Lily and Helen are walking to a coffee shop. Helen -- who's wearing a really dowdy, retro-fugly skirt I suspect she fished out of Joan's reject pile -- is explaining, "I don't know if this makes sense, but I see things that aren't there. Except they are. And then sometimes they happen." Lily: "Yes. We call that crazy." Helen tells her to listen, and tells her about seeing Judith: "Only I was not dreaming; I really did see her." Lily seems to accept this. Helen adds that last year when Joan got sick, she just knew somehow to go to the hospital. She also mentions the vision she had of Kevin lying on the ground just before the cops came. The two incidents with her children aren't too hard to chalk up to "mother's intuition" -- then again, maybe the spiritual gifts of women are all too likely to be attributed in a somewhat dismissive way. But coupled with the kinds of dreams Helen has, it does seem to amount to something of a gift. Helen asks Lily: "Is there anything this could be, other than 'I'm having a breakdown'?" As they reach the doors of the coffee shop, Lily says she could be possessed, "but, you know, usually there's more foaming from the mouth." Speaking of which: who wants a cappuccino? If Helen's possessed, will Father Ken have to do an exorcism? This show could take a really frightening turn. Even more frightening than the double-barrelled Duff assault. Helen says dryly that Lily's been a real comfort. You have to wonder what she was like as a nun. Lily relents a little, admitting, "There's such a thing as a charism, but it's rare." Helen doesn't know what that is. Lily explains, "It comes from the Greek word for 'gift,' and in theology, it's a divine spiritual talent given to people for the good of the community. There are all kinds: there's preaching, teaching, prophecy, and interpretation of tongues. The one you're describing is the discernment of spirits." Helen: "Why would I have this? Do you have this?" Lily: "No. I prayed for that charism my whole life, and if you've got it without even being confirmed, I'm extra pissed at God." Helen: "You can have mine. I don't know what to do with it." Lily tells her not to panic: "There's still a chance you're just losing it. I mean, after all, your kid went nuts." Helen: "Thanks, I'll cling to that." She orders a green tea.













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