Avalon

Painting and Story by Lehan Winifred Ramsay

At fifteen I took a part-time job on Sundays and an unexpected bonus was no longer being able to go to Sunday School. But it didn’t end there. There was still another ritual to get through. After consultation with the Nuns I was instructed to go to the Nun’s house on Saturday afternoons until I had received the necessary instruction. The Nun’s house had a parlour, a close laced-in room that got too much sun.

I was expecting something, I have to say. Sure the Sunday School hadn’t taught me anything startling, but I was still expecting something. I think I thought that they would be giving me some part of the puzzle that I didn’t have, that piece that seems small and without importance but that makes the other pieces pull together. That would make this religion thing finally make sense. The Nun sat down and began. We can see something in you. You should become a Nun. After some weeks – how many weeks I do not remember – they let me go, released me back into the pool. You’re ready, they said.

Wait, WAIT! I was here on my precious Saturday afternoons for this? I thought they were going to teach me something I didn’t already know. That was no miracle.