The Impaler by Gregory Funaro Read Free Book Online Page B

confess Jose’s secret for him now, Father Banigas?”
    “But, my child, only a person who accepts Jesus Christ as his Savior and seeks forgiveness himself can be absolved in the name of our Father.”
    “Please, Father Banigas,” Marla cried, the tears beginning to flow. “You have to help me. You have to ask God to let Jose out of Hell.
Please.
I don’t want my brother to be stuck down there forever. He was the best brother I ever had.”
    “Ssh, my child. It’s all right. I will take care of it for you, okay? I will grant a conditional absolution for Jose so he can stand before God and ask Him for forgiveness himself. Will that make you feel better?”
    “
Sí! Gracias—
I mean, thank you, Father Banigas.”
    “Now tell me Jose’s secret.”
    “Well,” Marla began, “Papa and Mama think Jose wanted to go to college for computers, but I know that he was saving up his money so he could go for fashion design—you know, to make clothes and stuff. I only know this because it was Jose who took me to the father-and-daughter dance at school.”
    “I don’t follow.”
    “Papa couldn’t get out of work because this other guy had his appendix out, and we didn’t have enough money to buy a dress for me. I outgrew my stuff from fourth grade. I was real sad, but then Jose said he could fix it for me. He undid the stitching on my old dress and added some material from another dress, and it really looked great. He made me promise to keep it secret, and we didn’t tell Mama and Papa andDiego—just told them that one of Jose’s girlfriends from school had done it. Jose would never tell Papa, and especially not Diego, because they would think that making dresses was for
maricóns.
”
    “That is not a nice word, child,” the priest said. “I believe you mean homosexual.”
    “I’m sorry, Father Banigas, but that’s what Papa and Diego call them. Oh, and I already confessed lying about the dress to Father Gomez.”
    “I understand,” said Father Banigas. “So is that Jose’s secret?”
    “Well,” Marla hesitated, “not all of it.”
    “Go on then.”
    “Well, you see, Father Banigas, I’m confessing today for Jose because my brother
was
a mar
—
a homosexual.”
    “Why do you say that?”
    “Because he told me he liked boys instead of girls—but only after I found out and asked him and promised never to tell Mama and Papa and Diego.”
    “How did you find this out?”
    “Jose had a job after school at Best Buy in the computer section, but on Wednesday and Saturday nights he worked at this other place where he said he made more money. He never told me where—said it was a Mexican restaurant downtown. But one day I overheard him talking on the phone when he thought I was playing outside and, well, he told the person that they could pick him up after the show at Angel’s and then gave them the address on West Hargett Street. I googled the words ‘angels’ and ‘show’ and ‘West Hargett Street’ in the library at school, and I found out that Angel’s is a club in Raleigh where the homosexuals go for drag shows. I didn’t know what a drag show was until I looked it up. It’s a show where boys dress up as—”
    “Yes, yes, yes, I know what a drag show is—but did you tell your parents?”
    “Oh no! I didn’t want to get Jose into trouble. But I did ask Jose about it when we were alone. And at first he was mad at me and said he didn’t know what I was talking about and told me to mind my own business. But after I told him that I didn’t care if he was a homosexual, that I would keep it a secret and I would still love him more than Diego no matter what, he started crying and told me everything. He told me about the drag shows, too, and made me swear on Mama’s Bible that I would never tell anyone.”
    “But, my child, you should have told the police this after he was killed.”
    “I couldn’t, Father Banigas. Papa and Mama would kill me if they knew I knew Jose was a homosexual and