Page 115 - NS 2024

The old, wrinkled face of the eldest nun turned back to Min. Her keen blue eyes couldn’t help but once again notice the young girl’s apparent smirk, and as she turned back to her contemporary, she felt far more set in her earlier assessment of guilt. “The girl has yet to understand that her actions have consequences, Sister. If she maintains such an air of invulnerability, she will be set on a path more akin to her mother than that of Jeanne’s.” Maggie turned back to Min, who sat stone still in the wooden chair. Most girls, or any kid for that matter, would be restless in such a position: awaiting the sentence from the Reverend Mother for their transgression. Not Min. She seemed almost comfortable, with the only deviation from such a state being her reluctance to look in the direction of Sister Tonya.
“You know how much the good Sister Tonya has done for you, don’t you girl?” Min nodded.
“Give me an indication that this trust she has in you is not misplaced, that those hours of one-on-one study have not been wasted. Can you, right now, recall a single passage of the good Lord’s words?”
Min sat there, blissfully unresponsive. Sister Tonya, by contrast, was agitatedly fidgeting with a crease in her robe.
“You don’t even grant her the respect of an effort? An attempt?” Another long, pregnant pause.
“I think what you could use then, good girl, is a lesson in humility.”