Chapter 1: A Nun Walks Into A Bar...

It was a warm June afternoon when Vonda and I walked into my bar and grill, The Foaming Mug. Tony, my manager, was behind the bar, clearly bored.

"All quiet?" I asked.

"Pretty much. All the lunch crowd is gone. Only customer is her." Tony pointed to the far corner booth.

It was a nun. She wore one of those half-wimples, that left her blonde hair exposed out front. Her blouse was white and short sleeved, with a plain collar. I could not tell what her skirt was, but I would have bet money it was black, It was part of the uniform. In front of her was a quarter full mug of a dark liquid.

"How long has she been here?" I asked Tony.

"About an hour. She got a grilled ham and cheese, and a root beer. Finished her sandwich fifteen minutes ago, been nursing her drink ever since."

We made our own root beer on the premises. It was quite popular with the lunch crowd, who didn't want to go back to work with alcohol on their breath.

"Draw me a fresh mug. I'll bring it over to her."

"You got it, boss."

I picked up the mug. I took three steps toward the nun, then turned to Vonda, who was still at my side. "Now, be nice. We don't want to scare her."

An impish grin crossed the red-head's face. "Who me?"

"I'm serious, Vonda. Behave."

She caught my tone of voice. The smile left her face, and she bowed her head. "Yes sir."

"Good."

As I got closer to her I saw that the nun was very young. She looked sixteen, maybe younger. She was also short, just under five foot, it turns out. That, and the fact she was flat-chested, enhanced her youthful appearance.

As we approached her, the nun's eyes got wider and wider. She shrank back into the booth, as if she were trying to disappear.

I put the fresh mug down in front of the sister, and handed the almost empty one to Vonda. She hurried it over to Tony.

"Excuse me, Sister. My name is Alex Woodward. I own this place. And that," I pointed to the bar, "is Vonda Alling, my ... girlfriend.

The girl slipped out of the booth. She whispered "I'm so sorry. I'll be going."

I moved to block her egress. "Hey! Don't leave. I just..."

The young nun, with her heart-shaped face, scrambled to the booth corner, knees against her chest. "Please don't hurt me!" she pled, tears streaming down her face.

Vonda rushed into the booth, gathering the frightened girl into her arms. "Honey, he won't hurt you. Alex doesn't bite."

I could see my girl consciously censoring herself from adding an additional word to her last statement.

"That's right," I agreed. "We don't have many nuns..."

"Novice," she interrupted.

"I'm sorry?"

"I'm a novice, not a nun. I haven't taken my final vows yet."

"Right. Anyway, we don't have many nuns come in here. And you have this lost look to you. We just wanted to help.

"The convent is two blocks that way."

"I can't go there. Not yet."

"Why not, Sister..."

The young novice evidently decided that she could trust us. "Angela, no Pyx. No call me Angela. Angela Doe."

"You have two names?" asked Vonda.

She nodded. "Pyx is my legal name. Angela is what I've always been called."

"How did that happen?" I asked.

"I was found on the steps of the convent, just a few weeks old, wrapped in a blanket. Pinned to the blanket was a note. It said 'Her Name is Pyx.'"

"Wow!" exclaimed Vonda. "Sounds like something out of Charles Dickens."

The novice nodded. "Social Services took me into custody. The sisters petitioned the courts to let them raise me, since it was obviously my mother's desire. The judge agreed.

"At the same time, they petitioned that they change my name to Angela, since they thought I looked like an angel.

"The court denied that claim, using the same logic, that the sisters used. It was my mother's choice of name. They honored that wish.

"My adoptive mothers chose to call me Angela, anyway. They thought Pyx didn't sound Christian."

"So you grew up with two names," said Vonda. "Weird."

"Oh no. I didn't learn about my real name, until today."

"Really?" I asked.

The young novice, realizing she was talking to a man, blushed, then nodded.

"What happened today?" asked Vonda.

"Theresa called me into her office."

"Who's Theresa?"

"She's second to Mother Superior. She was the one who talked the others into adopting me. She's the closest thing I have to a mother."

"What did she want?" asked Vonda.

"Yesterday was my eighteenth birthday, and she wanted to know if I know what I wanted to do with my life.

"I told her that it was obvious what I wanted. Since I graduated from their high school six months ago, I've been in training as a novice.

"She said that some of the sisters were concerned that I didn't have the right temperament to be a nun."

This peaked my interest. "Really? Why would they think that?"

The petite novice turned beet red. "Various things," she whispered.