Helen arrives at a coffee shop, looking for someone. A priest (played by Michael Badalucco, who will always be Jimmy to me) notices her and comes over to her: "Mrs. Girardi?" Good grief. Helen's two-timing Father Ken. Well, she was pretty pissed off with his refusal to dance to her tune in recent episodes. I guess it was inevitable. They shake hands as she says "Father Payne," and then giggles. She apologizes, saying she went to Catholic high school and that was what they called the principal. He suggests she call him "Father Dave." She comments that the principal's real name was Angelini and "he's probably still out there somewhere, whacking kids with the board of education." She apologizes for rambling, and says, "You said there was something we shouldn't discuss on the phone." Man. You call Helen up and claim to be a priest and she'll just run out and meet you? It would take a lot more than that to get me out of the house to meet some stranger. Father Payne (the name I'll use for its anvilicious value) mentions that he works at a hospice in Hamilton: "There's no easy way to say this: I'm here on behalf of Edmond Dodd." Helen wonders if she should know who that is. Father Payne pauses before explaining, "He's the man who assaulted you in 1980." Helen's expression hardens slightly as she says, "You mean the man who raped me." Father Payne agrees: "Edmond has advanced pancreatic cancer. His doctors say that he could die at any time now." Pancreatic cancer is an interesting choice, given that the pancreas is part of the third chakra, the one related to fear of assuming responsibility and issues of fear, intimidation, and trust. "He wants to apologize to you for what he did. He wanted me to ask if you'd come see him." Helen doesn't say anything. Man. I suppose I should question how he happened to find her, and how it happens that he's not that far from where she ended up living, but I've got a lot of recap left to write yet, and not a lot of day left to do it in, so I'll just ignore all that.









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