The First Legion Page #4

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besides Father Sierra, who knows?

It might even happen to me.

Don't you think it might, Peter?

Well .. here we go.

Now stop this, Terry.

You want me to push you to the gate?

Terry, I don't want you to do this.

What's the trouble? Look!

Look Joe, this is no place for Terry.

Can't you take her back to town now?

Sorry, Doc. Got to have that

furniture delivered by 5pm.

Newly-weds. You know,

kind of anxious to get their stuff.

I'll pick Terry up on the way back.

Never mind.

I'll take her back in my car.

But I don't want to go back!

I don't want to go back.

Doctor Morrell .. good to see

you again .. anything the matter?

No. Just giving Terry

a lift home. That's all.

Peter is angry with me because

Joe took me up to St Gregory's.

Oh, and she never told me a word.

Well, Miss Terry, with your permission

I'm going to have a little talk with Joe.

He takes her to all kinds of places.

You don't have my permission,

and I want him to take me places.

How else would I ever see anything?

I never dreamt that this

town would be so crowded.

People are streaming

here from everywhere.

Our home is about the only one that

hasn't been turned into a rooming-house.

Well, that's a wonderful idea.

Why can't we be a rooming-house?

Oh, Miss Terry ..

But then I could talk to the pilgrims.

Pilgrims? A bunch of sensation seekers

chasing a fire-engine. They're everywhere.

Floods, tornadoes, murder trials.

You don't seriously think any

one of them really believes ...?

Why not? Doesn't everyone

believe in God?

Not everyone.

They only think they don't.

I guess people get mixed up

because there are so many religions.

If you ask me, there ought

to be only one faith.

Who is going to select which one?

Look. Now my grandfather was a

Baptist and he married a Catholic.

When they couldn't agree on faith, they

sent my father to an Episcopalian school.

Then, when he met my mother,

well, she was a Lutheran.

And on Sundays they'd all

go to different churches.

And we little ones, would listen

one week to the Lutheran pastor ..

And the next week to the Episcopalian.

How about some tea?

No dear. No tea, thank you.

But for you, Miss Terry? Yeah.

Funny old Henrietta.

Every time mother is away, she

gets very possessive and talkative.

But she's still the best cook in town.

Just where is your dashing mother?

Why, she's in the city today.

Getting ready for another trip to Europe.

Magazine stuff. Paris in the spring.

All expenses paid.

Well, you Gilmartins sure get around.

They're flying from New York next Monday.

Say, that's alright.

Oh, Peter.

Why does everything have

to happen all at once?

Now hold on.

If you mean St Gregory's, I want you to

promise me not to go back there again.

Why?

It is a miracle, isn't it?

It says so in all the papers.

Now look, Terry .. every time a miracle

happens someone gets hurt.

Hurt?

It doesn't always work for everyone.

I just don't want to see you hurt.

Not you.

Understand?

Yes, perhaps I do.

That sounds better.

You know .. it's nice

to be back here again.

To find everything the same.

Just as it was in the old days.

It isn't the same, Peter.

It can't ever be the same.

Take it easy. Everyone says you

made a wonderful adjustment.

Oh, sure I made a wonderful adjustment.

But I've never given up

hoping that someday ..

Terry, this isn't like you.

Oh, I know what's the matter, Peter.

You'll be the last one

to believe in a miracle.

But after all, it just stands to reason

that there must be something, somewhere.

That holds the world together.

And it fixes up pains

when no one else can.

I'm sorry angel, but ..

That's a little out of my field.

See you tomorrow?

Tomorrow.

[ Church bells ]

[ Church bells ]

Hello Doctor.

Hello Monsignor. Come on in.

Can you spare a blessing

for a pious pilgrim?

Come on in. Don't talk

to me about pilgrims.

If this keeps up we'll have

to build a whole new town.

They're already talking about that

down at the chamber of commerce.

No. I'll stick to my pipe.

I hope the people go back home. We don't

have the hospitals to care for them here.

The doctors, neither. There is nothing

we can do for them .. nothing.

My boy .. they don't want

you to do anything at all.

They're looking to the Blessed Joseph.

A lot he'll do for them.

By the way, you .. you

know Terry Gilmartin?

Yes, I know Terry.

In fact, I'm her Latin tutor.

A wonderful girl.

Yes. Wonderful parents, too.

I was with her father the day he died.

I was with Terry the day she

was thrown from the horse.

For a while, the whole world

just came to a stop for her.

And then she began to make the

kind of recovery doctors dream of.

She began to build a whole

new life for herself.

Now she's just like all

the rest of these people.

Dreaming and hoping for the impossible.

You mean, she's never

going to be any better?

There's nothing to hope for?

Nothing.

A complete break in the spinal cord.

She'll never walk again. Now you

see what I mean, Monsignor.

What are we going to do with people

like Terry? Who get their hopes so high?

They're going to be worse

off than they were before.

You're trying too hard.

Trying to do too much.

Alright, I'm out of joint just

like the rest of the world.

Nothing adds up to anything anymore.

Peter. Yes?

What happened to you while you were away?

Oh, I don't know.

I guess I was just like

a thousand other kids.

I had a lot of big plans and somehow ..

Nothing every came of them.

Here I am at 35, back in this town.

Not because I believe in it but ..

Because there is nowhere else to go.

Nothing else to hang on to.

As a boy, you had on you

the mark of my hand ..

When I caught you stealing

apples from my orchard.

Didn't you?

That was a heavy hand.

There is a heavier hand

over you now .. Peter.

Well .. drop in and see

me once in a while.

Even if you don't come to church.

And oh yes. If you're

running short of beds ..

I can put up a few cases

for you in the Rectory.

Thanks Monsignor. Thanks a lot.

Jos .. are you sure you got out of

bed all by yourself? Yes.

I mean .. Doctor Morrell did

not help you? No.

But he was in the room. Marc.

I was looking at Blessed Joseph.

Of course. See, I'm only trying to ..

Reconstruct exactly what happened.

But you know what happened.

I walked .. I can still walk.

Let me show you.

No, no, no. Not now.

Now Jos .. you are a priest of God,

but also a man of science.

Don't you think you could possibly have

imagined this? While you were delirious?

Yes, I thought of all that.

But it's really very simple.

Because, if it was not a miracle.

I could not have walked.

Of course.

Hello John. Hello Marc.

Isn't it wonderful?

I never liked crowds.

Come on, Marc. Don't always be

so rational about everything.

I know it will make a big

change in our way of life.

But perhaps we needed

a big change .. all of us.

Listen to the murmur of that crowd.

It's like the hum of a great orchestra

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