The Left Hand of God Page #3

see a man get violent now and then,

it's good for the circulation.

I only wondered when I heard

the incident, what technique

you'd use on those women.

Well, I'm certainly

not going to stone them.

Check.

Well, when you decide what

you're going to do, Father,

let me know, will you?

I think I've got you, Father.

Not yet!

Mate.

You know, Father, I may

have underestimated you.

Keep him warm,

as the doctor told you.

Thank you, Shen Fu.

Shen Fu, Shen Fu!

Father, you must come.

This is my busy day.

Lead the way, son.

This is Shen Tin, Father.

You run along.

The baby was born dead, Shen Fu.

Leave us, please.

Tell me a story, Father.

What story would you like?

About the stable...

the mother

and St Joseph.

Well,

there was a woman named Mary

lying on a bed of straw in a stable,

waiting for her child to be born.

Is she dead, Father?

Yes.

Where's her husband?

He has gone to the Yellow House,

Father.

Jan Teng saw the baby born dead.

He will stay in the Yellow House and

drink now to forget his own pain.

He should be here.

Show me the way, Dan.

- It's not the place for Shen Fu to go.

Show me the house.

- It's a bad place, Father.

All right, Dan,

you go back to the village.

Chun Tien...

Pao Chu is dead.

I loved her, Shen Fu.

I think she's with someone

who loves her as much as you did.

I'm sure that where she is now

Pao Chu is happy.

You believe that, Father?

Yes, I believe it. Come on.

Let's go, Father. There's nothing

more either of us can do here.

Those blasted midwives.

If they'd sent for me in time, that

kid wouldn't have been butchered.

Stupid, ignorant old women!

This is the most backward

village in the whole lot.

The man who said ignorance is bliss

should have been boiled in oil.

Oh, the boy told me you went up the hill

to the Yellow House. How'd you make out?

You can't win all the time.

- You let it go at that?

Don't tell me the Church gives up on

them, Father. Medicine doesn't give up.

Moves right in wherever it

finds the thing it fights.

When medicine reaches a point where

it never has to walk hopelessly away

from a case, then you can criticise

the Church because it's left some

spiritual illness uncured.

I wish O'Shea would drink.

He's too tense.

This concern for Father O'Shea

is new, isn't it?

I suppose he does his job

as well as he can.

In China, you can't ask for more.

But you were so certain there

was something odd about him.

I could have been wrong.

I'm not so sure.

There seems to be so much in him

that wasn't intended to be a priest.

That magnetism again?

Yes.

Women can't understand celibacy.

Priests are men.

That's just female vanity.

The priesthood is also a

conditioning, a discipline.

O'Shea hasn't got anything that's more

important to him than being a priest.

What I'm worried about is his health.

All that tension.

It killed Father Coleman.

Light me a cigarette,

will you, dear?

There's something else

I wish you'd worry about.

What's that?

I think Anne ought to go home.

Scotty? What's wrong with her?

She's been too long in China.

She's been too long at this mission.

She looks all right to me.

Does she?

How nice and blind you are.

She's all churned up inside.

What about?

Father O'Shea.

You don't know what

you're talking about.

Don't I?

Say, that won't do.

You'd better speak to her.

I've tried.

And?

- It's not her fault.

Females are simple

biological structures.

Their bodies pay very little

attention to their minds.

I told you, there's so much in

O'Shea that isn't or wasn't meant

to be priest.

Her mind knows he's a priest

but... how she feels...

I don't like it, Dave.

OK. She's a good nurse but we

can't have her become a China case.

Will she go?

- Home? I don't know.

I think she should,

on the next caravan.

I wonder if we'll become

China cases, too.

I'd hoped they'd close the mission,

but obviously they aren't going to.

Would you respect me if I quit?

We never have before, have we, Dave?

Ken-tucky.

Ken-tucky.

Thank you.

Could you use

a slightly older soprano?

You'll have to audition first.

Right.

Now, let's see.

Ah, here's one.

# Oh, a maiden went to Hong Kong

Then she went to Singapore

# Then she went to Shanghai...

- Oh, you know it. #... to buy a loaf of bread

# A boatman smiled in Hong Kong

# A soldier smiled in Singapore

# A farmer smiled in Shanghai

# Now, which one will she wed?

# All three?

# No, not me

# Two?

# That will never do

# Which one?

# Only one, for him my love is true

# Well, the boatman

stayed in Hong Kong

# The soldier stayed in Singapore...

You win, Father.

I've forgotten the rest.

Besides, it's their bedtime.

They can find their way.

Good night, kids.

Good night.

Well, what do you want?

Kentucky!

You remember this one?

# Once in a while, da da da

da da-da da-da da-da-dum da-dum...

Please, Father, I'd rather not sing

any more. It's late and I should go.

The mountains

stand like sentinels in the night.

Listening to our concert.

I wonder what they thought.

- Oh, I think they liked it.

Probably sounded Chinese to them.

It was nice singing.

We had fun, didn't we?

If you say a High Mass, Father,

perhaps I could be your soloist.

Oh, that would be fine.

I want to explain something, Father.

I know you must have wondered

why I haven't been to confession.

I hadn't thought about it.

I can't, Father, not yet.

And I can't explain why.

Suppose we discuss it some other

time, not in the confessional?

Good night, Father.

Isn't it time you went to bed, John?

Much work to do, Father.

Where did this come from?

Doctor gave to Father Coleman. Good

for heart. Spray pews in church too.

What?

Many people, many bugs.

That's a waste of good

Scotch, isn't it?

SPRAY HISSES:

All right, John, you can

finish that tomorrow. Good night.

Good night, Father. Spray tomorrow.

Good evening, Father. May I come in?

Oh, by all means.

The mission's a lonely

place, isn't it, Father?

For some of us, yes.

One feel so isolated, so cut off.

At least I always do.

China's a difficult country to

adjust to, don't you find it so?

Sometimes I do.

But then a priest has his church.

Of course, I didn't mean quite that.

I was thinking...

Well, to be frank,

I was speaking of Anne.

It is lonely here and...

Well, I think she has a

crush on you, Father.

But that's impossible.

That's not so impossible.

Whether you like it or not,

you have a problem.

Would you think me presumptuous,

Father, if I made a suggestion?

No, not at all.

When Dave has a problem,

I try talking to him,

but it doesn't always help.

What he needs most at a time

like that is someone like himself,

another doctor, a professional man.

Somebody who's had those problems

himself and can understand them.

I think you need that, too, Father.

Do I?

There's a small Protestant mission

on the other side of the mountain.

Oh, I didn't know that.

The Reverend Marvin has been

in China a long time, Father.

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