Part 82 (2/2)

Lou noted it down, swore again, and banged the receiver. He opened the

door, then to give himself a moment, leaned against it. Through the

window he could see his son cheerfully plowing through the cheeseburger.

Saint Catherine's Academy, 1977

TWO MORE WEEKS, Emma thought.. ”IWo more long, boring, rotten weeks, and

she'd be out for the summer. She'd be able to see her father, and

Johnno and the rest. She'd be able to breathe without being told she

was breathing for G.o.d. She'd be able to think without being warned

about impure thoughts.

As far as she could see, the nuns must be full of impure thoughts or

else they wouldn't be so sure everyone else had them.

She would be going back to the real world for a few precious weeks. New

York. Emma closed her eyes a moment, trying to bring its noise, its

smells, its life into her quiet room. With a sigh, she propped her

elbows on her desk, slouching in a way that would have made Sister Mary

Alice crack her ruler. She didn't bend over the French verbs she was

supposed to conjugate, but looked out over the green lawns to the high

stone walls that closed the school off from the sinful world.

Not all the sinful world, she thought. She was full of sin, and was

grateful her roommate, Marianne Carter, was equally blighted. Her days

at Saint Catherine's would have been torture without Marianne.

She grinned as she thought of her funny, freckled, redheaded roomie and

best friend. Marianne was sinful, all right, and was even now doing

penance for her latest transgression. The caricature Marianne had

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