Read Online We'll Always Have Paris by Ray Bradbury - Free Book Online

‘the dog has come back to the hospital
    twice this week already–on his own–and he’s here again now.’
    ‘Father Riordan isn’t with him?’
    ‘No, Father. That’s what I’m trying to get at. The dog is making his rounds,
    all on his own, without Father Riordan telling him where to go.’
    Father Gilman chuckled. ‘Is that all? Clearly, he’s just a very smart dog.
    Like the horse that used to pull the milk wagon when I was a boy–it knew exactly which houses
    to stop and wait at without the milkman saying a word.’
    ‘No, no. He’s up to something. But, I’m not sure what, so I want you to come
    see for yourself.’
    Sighing, Father Gilman rose and said, ‘All
    right, let’s go look at this most peculiar beast.’
    ‘This way, Father,’ said Father Kelly, and led him out into the hall and up
    the stairs to the second floor.
    ‘I think he’s somewhere here now, Father,’ said Father Kelly. ‘Ah,
    there.’
    At which moment the dog with the red bandanna trotted out of room 17 and
    moved on, without looking at them, into room 18.
    They stood outside the door and watched the dog who was sitting by the bed
    and seemed to be waiting.
    The patient in the bed began to speak, and as Father Gilman and Father Kelly
    listened, they heard the man whispering while the dog sat there patiently.
    Finally, the whispering stopped and the dog reached out a paw, touched the
    bed, waited a moment, and then came trotting out to move on to the next room.
    Father Kelly looked at Father Gilman. ‘How does that strike you? What was he
    doing?’
    ‘Good Lord,’ said Father Gilman. ‘I think the dog was—’
    ‘What, Father?’
    ‘I think the dog was taking confession.’
    ‘It can’t be.’
    ‘Yes. Can’t be, but
is
.’
    The two priests stood there in the semidarkness, listening to the voice of
    another patient whispering. They moved toward the door and looked in the room. Thedog sat there quietly as the penitent unburdened his soul.
    Finally they saw the dog reach out its paw to touch the bed, then turn and
    trot out of the room, hardly noticing them.
    The two priests stood, riveted, and then silently followed.
    At the next room the dog went to sit beside the bed. After a moment the
    patient saw the dog and smiled and said in a faint voice, ‘Oh, bless me.’
    The dog sat quietly as the patient began to whisper.
    They followed the dog along the hall, from room to room.
    Along the way the young priest looked at the older one and noticed that
    Father Gilman’s face was beginning to contort and grow very red indeed, until the veins stood
    out on his brow.
    Finally the dog finished its rounds and started down the stairs.
    The two priests followed.
    When they got to the hospital doors, the dog was starting out into the
    twilight; there was no one there to greet it or lead it away.
    At which moment Father Gilman suddenly exploded and cried out: ‘You! You
    there! Dog! Don’t come back, you hear?! Come back and I’ll call damnation, hell, brimstone, and
    fire down on your head. You hear me, dog?! Go on, get out, go!’
    The dog, startled, spun in a circle and
    bounded away.
    The old priest stood there, his breathing heavy, eyes shut, and his face
    crimson.
    Young Father Kelly gazed off into the dark.
    Finally he gasped, ‘Father, what have you done?!’
    ‘Damnation,’ said the older priest. ‘That sinful, terrible, horrible
    beast!’
    ‘Horrible, Father?’ said Father Kelly. ‘Didn’t you hear what was said?’
    ‘I heard,’ said Father Gilman. ‘Taking it on himself to forgive, to offer
    penance, to hear the pleas of those poor patients!’
    ‘But, Father,’ cried Father Kelly. ‘Isn’t that what
we
do?’
    ‘And that’s our business,’ gasped Father Gilman. ‘Our business alone.’
    ‘Is that true, Father? Aren’t others like us?’ said Father Kelly. ‘I mean, in
    a good marriage, isn’t pillow talk in the middle of the night a kind of confession? Isn’t that
    the way young couples