Infinity

She circled the block three times 
with Sebastian drawing fewer 
curious glances from strangers 
at each pass. She walked briskly 
and the wolf didn't pull at the least 
that connected them and the day 
was pleasant and welcoming. 

She stopped in front of the church. 
There was no mass being said nor 
were there any special events being observed 
nor was she or the wolf a member of that faith. 
She admired the large stone building and 
the Saint's name it had adopted and she 
took a knee to position herself before Sebastian 
in order to place her end of the leash 
in his healthy fangs, enjoying his breath, 
before entering the church and trusting the wolf outside. 

Something proud and fragile about the high ceilings, 
enormous walls of that place. Something very good 
at being cold. She noted the vacancy of the pews. She noted 
the pristine silence of the altar and how different it was 
outside the context of worship. She preferred this to 
traditional religion.

The priest came from his office and saw her 
studying the altar. He'd heard a couple anecdotes 

about the lady who'd kept a wild beast to satisfy 
a domestic need and he was certain that this 

was the woman. 

He raised a hand to wave. She returned it. 

He approached her where she stood in the center-aisle 

and when he reached her, he offered his hand, said, "Hello." 

She accepted it, said, "Good afternoon." 

"I don't think I've seen you here before," he said. 

"I've never been in here before," she said. 

'Are you Catholic?" "No." "Would you 
like to be one?" "No." "It's not very hard. It 

just requires love." "Oh, I have love," she said. 

"But I can be dearly selective about it." 

"Yes," he said, with solemn understanding. 

It were as if he'd asked if she heard a certain joke 

he wanted to share that the lady had already heard. 

"Would you like to sit with me for a moment?" 

"Very much," she said. 

She decided the priest must've had complicated opinions about love 

as a young man and that was why he became a priest 

but she didn't directly ask and the calm way he spoke 

seemed to remind her of other things very different from priests. 

They sat in one of the pews, looking broadly 

at the front of the church. "So, what should 

we talk about?" said the priest. 

"Infinity," said the strange woman. 

"Infinity? How so?" 

"In the way that it includes everything." 

"You mean even such things as ladies who keep 

wolves as pets?" "And priests who enjoy their company." 

He smiled. "What else?" 

"Oh...fairy tales. Skinned knees. Mountains. Islands. 

Old age." 

He continued to smile and he nodded. "It really does take in 

quite a lot," he said. "Not unlike your Creator of the Universe," 

she added. He thought there must be some secular humor 

in the comment but she quickly informed him this wasn't the case. 

"Listen," she said. He turned and she took his chin in her right hand 

and leaned in to kiss him, fully, before setting him back to 

mostly how he was. "Thank you, sir," she said. "I think I'll be 

on my way now." The priest was surprised and glad and he 

wouldn't tell anyone the story for the rest of his years. 

The lady stood in the pew and she was unaffected 

by any jitters at all. "It's a nice place you've got here. 

Somewhere between Raymond Carver and Lawrence Ferlinghetti. 

He agreed and she excused herself and went outside where 

Sebastian sat patiently in front of the building and he 

gave her back her end of the leash and they continued to see 

to the affairs of the day. 

****