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and pray all for God, never leaving the abbey walls. Once he spoke the vows, he could never go back to normal life.
Brother George was terrified.
The monks silently sat on long benches in the refectory as dinner was served. They received only two meals a day. Food moderation was key to Benedict’s Law. No meat of mammals was ever served, except to Brother George’s obese stray cats.
The tubby cats, Mochi and Muffintop, sprinted toward his feet, stumbling over their own stubby legs at each dinner. The cook made two chicken wings just for them. They sat at Brother George’s feet as he peeled the wings and fed them by hand.
He missed meat. But even more, he missed pepperoni pizza. Of all the sins that tempted him, it was pepperoni pizza that he was sure would lead to his demise. In his dreams, he’d imag- ine standing at Grimaldi’s Pizzeria beneath the Brooklyn Bridge, shoving two whole pizza pies into his mouth at once.
In reality, he’d do with just one slice. But in dream-form, those two whole pizzas were carnivals of cheesy-tomato good- ness. Dreams didn’t punish gluttony.
Brother George was served a slice of bread, a kale salad, and ginger tea. He split the piece of toast into twelve tiny chunks, so it felt like he had a dozen bites instead of one, and dipped the pieces into the ginger tea.
The other monks stared at the twenty-four-year-old novice, hoping he’d somehow get lost on the way to the chapel before his solemn vows.
But Brother George reveled in the silence of the meals. As a teenager, he held French fries in one hand and his phone in the other, eyes scrolling through text messages, never looking up. He watched YouTube videos of cats skateboarding, instead of feeling the cats’ warm purrs against his legs.
The holy isolation of St. Joseph’s Abbey kept Brother George sane.
In the refectory, each sip of ginger tea felt meaningful. Each bite of bread was savored. And the shared energy of his brothers radiated through the wooden walls.
The monks even found a way to communicate around the


































































































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