Chapter 55 New Nun

  "Thank ye jest doesn't seem like enough.  That food will last me a spell.  I be a bard by trade, a poor one, but a bard nonetheless.  Shall I entertain thee?"

  Entertain me?  As if looking into your eyes is not enough.  Your eyes behind those curly locks...

  "Sister?"

  That is right, sister.  I was so certain, so certain about becoming a nun...then I looked into those eyes.
  So easy to forget the rest of the world exists....

  "Sister?"

  What was he asking?  Bard...entertain...oh, bardic tales and songs are not fit for a nuns ears.

  "Your thankful heart is enough bard."

  It is enough...like you have no idea.

  "Then I shall show thee how thank full me heart is," the bard said eagerly.

  Sister Shannon beamed.

  Turning back to her the bard leaned in....closer....closer...  Sister Shannon closed her eyes...

  She trembled, then -

  "Thee art the finest lady I ever did meet."

  "It is my pleasure to serve thee," Sister Shannon said in a sigh.

*** 

  When Sister Shannon had been ripped from Mother Teresa's care, she wanted nothing more than to be back in the convent.  She studied hard, then had run off and begged Mother to take her in.  She had...and Shannon had been so glad for it.  She had wanted nothing more than to be a nun with Mother and live with her forever.  Then not even a full hour later she had met that bard.

  She had done nothing wrong.  She knew that.  Mother Teresa often hugged her brethren.  Shannon doubted Mother felt the way she did during a hug... 

  Perhaps, she thought, her very feelings are sinful.  Perhaps I should not be a nun.  I am not worthy.

  Mother Teresa walked in with a whore.

  "Wait here a moment, I'd like to speak with Sister Shannon."

  "Should I git?"

  "No.  I daresay it will do thee good to hear that even nuns do not always feel virtuous.  You can keep what you hear to yourself?"

  "Mother Superior, no one can keep a secret like a woman in me work."

  Shannon looked at the two nervously.  The whore turned away.  No doubt she was well practiced at turning away and blending into the background.

  "Shannon, you have feelings for that bard, do thee not?"

  For a moment Sister Shannon could not speak.

  "Mother..did the bard come back and say something?" Shannon was mortified.

  "No dear."

  "Then  how do you know about the bard?"

  "I was standing nearby...did you not notice?"

  Sister Shannon felt her cheeks warm.

  "Mother...I...he was very nice."

  "Nice enough to marry?"

  "Mother!"

  "Shannon we aren't required to be nuns all are lives."

  "What?  I don't understand."

  "It doesn't happen often...some nuns leave the convent to marry."

  "It is not sin?"

  "It is not sin to enter a marriage ordained by God."
  Mother Teresa quietly left the room.  The whore followed.

  Sister Shannon turned back to the mirror, thinking of what is and what could be.