Sometimes I can see it all so clearly. I use to come here when I was a child. Wonder about how it would feel to lay in a meadow under the warm summer or see the night sky full of stars.
When I was a girl, we spent our summers at a lake in Connecticut. I had a secret place too, a glen. I would lay there in the tall grass and feel like I was the only person on earth. Safe.
And if I sat very still, the deer would walk by and not ever see me. I could almost reach out and touch them. It seemed enchanted. It seems so far from the city, like a different world, but it is only two hours away. I wish you could see it.
All we need is a way to get out of the city and up there safely. A van. We could drive up at night. No one is even there at the lake this time of year. Maybe we could really do it. Vincent, let me try to arrange it. If I can, will you come with me?
Yes! Yes, I know because I have had the same dream for you myself, over and over again for so many years. Ever since you were young, I wanted nothing more than to be able to show you the sun, the mountains, things for which you only have words for.
This is not merely for myself, Father, but for Catherine as well. This is a chance for us, no more than a moment, the briefest moment, free from the perils and urgency of the time we share.
Vincent, your love for Catherine and hers for you is something that warms us all. But you have a responsibility beyond that, a duty to those down here in this community that depends on you. Who look to you for truth and strength, for hope and protection. Without you their world would be a very dark place.
