The Wreckage (39 page)
The old woman stirred in her chair at the commotion, looked around the room before she focused her attention on the people sitting before her. Lilly smiled at them both, as if she’d been expecting them. She spread her arms as wide as she was capable, a gesture of welcome or benediction. She said,
“Dilectissimi nobis, in domum ecclesiae convenistis, ut voluntas vestra Matrimonium contrahendi coram Ecclesiae ministro —”
Wish said, “Give it up now, Lilly.”
The smile never left the old woman’s face. She went on speaking as if she was reading off a cue card. Mercedes heard
Christus
and
Matrimonii
and
Sacramento
and
Baptismatet
. Wish grinned awkwardly, staring down at his shoes. “She thinks she’s some kind of a priest,” he said.
Lilly said, “Aloysious
et
Mercedes,” and they both sat a little straighter at the mention of their names.
“Venistisne hue sine coactione, sed libero et pleno corde ad Matrimonium contrahendum?”
She paused a moment now and then as if waiting for a response to a particular question, moving on when she appeared to receive it. The rhythm and cadence of the phrases so familiar that, even in Latin, Mercedes managed to get the gist of what she was doing.
Wish tried to catch Lilly’s eye.
“Capo perduto,”
he said to her. “Do you understand me? You’re not a priest.”
Lilly leaned toward him and whispered in English. “Have you got the ring, Aloysious?”
“Sorry, Father,” he said. “I forgot the ring. Have to be another day for us.”
It was the phrase
another day
, the casual insincerity of it. Mercedes reached down to pick up her shoulder bag from the floor, lifted out the paper parcel. She said, “I have the ring.”
Wish glanced at her quickly. He said, “Lord Jesus, Mercedes.”
“Here,” she said and held the ring out so that Lilly could make the sign of the cross over the gold band and bless it.
Wish said, “For fuck sake, woman.” But he didn’t leave his seat.
She reached for his hand and placed the wedding band in the palm, closing his fingers over it. His eyes had welled up and he raised the fist holding the ring to cover his mouth. She didn’t know if there was a single strand of the boy she’d fallen in love with still in him. He said, “You stupid,
stupid.”
And it was impossible to know if he was speaking of Lilly or Mercedes or himself.
Lilly spoke another few words and then smiled at them both as if they had satisfied all the requirements of the ceremony. Mercedes was watching Wish as he tried to stifle the sobs and it took her a moment to notice Lilly had finished. The old woman was making little motions with her hands to indicate they should kiss one another. She said, “What God has joined,” with a delicate little bow of her head.
“Amen to that,” Mercedes said.
THANKS
Holly, Arielle, Robin and Ben.
Martha Kanya-Forstner. Anne McDermid. Janet Michael and Theresa (Michael) Rockwood. Degan Davis. Andy Jones for the knotted string. Didi Gillard-Rowling. Cate Cochran. Michelle Butler Hallett. Larry Dohey at the Archives of the Catholic Archdiocese in St. John’s. Shaun Oakey. Alison Pick. Stan Dragland. Marney McDiarmid. Eleanor MacDonald. Janice McAlpine. Lisa Moore. Mazie Crummey.
The following books helped shape people, places and events in the novel:
It’s like a dream to me: Paddy ‘Iron’ McCarthy of Renews relives his first hundred years
, Bertha Thorne
The Chrysanthemum and the Sword: Patterns of Japanese Culture
, Ruth Benedict
Years of Sorrow, Years of Shame: The Story of Japanese Canadians in World War II
, Barry Broadfoot
Testaments of Honour: Personal Histories of Canada’s War Veterans
, Blake Heathcote
Runaway Horses
and
Confessions of a Mask
, Yukio Mishima
The Wind-up Bird Chronicles
, Haruki Murakami
Tilting
, Robert Mellin
Nagasaki #14 is fictional but the accounts of many POW survivors informed the novel’s depiction of camp rules, routines and conditions. Thanks to Reg Sherren for the transcript of
Return to Nagasaki
, a CBC documentary on John Ford’s experiences in a camp near ground zero.
Nishino’s experiences at Guadalcanal are largely based on David H. Lippman’s account
(World War II Plus 55
at
www.usswashington.com
).
COPYRIGHT
© 2005
MICHAEL CRUMMEY INK
All rights reserved. The use of any part of this publication, reproduced, transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, or stored in a retrieval system without the prior written consent of the publisher—or, in the case of photocopying or other reprographic copying, a license from the Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency—is an infringement of the copyright law.
Anchor Canada and colophon are trademarks.
LIBRARY AND ARCHIVES CANADA CATALOGUING IN PUBLICATION
Crummey, Michael
The wreckage: a novel / Michael Crummey.
eISBN: 978-0-307-37329-8
I. Title.
PS8555.R84W74 2006 C813.′54 C2006-901225-3
Published in Canada by
Anchor Canada, a division of
Random House of Canada Limited
Visit Random House of Canada Limited’s website:
www.randomhouse.ca
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