Got our grant - Reactions to my new short story The Seminarian: Tommy boy on the Ladder of the World

I'm sitting on my flowered couch typing yet another draft of my new short story - The Seminarian - when the phone rings. I see from the above photo she called at 2:35 pm.

I knew, of course, who it was, and why she was calling.

"Hi, this is Ruth," I said.

"This is Laura McKenna, and I have some very good news for you!"

"Wow, this is fantastic, Laura," I said.

She said the board of directors had met the day before and had discussed all the good work we do and were so impressed they would give us X amount for the next three years.

Whoopee!

"Be sure to tell your group about it," she said. "When's the next meeting?"

"Tuesday nite, January 31," I said.

I never know the date of the next meeting but I'd just uploaded our website.

As soon as I hung up, I went back to The Seminarian.

The story was inspired by a former member of our support group who was sexually molested by a 'brother' at LaSalle College.

In my original story, I have a fantastic end scene where Tommy Boy, the hero of our story, is molested by Father Monaghan his very first day at seminary.

My friend Martha, however, nixed the idea saying Ruth, most priests are fine, why ruin the b'ful story by something that rarely happens.

Well, I took her advice. But I still have the wonderful ending I had where Tommy Boy repulses the advances of the priest.

Can't decide which one to stick with.

Also reading the story was my devout Catholic friend Carolyn Constable, who loved it. She enjoyed one of the sex scenes that Tommy Boy had before he entered the priesthood. It was a Bill Clinton type scene, however, if you know what I mean.

Dan and Nicole were here this morning. They helped me unfriend someone on Facebook. A bipolar man with a big following who never pays any attention to anything I write him.

We also changed my Facebook photo. In the new photo, I look really terrible, but the truth is the truth.



Grace, 17 mos old, stands by the coffee table. Underneath the glass, I have old photos of The Three Demings, Ruth, Sarah and Dan. Les Trois, as I call us.

Dan showed me a photo of a meatloaf in the shape of a baby, made by his high school friend Laura.

At nite, I felt the need to go out and celebrate our successful grant. Who wrote the grant? My grantwriter , also the bringer of the Kidney to her mama: Sarah Lynn Deming!

Photo is a representation of a tomato pie and strawberry ice cream w/chocolate sauce.

I decided to go to Dunkin Donuts and bring home a cup of decaf and a donut. I went online and discovered donuts don't have too many carbs!

But on the way I passed a pizza place and thot, hmmm, you have five minutes to make up your mind.

When I got to Fitzwatertown and Easton Roads, I turned into Tony-Roni Pizza and ordered a slice of Tomato Pie and a glass of water. The pie had a delicious crisp crust and altho I enjoyed the sauce it obviously came out of a can and was not specially made.

They had no dessert, so I drove right across the street to a Chinese restaurant, where Walter and I used to go, and ordered strawberry ice cream to go.

At home I poured on my special - half the carbs but w/ no artificial ingredients which I never eat - Hershey's Syrup.

I ate the delicious ice cream while talking to Carolyn about The Seminarian.