SURFNETKIDS GROWN-UP FICTION BOOK CLUB Got shopping? Get discounts! Visit Surfnetkids: Coupons, Deals and Bargains for hundreds of discounts from dozens of online stores. This week's book: WHITETHORN WOODS by Maeve Binchy *New to the book club? Just click on the Missing Read link below for any emails you may have missed. Go to: (Today's book starts after the "Dear Reader" column.) Dear Reader, There was a notice in the church bulletin: "Take communion to shut- ins. Classes starting soon." In the beginning my only mission was to take communion to Amy every Tuesday and I'd bring along a copy of the Sunday church bulletin. Amy had been a member of the church for years so she liked listening to me read the bulletin, because she'd recognize a lot of peoples' names mentioned. Amy and I made quite a pair--both of us were creative souls, whose body parts weren't cooperating with them at any given moment. Amy had terrible eyesight because of her age, she was 96, and I'd recently been diagnosed with an eye disorder that left me walking with a red and white cane. It was a weird eye disorder, ironically one that usually only affects people Amy's age. But I was only 27 and wasn't able to keep my eyelids open, which might not sound like a big deal, but when your eyelids won't stay open, you bump into walls and walk off of porches. There was a religious script to follow for communion; same order and words every time, but it wasn't too many Tuesdays before Amy and I were ad-libbing a bit and I don't think the "Big Guy" minded at all. After we finished the communion prayer making sure the "Be Thous" were in their proper places, Amy and I would add our own personal requests: Amy had a doctor's appointment Friday and was worried about getting down the long flight of steps in the back of her apartment. I was a frustrated because I couldn't make a decent pie crust. I realized there were a lot more serious things to be worried about, but baking seemed to be good therapy for me while I was waiting to find out if my red and white cane was going to be a permanent way of life. "You want to learn how to roll a pie crust?" Amy asked after the "Amen." So the following Tuesday Amy taught me how to roll a pie crust. It was simple following her step-by-step instructions, or maybe it was because the dough knew better than to argue with a 96-year-old pie crust veteran. After sampling the pies we decided we liked the eating part of our get-togethers, so every Tuesday after communion we started having lunch together. And after I discovered that Amy used to play piano in a swing band, we started making music--she played piano and I sang along. Amy's eyesight was so bad she could barely see the piano keys, but it didn't matter because she'd always played by ear anyway. A relationship is give-and-take, if it's a good one. Looking in from the outside someone might have thought my relationship with Amy was one-sided, taking communion to a shut-in. It was not. I met a woman who'd led a life that I could only hope for and she was coming down the homestretch with finesse and grace. I'd been visiting Amy for over a year and I could tell that it was getting harder for her to do things. So it wasn't a complete surprise when I got a call from her son, "You should come for your last visit with my mother." I don't know what other people were thinking as they were sitting in the pew at Amy's funeral, but I could see her playing the piano in the swing band, baking and serving meals to be remembered by her family and I could see Amy down on her knees in the pew, hands folded, thanking the Lord for one heck of a special life. And I was fortunate to be part of it. Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends. Warm regards, Suzanne Beecher *Author Barbara Bretton reads along with us every day at the book club. Sample her book "Just Desserts" and enter the free book giveaway. Go to: *Read the Classics: THE OUTSIDERS by S. E. Hinton and enter the free Penguin Classic's Drawing. Go to: Surfing the Net with Kids: Email me: Missing an email? Go to: =====TODAY'S WHITETHORN WOODS by Maeve Binchy (fiction) Published by Alfred A. Knopf ISBN: 9780307265784 Copyright (c) 2006 by Maeve Binchy To reference this email: WOODS (Part 2 of 5) (continued from Monday) His mother had forgotten who he was, his brother despised him and now his sister was making a trip from London to visit this cracked pagan well and wondering, would it work better if she came on the saint's Feast Day? Father Flynn's parish priest was a gentle, elderly man, Canon Cassidy, who always praised the young curate for his hard work. "I'll stay on here as long as I can, Brian, then you'll be considered old enough and they'll give you the parish," Canon Cassidy often said. He meant very well and was anxious to spare Father Flynn from the indignity of having some arrogant and difficult parish priest brought in over the curate's head. But at times Brian Flynn wondered if it would be better to let nature take its course, to hasten Canon Cassidy to a home for the elderly religious, to get someone, almost anyone, to help with the parish duties. Admittedly, attendance at church had died off a great deal since he was a young man. But people still had to be baptized, given first Communion, have their confessions heard; they needed to be married and buried. And sometimes, like in the summer, when a Polish priest came along to help him, Brian Flynn used to think he might manage better alone. The Polish priest last year spent "weeks" making garlands for St. Ann and her well. Not long ago he had been at the junior school at St. Ita's and asked if any of the pupils wanted to become nuns when they grew up. Not an unreasonable question to ask little girls in a Catholic school. They were mystified. No one seemed to know what he meant. Then one of them got it. "You mean like the movie 'Sister Act?'" Father Flynn felt that the world was definitely tilting. Sometimes, when he woke in the morning, the day stretched ahead of him, confused and bewildering. Still he had to get on with things, so he would have his shower and try to pat down his red hair, which always stood in spikes around his head. Then he would make a cup of milky tea and a slice of toast and honey for Canon Cassidy. The old man always thanked him so gratefully that Father Flynn felt well rewarded. He would open the curtains, plump up the pillows and make some cheerful comment about how the world looked outside. Then he would go to the church and say a daily Mass for an ever- decreasing number of the faithful. He would go to his mother's house, heart in his mouth about how he would find her. Invariably she would be sitting at her kitchen table looking lost and without purpose. He would explain, as he always did, that he was her son, a priest in the parish; and he would make her a breakfast of porridge and a boiled egg. Then he would walk down Castle Street with a heavy heart to Skunk Slattery's newsagents where he would buy two newspapers: one for the canon and one for himself. This usually involved some kind of intellectual argument with Skunk about free will or predestination or how a loving God could allow a tsunami, or a famine. By the time he got back to the priests' house, Josef, the Latvian caregiver, had arrived and got Canon Cassidy up, washed and dressed him and made his bed. The canon would be sitting waiting for his newspaper. Later, Josef would take the old man for a gentle walk to St. Augustine's Church, where he would say his prayers with closed eyes. Canon Cassidy liked soup for his lunch and sometimes Josef took him to a cafe but mainly he took the frail little figure back to his own house, where his wife, Anna, would produce a bowl of something homemade; and in return the canon would teach her more words and phrases in English. He was endlessly interested in Josef and Anna's homeland, asking to see pictures of Riga and saying it was a beautiful city. Josef had three other jobs: he cleaned Skunk Slattery's shop, he took the towels from Fabian's hairdressers to the Fresh as a Daisy Launderette and washed them there and three times a week he took a bus out to the Nolans' place and helped Neddy Nolan look after his father. Anna had many jobs too: she cleaned the brass on the doors of the bank, and on some of the office buildings that had big important- looking notices outside; she worked in the hotel kitchens at breakfast time doing the washing up; she opened the flowers that came from the market to the florists and put them in big buckets of water. Josef and Anna were astounded by the wealth and opportunities they'd found in Ireland. A couple could save a fortune here. They had a five-year plan, they told Canon Cassidy. They were saving to buy a little shop outside Riga. "Maybe you'll come to see us there?" Josef said. "I'll look down on you and bless your work," the canon said in a matter-of-fact tone, anticipating the best in the next world. Sometimes Father Flynn envied him. (continued on Wednesday) ====ABOUT THE Maeve Binchy is the author of numerous best-selling books, including "Nights of Rain and Stars," "Quentins," "Scarlet Feather," "Circle of Friends," and "Tara Road," which was an Oprah's Book Club selection. She has written for "Gourmet;" "O, The Oprah Magazine;" "Modern Maturity;" and "Good Housekeeping," among other publications. She and her husband, Gordon Snell, live in Dalkey, Ireland, and London. =========BUY Use this link to get the best price on this week's book: To locate or purchase OTHER BOOKS use this link: =======SHARE THE You can forward this email to your friends and relatives. Encourage them to join our book clubs. It's a great way to stay in touch even if you live thousands of miles apart. Questions, comments or book suggestions? Contact me, Barbara J. Feldman, at: Inc., 991C Lomas Santa Fe Dr. #415 Solana Beach, CA 92075 You are currently buy onlined to as: To purchase send a blank email to To join any of the free Surfnetkids Book Clubs, visit:

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