Whirlwind 01 - Finish Line - Pt. 05

I have been released to inform you that Ariana Collins has made a most remorseful confession and as part of her reconciliation with God and Mother Church, has agreed to sponsor seven seminarians, and establish a scholarship in your son's name at a seminary. Further, Ariana Collins respectfully requests to meet with you, for which I offer my office at the cathedral as neutral territory and my services as mediator. She wishes to provide a truthful and complete accounting of her actions and state-of-mind before, during and after the wedding ceremony between her and Sean.

Your dear brother in Christ,

Monsignor Magillicuddy.

Which was being read at nearly the same time as another letter:

Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Collins,

This letter is to inform you that at ten o'clock in the morning, this Saturday, your granddaughter, Harmony Marie Moore, will be baptized in Saint Steven's church. You are humbly and hopefully invited to attend the ceremony, at which your daughter, Colleen, will be named godmother to Harmony. Your daughter, Ariana, has been reconciled with Holy Mother Church and wishes ardently to be reconciled with her Earthly family as well. I offer my office as neutral ground and my services as mediator, if necessary, an hour before the baptism.

Please bring yourselves to attend the christening of your granddaughter.

On that same week, a less welcome letter was also being received at a school outside Dublin:

Sister Mary Theresa,

Reverend Mother of Blessed Virgin School,

Dear fellow bride of Christ,

This letter is to inform you that I will be arriving shortly with a committee to investigate some no doubt baseless accusations directed at the staff of the school. Observing the committee will be a representative of the diocese and a representative of higher authority. The committee will be interviewing all active and retired sisters, and reviewing student records. All present and past students will be contacted. The committee will want, in particular, to speak to Sister Rose, your choir director emeritus. I realize she has recently retired, however, her testimony in these matters is avidly sought.

Sincerely,

Most Reverend Mother Theresa Marie Winegaard

EPILOGUE TO THE EPILOGUE (22 years later)

The short story in Dublin's largest newspaper, on the front page, read:

"The coroner's official report was released today, hopefully putting to rest the last week of fevered speculation and baseless and shameful rumors: natural causes arising from a long illness. Last week, two of the city's most famous residents were found, in each other's' arms, deceased. It had been known for a long time that the intrepid couple was in declining health, and when they passed, there were baseless and shameful rumors of a suicide pact, or death of one followed by the suicide of the other. The matter became so heated that the coroner's office intervened and conducted an investigation and two independent autopsies, which have now been concluded. It was also released by one of the monasteries that the couple had been donating one hundred thousand Euro annually for daily masses to be said for an intention in a sealed envelope on the altar in their chapel; said envelope not to be opened until their deaths. The head of the order has now opened the envelope and sent it back to the family. It was a humble appeal to God to allow each not to outlive the other.

They raced side by side, they lived and loved inseparably, and God granted that they should take their final bow together. We should all be that blessed. Their daughter, Harmony, 22, will be flying home tomorrow for the funeral and burial.

POSTSCRIPT TO THE EPILOGUE -- No one is truly dead until their life's story is finally over

Entry for Harmony Anderson (nee' Moore) in an on-line encyclopedia:

... only daughter of Ariana Collins and Nathan Moore, described as the greatest singer of her generation, she was a performer not caught in her mother's shadow.

She had her first stage appearance at three weeks of age. The Madri-Gals had just completed an encore, and the audience had continued to applaud. Marie Kavanaugh had come out and told the audience that Ariana was trying to get Harmony to sleep, and if the audience promised to be very quiet, and not applaud, they could listen to the lullaby. Ariana had brought Harmony out onto the stage and started to sing a Celtic lullaby in Gaelic. Then Marie, Cassie, Linnae, and Lavender had come out one at a time and joined the singing at each chorus. When the song was complete, Harmony was asleep and the entire audience practically tip-toed out of the theater. This segment was recorded and broadcast in its entirety on international television the following week, and was featured in the Madri-Gals next DVD release, "Celtic Dreams." This became the standard ending for the tour for its remaining four months.

Harmony had her first appearance on television at the age of three months. Her mother and father, known as Team Number One from their feat of coming in first in every leg of the first Celebrity Fantastic Race, were challenged to a re-match by the team which came in second place, and finally accepted. Harmony's father carried her through the entire race in a chest pack. They did not come in first on any leg, choosing in seven instances to wait and let another team by and be the second team to check in. They were Team Number Two on the first eleven of the twelve race legs. They did, however, come in first on the final leg to win the race.by nearly two hours, cementing their moniker of "Team Number One." After this they re-released an update of their TNO book to include both races, and the re-release outsold the original release's 10,459,233 downloads in its first year.

Her mother and father passed away from non-Hodgkin's lymphoma from AIDS on the same date, Harmony participated in a medical study involving the children of HIV positive parents. This study revealed that Harmony possessed unique antibodies, which, when cultured and injected, completely destroyed all known strains of the AIDS virus. Harmony insisted that the treatment be named "Blessing," and put all royalties in a relief fund for AIDS orphans. This treatment lead to HIV/AIDS being officially declared eradicated thirteen years later.

Harmony married Connor Anderson, and had seven children.

The End

So ... the end of the race, and I probably over-indulged in my inclination for positive endings, but when you really feel emotionally invested in characters you created, you want it to work out well -- as fictitious as they may be.

The remaining WHIRLWIND stories are shorter, but do need to be resurrected from notebooks and USB sticks.

Thank you for reading, I hope the reader will have found the story entertaining, or at least interesting.