Any reason why not?" "It's useless, that's why not.Any reason why not?" "It's useless, that's why not. He rips anything from his body with great howls if we even try to put the barest of necessities on him." There was a genteel cough. "My apologies for subjecting a lady to such a spectacle." She had laughed then, and the Father had joined her briefly. She felt a lessening of tension between the two of them, and was glad. She did not relish the prospect of working with this celibate anachronism to begin with; any tension between them would only aggravate her impatience with the good Father. "Father, do you mind if I observe Thomas alone for a while? I would like to make some notes, and would feel less distracted without company." She had smiled her best 'just-between-us' smile, and he had agreed immediately. She promised to join him for a cup of tea afterwards, and he left in a flurry of smiling and nodding, as if he was glad to leave the sight of Thomas in his room under any circumstance. She pulled up a chair and sat down, taking a soft pencil and a pad of newsprint paper from her attache and balancing it on her knee. She looked into the room, noticing that Thomas was for the moment sitting quite still and looking into the mirror as if he could feel her there. |