to take off your clothes before you confess, Vera. Truth can only come from the nude. There are hooks in there for you to hang up your clothes so they don’t get dirty on the floor.”

“But...” Vera considered objecting, but she didn’t quite know where to start.

“...and there is a mirror in there, too, and a light. Oh, and a sink. Take your time.”

Distraught and bewildered, Vera entered the changing room of the confession booth as if she were entering a new room of a dream. She took off June’s fur coat and pearls and hung them on a hook, and she took off June’s long black dress and hung that on another hook. June’s bra, June’s tights, and June’s panties were hung on the third hook. Vera stood naked in front of all those hanging clothes and cried.

“Vera, are you ok in there?” asked Mothers.

Vera didn’t answer. She turned to look at her naked body in the mirror, but could only see June’s naked body there. She could see June’s long arms and June’s long neck. She wanted to touch it, but there was nothing left of June to touch. She touched the cold steel faucet of the sink instead. She splashed cold water on her face. Then she pulled back the curtains and walked back into the main room of the confession booth completely naked, and faced the screen. “Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned.”

“Yes, go on.”

“I loved June Good. And June Good loved me.” Just as Vera confessed, a bright hot flash of what seemed like lightning lit up the room. Vera fell violently backward against the door. “What was that?!” The wood felt cold and hard on her bare shoulders.

“Oh no, no. It was nothing,” Mothers explained. “It’s ok. I took your photograph just as you confessed.”

“I shouldn’t have come here,” Vera said defeatedly, her back against the door. She retreated to the changing room, and put June’s clothes back on. It felt good to put her arms and legs back inside the fabric of the person that she loved the most.

Mothers remained behind the screen. “Come back out, Vera. I have to give you your penance now.”

“Just tell me.” Vera put the veil back over her face, and looked at herself through it in the mirror. “I can hear you fine from in here.”

“50 Our Fathers.”

“50?” complained Vera.

“Yes, 50. We just can’t be too careful these days. It’s your love that may have killed her.”