mixer through the eggs, oil, milk, and sugar, and waited for an answer.
?You know, Goldy? ? drop, drop ? ?er, some strange things have, or had, been going on in the congregation, and Father Olson,? ? drop, drop ? ?Ted, was never one to be terribly communicative with the bishop?s office. I mean, he didn?t even go to deanery meetings, and then when diocesan convention rolled around ? ?
He stopped abruptly when Bob Preston vaulted into the kitchen. Preston, seeing we were engaged in domestic activities, beat a hasty retreat.
?Doug, why don?t you go a little faster?? I suggested lightly. ?Why did the bishop need you to spy?? I said brusquely when Preston was safely out of earshot. ?The service is going to start in twenty minutes! Do you want to tell me, or do you want tot tell the police and four newspapers? ?Priest held for questioning over secret role in parish? ought to look real good in the The Denver Post, not to mention The Rocky Mountain Episcopalian.? I angrily dumped the flour, baking powder and salt into the batter and began to beat furiously. ?Time is a problem here for the man I?m supposed to marry. But, since I don?t? have too much to do now that he?s been kidnapped, I?ll certainly have time to phone each of the newspapers personally.?
Doug Ramsey gave me a helpless expression, then began to drop paper cups in the pan again. ?Goldy, don?t threaten me. You know I?m under the bishop?s discipline ? ?
I swirled in the vanilla and almond extracts, which turned the thick batter golden and fragrant, and then the poppy seeds, which gave it an inviting, speckled appearance. ?Why does the bishop need a cleric to report back to him from St. Luke?s in Aspen Meadow? What was he afraid of??
?That people were worshiping Olson, that?s what!?
?What?? I stopped the beater and gaped at him.
?You heard me.? He shook with frustration. The muffin tins dropped out of his hands onto the counter just as the sun came out from behind a cloud and shone through the windows. Doug?s alb turned brilliant white. His anger shimmered out in all directions.
?Worshiping him how?? I demanded.
Almond Poppy Seed Muffins
4 large eggs
2 cups sugar
1 z cups (13-ounce) evaporated milk
z cup milk
2 cups vegetable oil
4 cups flour
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon almond extract
? cup poppy seeds
Preheat the oven to 325 . Line 30 muffin cups with paper liners. In a large mixing bowl, beat together the eggs, sugar, evaporated milk, milk, and vegetable oil. Sift together the baking powder, salt, and flour. Gradually add the flour mixture to the egg mixture, beating until well combined. Add the extracts and poppy seeds, stirring only until well combined. Using a 1/3-cup measure, pour the batter into the muffin cups. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean. Makes 30 muffins.
Doug glared at me. He said tersely, ?Father Theodore Olson belonged to the Society of Chad, as do I, as do Wickham and Montgomery and twenty other clergy in this diocese.? He inhaled mightily. ?You probably think the Society of Chad has something to do with African famine relief.?
Lucky for me I?d taken that course from Canon Montgomery. I picked up the bowl and began to ladle batter into the few muffin cups Ramsey had set out. ?Seventh-century English bishop, traveled around his diocese on foot. Died of the plague. What about him? And would you preheat that oven to three-twenty-five for me??
?We are dedicated to preserving the apostolic tradition, just as Chad was, ?Father Doug replied huffily, twirling the oven dial. ?And this year as our chosen study we have been looking at miraculous healings. AS they validate the sacraments, of course.?
?You?re losing me, Doug.? I took up his abandoned task and started to put the paper liners into the rest of the muffin cups.
?Well, it?s one thing to talk about Lourdes and Medugorge,? he said fiercely. ?On the other hand, quite a bit closer to home, a Sunday School teacher suddenly says she doesn?t have any more back pain! Well, that could be because we replaced most of those antiquated chairs in the Sunday School rooms. That infant a month ago that was supposedly born blink? There are conflicting reports on whether his reflexes had even been tested when this healing allegation came up!?
?Lourdes and Medugorge,? I prompted him.
?Yes! Well. It?s quite another thing to get some wild report that Olson lays hands on a terminally ill St. Luke?s parishioner at Lutheran Hospital, and one hundred percent deadly mylocytic leukemia just disappears! I mean, please.?
?But nobody really knows what happened to Roger Bampton, isn?t that true? This doesn?t really sound like the Episcopal church, Doug.? I scraped the last of the batter into a paper liner and set the pans into the oven. I looked at my watch: 9:45. I?d have to sneak back during the service to take the muffins out when they were done.
Oh, tell me it doesn?t sound like the Episcopal church. As you may or may not know, Goldy, there is no ecclesiastical … mechanism within our communion to verify miracles. And no one actually saw the parishioner?s blood tests. Oh, those much-touted blood tests! As if I hadn?t heard enough about them … But soon after the Bampton incident, another Sunday School teacher claimed she was cured of lupus after Father Olson laid hands on her. Someone else said somebody?s shingles disappeared. The stories spread and out prayer list is suddenly the length of the phone book. The money isn?t just pouring in, it?s flooding in.? Not to mention, I added mentally, the number of terminally ill folks who will want to be Sunday School teachers. ?And who?s containing this?? Doug fumed. ?Who?s testing it against church doctrine and experience? It?s as if the Martians have landed! Come to Aspen Meadow and throw away your crutches for the entire Anglican communion to see! Talk about headlines! We?ve been expecting the National Enquirer here any minute! Now if Olson just would have come to one deanery meeting ? ?
?Who?s we? Who would have been threatened by this, b3esides the bishop? Someone like Mitchell Hartley??
Doug Ramsey made a raisin face of disgust. ?Mitchell Hartley is one of the ringleaders of this sort of thinking! There?s no foundation to it, I?m telling you! It?s all Jesus-is-my-buddy and the Holy-Spirit-is-my-voodoo. These people are ruining the church. Of course, we all thought Olson was grounded in the orthodox faith ? ?
?You keep saying ?we.? ?
?Why, everyone in the hierarchy, of course. We?re talking about the apostolic tradition here, Goldy ? ?
?Doug! What about sexual misconduct??
He shrank away from me and colored deeply ?Excuse me??
Several early arrivals for the second service, enticed by the delicious vanilla-mixed-with-almond aroma wafting out of the oven, poked their heads in to see what was cooking. Father Doug Ramsey and I bustled to start washing bowl and beaters. Disappointed, the curious churchgoers withdrew.
Over, the sound of hot water filling the sink, I murmured, ?I heard a rumor that Olson was romantically involved with someone. Having an affair. How?s the Episcopal church?s mechanism for dealing with that??
Doug squirted about five times as much liquid detergent into the sink as we would need. ?Goldy, he could have been involved with ten women, I mean, the man could have had a harem the way they fell all over him. They used to wait outside the door of our Society of Chad meeting! We began calling Olson the magician. Women and miracles, what more could you ask for? Montgomery asked for his resignation from the society, but of course he didn?t get it. Then the bishop called me in and said, ?Find out what Olson?s doing. He?s pulling in so much money, there must be something to it.? Lord!? He flourished the dish detergent. ?So here I am having to act the sycophant in Aspen Meadow, and praying that some of this chicanery will be exposed!?
?Doug, that?s enough soap.? He pulled back the container and looked dejected. I turned off the water. ?I?m sorry, I know you?re terribly upset. Just tell me, what women were waiting outside the door of the committee meeting??
