Sisters Sworn to Secrecy

“Welcome all sisters, to meeting number 2 of...well, our ‘secret society’. As we discussed last week, Sister Jane had the task of coming up for the name of the club. Jane, have you reached a verdict?” Sister Geraldine asked solemnly. 

Standing up awkwardly and smoothing her tunic, she stammered.

“Uh...well, there were a lot of...interesting names. A-and, it was hard to pick the one that everyone would agree with...”

The sister’s began murmuring and giggling softly, before Sister Geraldine interrupted.

“Ah, yes. Remind us, Jane, what were those names again?” She half-smirked. She remembered the names perfectly, in fact, it’s her who’d come up with half of them. Sister Geraldine enjoyed seeing Sister Jane embarrassed, which she acknowledged was kind of a poor trait for a ‘wannabe’ nun. 

Opening her mouth as if to object, Sister Jane paused and looked at the list, her cheeks increasing in temperature and redness.

“Well, umm, there were many suggestions so I’ll just name a few,” she mumbled hurriedly, “so we had ‘The Saucy Sister’s Club’, ‘Sisters not Misters’, ‘Nun’s Having Fun’...”

“Naughty Nunz…with a ‘Z’” Sister Emily giggled, as Jane tugged on her rosary beads anxiously.

“Yes, th-that as well. So, out of all those, great names, I’ve concluded that ‘Morally Mischievous’ is the...most appropriate, out of the ones we had. You know, it says that we have morals and are religious and do good things, but it also suggests that we're fun and cool and have a different side than just the religion. I guess it was also the most ‘PG’ one of them all. ” 

“What about ‘Religious Rebels’?” whined Sister Maria. “I wanted that one.” She protested.

Everyone rolled their eyes.

“Maria, we agreed that ‘Religious Rebels’ sounded too much like a terrorist group.” Sister Geraldine chided. Maria crossed her arms and withdrew from the conversation.

“I thought it was great…” She whispered. 

“Yeah, and what about ‘Spirituality is the new Sexy?” Demanded Sister Patricia.

Sister Gerladine stood up suddenly, with an intimidating, warning look on her face. The sisters were silenced. 

“We will be here all night if we keep debating the name. We made Sister Jane in charge of choosing the name, which she has done, and so now, Sister Jane shall officiate the name.”

Turning to Jane with a nod, as if granting her a power, she sat down and gestured to the small gavel in the centre of the table. Shifting uncomfortably in her seat, unaccustomed to the attention and responsibility, she rose begrudgingly and struck the table with the small hammer.

“I hereby declare that the name of our society shall henceforth be known as ‘The Morally Mischievous Society.” She proclaimed with uncertain authority. 

The sister’s cheered half-heartedly, waving their hands in the air. The sudden movement of wind made the candles flicker and threaten to go out. They sat around the circular table in the dark, damp basement of the convent, huddled together in their pajamas with blankets draped over their shoulders. 

The five girls had all recently completed their ‘discernment’, where they’d spent two years practising to be nuns. They would speak to other nuns, visit convents and pray, almost like a ‘taster session’ to see if they truly wanted to devote their lives to religion. Presently, the sisters had all joined the same convent, where they lived and prayed together. 

As Sister Jane sat down, Sister Geraldine rose.

“Now that is out of the way, let’s continue. As you know girls, this is only our second meeting but is sure to be the first of many. We’ve had a new member join us since last week; Sister Isobel, who’s been sworn to secrecy by myself that she’ll keep our society top secret.”

Geraldine winked softly at Sister Isobel, who was greeted with a series of ‘welcomes’ and waves from the other sisters. 

“As Isobel is a new member, I’d like to go over what exactly our club stands for, and what our reason and purpose is. We have set up this club, as young, lively, eighteen-year old, hopeful-to-one-day-be, nuns, as a way of somehow experiencing normal teenage lives, as well as becoming faithful devotees of God. It’s a challenging yet extremely rewarding path we’ve chosen to go down, however, we are still only eighteen year old girls! We adore our religion and want to serve our community and follow our beliefs, but we also want to experience life as teenagers.” She stated, as if she were trying to convince herself and the sisters that their secret meetings weren’t sinful and weren’t going against their obligations.

“I mean, we’re not bad people for wanting to experience part of a ‘normal’ life, are we? We’re not out partying, we don’t skip prayers, we don’t swear or act out, do we? We’re simply trying to live together as teenagers whilst also being a part of this convent.” She declared, as the other sister’s nodded in agreement. 

“That’s right!” Sister Patricia exclaimed, bringing her hand down on the table with a thud, frightening Sister Jane.

Sister Geraldine sat down and gestured to Sister Maria, indicating it was her time to speak.

“Are you going to explain what we’ll be discussing today?” She encouraged.

“Oh, yes. So, today, we’re going to talk about...drum-roll…ta-da!” Sister Maria held out a folded piece of paper which unfolded into cut-out photographs of different boys. Flashing smiles and wavy hair adorned the page, with an odd shirtless torso dotted around here and there. Sister Jane’s cheeks turned redder than ever, whilst Sisters Patricia and Emily made a grab for the page. Sister Isobel sat there quietly, looking away at the floor in uncertainty, while Sister Geraldine rolled her eyes, plucking the paper from Maria’s hands. 

“Maria, when I said last week that I wanted you to come up with things we can discuss, I meant a list of topics for future discussions, not some mangled page with male models on them.” Geraldine said, squinting at the paper before scrunching into a ball and ripping it to pieces. 

Sisters Emily, Patricia and Maria all leapt for the paper, squealing in protest, before slumping back into their chairs.

“They weren’t all male models...Some were actors and singers…” Sister Maria huffed.

“I’m sure I saw Captain America on there…” Emily sighed to Patricia.

“Captain America? Wow, he’s fine. That blue and red costume and shield thing he’s got going on? Wheeew.”

Nodding in agreement, Emily went in for a high five.

“Amen, Sister.”

“Whatever they were, it’s not what we’re supposed to be doing today.” Sister Geraldine reminded them. “We’re suppos-”

A faint squeak silenced Sister Geraldine. The girls’ eyes widened and darted around the room, trying to identify the source of the noise. Had someone found their meeting place? Geraldine panicked, as they should be in bed and definitely should not be holding secret meetings. 

“What was that? Is someone there?” Sister Jane whispered, sneaking between Sister’s Emily and Patricia, whose eyes were transfixed on the door. 

Sister Maria and Isobel huddled each other, Maria’s eyes squeezed shut and Isobel’s eyes looking as if they were going to roll out of her head. Sister Geraldine rose and put all of the candles out, except one. Peering into the darkness ahead, she tried to make out any figures. With only silence filling the room, Sister Geraldine turned back to the table and sat down.

“It was probably just the beams or walls or something. You know how old the building is.” She whispered. The sister’s nodded in agreement, although none of them seemed too sure. They sat down tentatively, still surveying their surroundings.

“As I was saying,” Sister Geraldine continued, “we’re not here to look at these boys, we’re here to-”

Before she could finish her sentence, a giant, furry creature with what looked like a worm attached on one side of its body and a pink button on the other leapt onto the round table, causing the girls to yelp in fright. They rocketed to their feet, as the animal before them was identified by Sisters Maria, Jane, Patricia and Emily’s screams.

“RAT!” They shrieked, pointing at the brown shoe-brush on legs that scurried over the table. The four screeching sisters grabbed each other and bolted for the door. The gust of air extinguished the last lit candle, leaving Sister’s Geraldine and Isobel standing in the dark. Their rapid heartbeats decreased by the second, as neither were particularly scared of rodents. Sighing deeply, Sister Geraldine made her way to the door.

“We better leave. Thanks to the others, the older nun’s are probably on their way down.” She waved Isobel over to the door, grabbing her hand and dragging her up the stairs. Hiking up their tunics, they scampered toward their rooms. Geraldine turned to Isobel and with half a smile spoke.

“Welcome to the ‘Morally Mischievous Society, I guess.”