Cursing cross

Write about someone whose been sent to boarding school

Cursing cross

By Dumisani khumalo

Cursing jokes or cursing cross, took Thelma to school on a sacred secret .To do the truth as she was told and listen to the real world of the Bible. However, she did not know the school bus would land her with a contrary domination,and different doctrine.

Being a girl guide and one to live by the word of God commanded ,even when she heard those snide jokes about different churches and different folks in her formative religious life.

The bus's rolling tyres ,and tweets on her phone ,bugged her for answers ,on the how's and about the new school,her fare  paid for , school fees too ,at the Roman Catholic convent,an interesting change,and she was counting dates spent on her initial days by cancelling those passed and chalked out on the board,in no time.

Two religions were going to meet each other in her tender knowing thoughts and ideas of whether respecting Sabado or Domingo,that is Saturday or Sunday ,as her day of worship,was right, and the two church's were unknowingly  mixing oil and water. She also thought about her customs and traditions ,which were taught at home.

When the other girls went to church on Sundays,she stayed in the domitory until out of curiosity ,she joined to see what this church did ,after her Fridays were horribly be labored in the evenings,when at home it was times they prepared for Saturday.,the Sabbath.The matron would have bundled her out of the domitory,she was gain told by her bunker mate.

She had heard the nasty jokes on how at a funeral one is to behave , you should be careful ,when you invite a seventh day preacher ,be wary of your women ,and if it's the wife that is left ,be careful they do not steal her ,and if it's,a Catholic priest ,hide the beer ,and if it's a born again pastor ,take care of your money .,Cursing kind of jokes were but the phenomenonst to real issues.

It was a kind of hard talking on the foibles revealed on each church,and the common dominating ills hidden in each came out in the open, in full view of the whiles and the Will's of it's congregants ,mostly church goers ,cast out like demons into the smouldering fires of hell. However a hell so real and remonstrating on Thelma s mindset. A conscientious battle to do better or to change the world,and her starting point was natural as a flow of wind.

First conflict happened over the thoughts on idolatry,the cross at the dormitory door she had moved into ,and the matron who came to ask on its where abouts.Every room ,class ,passage had one serving reminder.They told on her ,and she had packed it nicely out of sight,and strangely to them ,it was not taken seriously,until the fateful moment she was asked about her upbringing,and church she went to at home. Rest assured,she told the truth ,that this was as good as idolatry in her church,worse than symbolism.

The kitchen was always packed ,nuns to be in their Grey's and white veils ,in a separate section ,and better food and treatment given to them ,and not in the common aluminium plates used by everyone .They had china plates and sausages, bread ,butter ,and orange juice as they wanted. It had nothing to do with fees .It had to do with their new found conviction. That was there difference,and it was hypocritical.

.It was generally pork eating days,and her church had a cardinal sin put aganist those cloven hooves,and she made her request aganist it. They gave her milk instead.

.The kitchen had to create for her a menu,and the cooks did not like it .This was the third meal they had to make,after the students and the select few nuns to be that would have theirs.She claimed justifiably she did not eat pork and got her way.

The strange hard headed mindset she had ,got her more interests into the Catholic lifestyle,and it was over the separate way they were treated with the boys and put in schools apart, from each other who were just across the lake ,and visited each weekend at Sunday services. Services that would last only a few hours and not for the whole day ,did not give them time know each other.

The Boys sat alone as the girls ,and no looking or speaking with the boys was allowed,unless with permission given .Thelma was thrown off and was asking questions about it repeatedly ,and saying the cross is bigger than Rome.

The cat came out of the bag ,and the selfies she was making on the phone ,came to haunt her .She took some of them with the boys when no one was looking ,and the matron was hysterical when she saw them. This was a matter for the principal of the school now.

The principal s office was all but murals ,crucifix's,stories and prayers ,events of the Bible on corners ,if they worked better than his beliefs ,the devil had a tough time coming into it. Thelma sat down ,and his kind eyes gave her some confidence ,and looking around some more ,a spear and a shield stood in the corner of the office . Tradition came to take its place amidst all ,and the matron started a narrative, the principal did not entertain and he was not listening ,he was looking at the phone.

"Who bought you this phone ,"he asked 

"My mother,"

The matron was told to leave ,and he started telling her about doing as the Romans do,and not going about antagonising the school rules,it would not be good for the other students ,who wanted an education as she did. 

She got the message and left,but a heroine to her friends,she had become. They gave her the attention and help she needed,and soon a following came to her.

Another pork day and she was explaining to her bunker mate about the cross,how without it you still had to believe in God. The one on the wall was a reminder,but why rely on it ,and believe in a wooden piece when God was all around to see ,to reach out and touch and grasp his power each and every day.

There was excitement on sporting days and the boys came well nigh to show what they were made of ,and the special event was to swim across the lake .All the girls never participated,and it had grown to become a culture to let the boys compete on their own .Thelma would not have ,she wanted to beat them hands down .

The curious eyes were applauding their previous heroes when with tights on with a fitting bra Thelma came and stood up at the starting line. The matron wanted to call her out ,but the head encouraged her ,and the whistle was blown .Thelma first took a gasp of air and dived in as the boys took the plunge too. It was a date devil race never seen before,as she raised her head left and right to see how far she was getting and at the third place before finish line ,she made made a desperate dash to come in second. It was a stupendous event and soon the other girls would follow suit ,first with small events planned between themselves.