/cinque/

Fiorella's boyfriend never showed up to rehearsal for the winter performance and she was visibly bothered by it. On her face it was clear that she was deep in thought and she was distracted throughout the rehearsal. The same was the case for Luke, but he was distracted for other reasons. 

As soon as their rehearsal was concluded, Luke hurried out of the building. He didn't want to be around Fiorella Vanella out of fear that he would be unable to control his emotions.

He was thankful that he was only taking over for one day, while father Cesar was away. Then he wouldn't have to spend as much time with Fiorella as he was already doing. It was torture for the young priest.

On the second day that father Cesar was away, Luke gave the morning church services and later had the rest of the day to himself until the other priests arrived for their weekly meeting. Father Ermelo was the first to arrive, since his community was about an hour away by car, next was Father Jairo who lived more in the outskirts, and last was Father Enrique who lived in the sierra, out on the mountain ranges near the Andes. He was part of their small coalition of priests due to the fact that Valle Daza was one of the closest communities to his.

Since Father Cesar had called and told Luke he would return in time for the weekly meeting, the other priests didn't mind waiting for him. But he had said he had a baptism to attend, which he was going to give religious services in, for a rich family in town.

Antonella Vanella brought the priests drinks and food for them to have while they waited.

Luke still found it strange to see priests drinking. Back in Australia, he wasn't used to that sort of thing. Other than communion wine, which was technically the blood of Christ, it was looked down upon for priests to have alcohol.

It was a different life in Argentina though, and he would need to adapt. 

The four priests sat in the living room couch of Father's Cesar's living quarters and made themselves at home. While Luke had gotten a small room to live in, Father Cesar was living much more comfortably than the newest addition to the Valle Daza community. It was like a small apartment rather than just one room. Luke supposed that after Father Cesar's retirement, he would move into the bigger living space.

While they waited, Father Enrique from la sierra went to turn on the television. He was a man with dark curly hair who seemed in his mid thirties. He had probably been the youngest of them before Luke arrived in Argentina. "Its been months since I've been able to keep up with Boca Juniors. Ever watched futbol, Father Luke?"  He asked as he hit the power button and sat back on the couch.

Luke gave a shake of his head, "When I was a kid I loved watching Sydney FC games. I used to watch them on television and occasionally my dad would take me to the Allianz Stadium. But as soon as I joined the seminary when I was around twelve...they wouldn't let us watch tv."

"You're going to love Argentine futbol." Father Enrique grinned. "Boca Juniors are the best team Argentina has right now."

"Nah, you're wrong. Its all about River Plate." Father Ermelo shook his head, disagreeing with the other priest.

Luke assumed the two teams were rivals.

Father Jairo had a different opinion to both of them. Though he spoke spanish, his accent was different to the one Father Ermelo and Father Enrique had. He was probably from a different country in Latin America. "The best league in Latin America is Liga MX. They are ranked sixth best league in the world. And where is the Argentine league? Not even in the top ten!"

Father Enrique rolled his eyes at Father Jairo. "That's okay because our national team is better than yours. Cuantas copas tenes vos?" He asked his fellow priest mockingly, How many world cups do you have? Argentina had two world cups. Luke wasn't sure how he knew that, but it was just common knowledge to people who liked football. Father Jairo was from Mexico and his national team had never won a world cup.

"We were cheated at the world cup in Brazil." Father Jairo argued. "No era penal!" It wasn't a penalty! Luke also knew what that was about.

When he was still in the seminary, they were allowed to watch news shows, just so they could keep up with current events of the world. Every news show had a sports segment and Luke always watched it. During the world cup in Brazil, Mexico had been about to defeat the Netherlands in the round of sixteen, but the Dutch ended up winning with a doubtful penalty. Since then, he knew from the sports segment that Mexicans had started a movement called No Era Penal in which they refused to accept they were defeated because they thought it was unfair the way in which they were eliminated.

They got their revenge in November of the same year, but it just wasn't the same. It was a friendly, the world cup was long over and they got nothing out of it.

"Get over it, Jairo!" Father Ermelo said, feigning annoyance.

Their conversation soon quieted down and they watched the game. It was a regular season game between Boca Juniors and Arsenal de Sarandi. 

Luke enjoyed the match because it had been so long since he had watched one, and he liked the way in which the Argentines played football. In Australia, he remembered them being good. But Argentina was a whole other level. They were fast, and gave much more accurate passes. A lot of the players were good with dribbling and other tricks. 

When the game ended, Luke tried to strike a conversation with the priests.

"How would you all feel about allowing Catholic priests to marry?" He wondered.

Father Jairo eyed him suspiciously. "Are you in a relationship with someone?"

Luke shook his head, "No. I'm just curious about what you all would think of it."

Father Ermelo sighed. "I personally do not agree with it. I think a priest should not get married because he must devote his entire life to God. When a man marries, he shares his time with his wife, children, and religion. When you become a priest, you marry the church."

It was then that Father Cesar opened the door to his place and saw the priests there. His eyes fell upon the coffee table where he saw beer bottles and plates of food.

"I see you've met Fathers Jairo, Enrique, and Ermelo." Father Cesar commented. 

Luke nodded. "Yes, we were just talking about how we'd feel if the church allowed priests to marry." He looked at the older priest for a reaction before continuing. "I think that would avoid a lot of problems in the catholic community. We are men after all and sometimes men are weak." He said, speaking more for himself than anyone else.

Father Cesar's eyes narrowed into a glare. "That's stupid. If you want to marry, then you no longer want to be a priest, and you can leave."

"It was just an opinion." Luke said a bit more quietly now.

He could have called Father Cesar out on the bad things he was doing, but he thought he could use the information for later.

-

Rubens was at his job in the news building, typing up his next article when he was called into his boss' office. He knocked on the door first and then opened it rather reluctantly when he was granted permission to open it. Each week they were assigned an article to write, the rest were their responsibility to think up a topic and investigate. But it was rare when the boss would call one of them into his office. For the most part, it meant something was wrong.

The twenty year old walked into the room and sat across the desk from his boss. His boss and his dad had been good friends, that was how Rubens got the job at the news building despite being so young. Rubens' dad had retired recently and he had recommended his son to replace him.

His boss dropped a manila folder on the desk and began to explain, "I thought you would like to take this case."

Rubens grabbed the folder and opened it.

Inside were pictures of father Cesar at a baptism. But what was most surprising about it was that the family he was posing with was a known family of drug dealers. Father Cesar also seemed to be enjoying himself dancing very close with young women. 

"This is the community priest." Rubens said.

His boss nodded, "I have connections that have told me that new hospital isn't being built with donations from the mayor, but rather donations from the Argentine mob."

"I always knew the Catholic church was corrupt." The twenty year old commented, looking from picture to picture at what was clearly a mob boss posing with the priest. "And I would love to write this article. But...this is the Valle Daza community. They would hate me, my girlfriend would hate me. She goes to the church and is a very devout Catholic."

The man behind the desk shrugged his shoulders. "If you don't want to write it, we can assign Sanchez." He extended his hand for Rubens to hand over the photographs.

But Rubens shook his head. "No, I'll write it. The people need to know the truth."

-

just a little filler chapter for you all. but i promise its gonna start getting more intense and exciting soon. and i included some football in there because we as hispanics live and breathe football. it had to be put in there. 

i hope you like the update, and happy thanksgiving weekend to all of you. i hope you're having a great holiday relaxing at home.

blessings, clary xx