Cas noted for the record that there seemed to be hidden messages emanating from both sides, and that under the bantering tone lay something far more serious. But even though he was doing it, too, he had no idea what it was. Curious. “I’ve always been partial to Quetzalcoatl.”
“An excellent choice. A powerful god with many friends, though not exactly current.”
“I didn’t know gods had expiration dates.”
“Yes, well, there may be a good deal you don’t know, Brother Cas. But I commend the width of your learning. It’s impressive.”
“I can recite the Gettysburg Address, too. The first couple lines of it, anyway.”
“Now you’re boasting, Brother Cas,” Brother Armitage smiled. Then he cocked his head to one side and asked, quite seriously to all appearances, “Why do you dislike me? What have I done to offend you?”
Cas answered evenly, in that dead flat tone, “You pretend to be something you’re not.”
“And what is that?”
“Holy.”
“Not that I’m saying I am but how can you be so sure I’m not?”
“Because nobody is. Nobody can be. They can only pretend.”
Brother Armitage scratched his bald spot. “Couldn’t it be the other way around?”
“What do you mean?”
“Maybe everybody is holy and they’re only pretending not to be. Even you.”
“That’s a bit of a stretch, don’t you think?”
Brother Armitage’s thick eyebrows went up again. “Is it? Why is that any more of a stretch than the opposite? Aren’t they both extremes?”
“It’s…easier to believe in evil, or at least non-holiness. There’s so much more of it. Dig under a saint and you find a scared little kid still trying to keep the monsters away or an arrogant man trying to force his neuroses down the rest of the world’s throat. Holiness is perfection, and humans aren’t perfect. None of them.”
“Maybe your definition of perfection is screwed up.”
Cas nodded. “I’ve considered that. But I’ll need proof.”
Brother Armitage nodded thoughtfully. “Yes, I can see that. Nikki, your young friend has an interesting mind. Bring him to see me one of these days, and we’ll pick up where we left off. I do so like someone who knows how to argue. I’d continue this but unfortunately I have other business I must attend to. Nice to have met you, Brother Cas. Nikki? It’s been too long.” He hugged her again, kissed her cheek, and whispered something in her ear before popping the last of the chocolate into his mouth and waddling off toward where Juliette Rose was sitting.
“What’d he say?”
Nikki ducked. “What?”
“In your ear. What’d he say?”
She considered refusing to answer but then her mouth was open and she was saying, “He told me not to give up on you.” She kept the rest to herself, though. “Why did you do that?”
Now it was Cas’ turn to duck. “What?”
“You know what. Why? You think he’s a phony?”
“Isn’t everybody to one degree or another?”
“Alright, say they are. Why pick on Brother Armitage, particularly? Even if he is a phony, he’s harmless. And he’s not a phony, by the way.”
“How do you know?”
“I know.”
“Then maybe that’s why. A successful impostor is always more dangerous than an obvious fraud.”
“You’re so damned negative, Cas,” she said angrily. “Everybody’s a crook or a thief or a fraud, even you. How do you stand living with yourself?”
“Sometimes I can’t.”
