large (and I was in this repellant
temptation, I figured, Frederick
humor from tragic global news
bunch) twiddled thumbs, loosened
William Faber meant vice, if not
stories, and played violin. Those
belts, said things like, “Smoke ’em
outright sin, and I had successfully
who spoke ill of him would note
if you got ’em,” and “See you in
indulged in my fair share of vices.
with disgust his indiscriminate
the Funnies,” and wrapped pillows
The summation of my years at
licentiousness. Nicholas was glad
around their heads so as not to
Saint Joseph’s was one temptation
to have this be the topic of dining
hear the noise of the alarm clock at
after the next, a series of trials
hall conversation. How much they
their bedside.
down paths of gluttony and lust.
cared made him laugh.
Saint Joseph’s, now including
These were only two of the seven
“Hi, Nicholas,” I said with some
even Father Anthony, was ready
deadly sins. To me the ratio was
formality. We shared a couple
to get rid of me. Yet, despite full
rather admirable. In this game I
classes. I knew the reputation well,
academic satiation, I found myself
was hitting .285, just slightly above
but not the boy.
hungry. My stomach grumbled
the lifetime .270 batting average of
even after a large meal and my
the great Gil Hodges.
mind raced late into the night,
“Brother Clarence!” Nicholas
“I was watching you walk this way,” he said. “Thought you would be headed home, but you came this
causing a sleeplessness that made
Galloway called to me from
way and here you are. You looked
my whole body ache throughout
the porch of the apartment that
like your head was in the clouds.
the next day. I was sore because,
he shared with two farmer boys
What were you thinking about?”
really unbeknownst to me, I had
from just a few miles up the road.
been straining since I first stepped
His hair was slicked back with
a sleeplessness, and a strain.
foot onto that campus. I felt like
Vaseline and he wore a short-
None of these was I any more
an old horse still forced to pull a
sleeved button-down shirt with a
willing to share with him than
carriage— some unjust treachery
thin, light-blue tie. His reputation
with Father Anthony.
soon to break me in two. I couldn’t
on campus was unrivaled in its
explain it until I remembered
undergraduate magnitude,
months away,” I said. For seniors
Frederick William Faber’s
but the esteem awarded that
this was the most innocuous of
tamer words: “Every moment
reputation shifted dramatically
conversations. We held in common
of resistance to temptation is a
depending on the narrator. For
that sense of impending fear, even
victory.” I had resisted for nearly
those who spoke highly of Nicholas
more than the usual commentary
four years.
Galloway, they would note that
on the weather.
What it was that I resisted
2018
wasn’t immediately clear. By
41
he had a fine taste in expensive bourbon, excavated well-buried
I was thinking about a hunger,
“Graduation is just two
“And the great wide world out there,” Galloway said. “Any idea