Confession

A woman seeks absolution.

I sat in the warm little box that constituted the confessional. With the summer’s heat and the weight of my guilt it felt claustrophobic. The priest was waiting for me to unburden myself, to divulge my wrongdoing so he could point me towards forgiveness. “Father, my grandmother passed a few weeks ago, and I have been thinking a lot about how things ended between us. I can’t help but wonder if she knew how little I noticed her or the things she said. I felt before that I couldn’t bear to hear the same stories over and over again. She had to struggle so much to get through a conversation and half the time she didn’t manage to make much sense. I was pretty much ignoring her by the time she died.” I stop speaking for a moment, choking on my self-recrimination.

 

“Child,” the priest’s voice was soft “it sounds to me that you feel you were not listening like you should have. God commands us to treat each other with love and respect. Most often we fall short of that goal. But you know that you have failed to follow the word of God in neglecting your grandmother and He sees your repentance. I think I have a special task for you.” He sat in silence for a moment and my heart began pumping harder. I rubbed my sweaty palms on the rough material of my jeans. “For the forgiveness that you seek, you are to collect one-hundred

pennies. Go out and find one-hundred people to give one coin each in return for a memory, a joke, a dream, anything that they might want to share with you. Do this in the next two weeks and then you will be forgiven.”

 

Two weeks later I sat in a pew, thinking back on all the stories I had heard in such a short time. At first it had seemed tedious and even troublesome. Then I was amazed. Many of the things people had to say didn’t seem special. Someone had even told me about what they had eaten for breakfast that morning. But someone else had told me about finding their best friend after forty years. Another person had told me about having to identify a rape suspect. The more I asked people about what they wanted to share it seemed the more honest people had become with me. I had witnessed so many strangers’ greatest pain and joy.

 

I looked down at the last penny in my hand. I had saved this penny for two days now, unsure of what to do with it. I was unwilling to let it go easily, for some reason. I tried to divine what it was that I needed to do with this final token. And then it hit me. I got up and made my way to the cemetery across the street from the church. I found my grandmother's marker and knelt down to listen to her stories.

Author's Note

Criticism welcome.

Reviews

[Chris Yip]

The story was very promising at the beginning but it was too short. You could have expounded a bit more on the meetings you had with people and built up to the ending. You can write quite well in fact the idea behind the short story was very good and original. You should write longer stories and show off your creativity and story telling skills. Thumbs up and keep up with the good work!!!!! Cheers.

[ΨXO]

An awe-striking story indeed. The subject of the penny was so indulgent and crafty that I found myself wanting to start asking people "a penny for your thoughts" from now on. Very nice write and a good story all around.

[Wolfwind]

This was an amazing tale of enlightenment and perspective on life. The penny idea was awesome! This story was very much enjoyed.

Aaron