Chapter 2

And a busy day it was. After breakfast, Sister Margaret gave me the nickel tour of the facilities and introduced me to the senior dorm monitors. Then there were the classrooms. Sister Grace was in the middle of teaching a class of kids that looked to be ten to twelve years old. Sister Carmen had an older bunch, and Mother Superior taught algebra to a group of sixteen and seventeen-year-olds.

Sister Margaret introduced me to Sister Claire and Sister Alice. They had not been in the office when I first arrived. Once out of earshot, Sister Margaret informed me they were Lesbians and a couple. She told me lesbians and gays were not uncommon but frowned upon in the faith. But as far as she was concerned, it was their business how they lived their lives and nobody else’s. Sister Margaret was a flaming liberal. I was really getting to like this broad.

Our last stop for the morning was a small room not far from the nun’s quarters. Sister Margaret showed me what was to be my room. It had a twin bed and an attached bathroom with a toilet sink and shower. One hell of an upgrade from the dorms I was used to sleeping in. I commented to Sister Margaret, “I’m surprised that I don’t have to sleep in the dorm.”

Sister Margaret explained, “There are times the sisters will need some time with you at a late hour. We can’t very well have the boys see you coming and going after curfew.” Sister Margaret hung a large key behind the door on a hook and told me I was free to use that key whenever a sister asked for me to visit. Whenever I was in the nun’s quarters, I was to lock the door behind me. She also gave me two keys on a metal ring, one key to my room and one for the supply room. She made it very clear that there would be dire consequences if I lost any of them.

Sister Margaret explained that my job was to keep the nun’s quarters clean and ensure cleaning products were ordered as needed and safely locked away from the other kids. This janitorial position gave me free access to the nun’s quarter day or night. Sister Margaret explained it was usually just vacuuming, mopping, dusting, and cleaning the hall, the Sister’s rooms, the bathroom, and the shower. Nothing I could not handle in two or two and a half hours a day.

Last but not least, she handed me a class schedule and made it quite clear that classes took precedence over everything else, including requests from the sisters for companionship. I got the feeling time management was going to be an issue.

With that, Sister Margaret left me to my own devices for the rest of the day. I looked at my class schedule. All of my classes were scheduled for between nine and noon. Smart.

I went back to my room and found my bag of personal items from the county orphanage. Someone had left sheets, a blanket, and a pillowcase on the unmade twin bed. I unpacked my belongings, put them in the dresser, made the bed, and lay down to ponder my new life. I had to find each of the Sister’s pleasures and see if I could turn it to my advantage. This was going to be fun.