Chapter 10

Lunch ended as Sister Jayne, Mother Superior's Chief of Staff, left after speaking to her about the evening Vespers. Just before she gave the Benediction, she noted she had just a few comments.

"I've been informed by the medical staff that all of you have taken your physicals but John Avril. Page Judith, please make sure to stop there this afternoon."

"Yes, Mother Superior," Page Judith replied. "Sorry. I just took too long in the Lactation Solarium this morning."

With a rather sly smile Mother Superior told her Page, "Trying to set another daily record?"

"Yes Mother," she replied.

"Well, Our Order does appreciate your tenacity, but remember we all have more than one thing on our plates. Just don't neglect one duty in deference to another."

"I understand Mother Superior. I will make sure John has his physical this afternoon."

"Thank you my Child.

"For our guests, Vespers will be tonight at seven and our Feast Of Welcome for our new members will be right after. Please have a full afternoon with my Pages as they escort you around the Convent.

"Oh, one last thing. Pages, please make note of my schedule for meetings with each couple this afternoon. I have a very full day and it is imperative we all keep to the schedule. Thank you all."

As was her Grace at the beginning of the meal, Mother Superior's Benediction was also brief. "Go Forth My Brethren and Go With God, Amen."

Everyone rose, bowed and Mother Superior linked her arm with November and they moved from the head of the table. November was smiling as they walked out with her from the Private Dining Room with their two Pages trailing behind. Everyone else followed with John and Mary last because of where they had been sitting.

John gave Mary a parting hug and a kiss and she told him, "Have fun. See you later."

"I just can't help myself," Page Judith told John as they crossed the Main Hall.

John laughed and knew exactly what she meant. They headed for the Grand Staircase. As she paused at the base of the stairway, the pair heard Mother Superior say not too softly, "Go With God My Children."

Page Judith linked her arm with John's and paused with their toes against the riser to the bottom step. She looked up at the landing above them and then gazed higher. Above them was a pair of beautiful stained glass windows depicting Christ with his hand extended as if to help someone. The windows were mirror images of each other and between them was a life sized rough hewn dark wooden Cross, the main symbol of the Order.

As were all the other Crosses within the Convent, it too was barren. Its only markings were the three holes where spikes were or could be driven. Page Judith told John as they stood there, looking up at the Cross, "It is the mystery of the Order.

"The holes in the Cross are our Most Holy Symbol. For ages our Order has pondered over them.

"Is Christ walking with us and the holes are a reminder of what happened two thousand years ago so we will not make the same mistake again?

"Do the three holes represent The Father, The Son and the Holy Spirit who freed Jesus Christ and are indicated by our Order's Barren Sanctified Cross?

"We have been debating that for centuries. I think it's both," said Page Judith. "All of that and more. But for now, we need to climb," she said as she took the first step and they walked up the Grand Staircase, around the second floor balcony, through the arch and into the hallway they had been in before. They went down the first stairway, exiting at a door adjacent to the Patio they had crossed originally after leaving Mother Superior's Office.

Standing just inside her office, looking out through the large glass paneled doors, Mother superior was smiling and waved at the pair. "She knew I was going to take that path," Page Judith said, then with a laugh added, "You can't fool Mother Superior!"

Page Judith told John as they stepped off the patio and headed on the path across the garden toward L-Corner, "I need to make a quick trip to pump some breast milk. It's a quick pump now or a very long one later." They went through the same hallway they had traveled earlier to get across to U-Wing. More stairs and they were up to the Lactation Solarium.

John knew the routine and in just a few moments, Judith was relaxing again in one of the lounges with a soft smile on her face. This time John saw more of what was going on in the lab. Several of the girls had their laptops open and earphones on.

Judith noticed where his attention was directed and told him, "They're watching their class. They can be in here and still participate. I do that frequently myself. It's great for students who are home sick too. They can monitor their classes and not miss one.

"Teachers get a real time log of who is signed on to their class. They also get a live image of each student, even the ones physically in the classroom. A touch of the screen is all it takes to set up a two-way exchange to pose a question and get an answer. The student and the teacher come up on a split screen as the question is asked and answered. Although, sometimes giggles rip through the classroom when an image comes from here and the pumps are working briskly.

"It can be either a question from a student the teacher answers or it can be a verbal quiz or just a question of understanding the lesson. A student indicates they have a question by tapping an icon on their screen and the frame around the web-cam thumbnail on the teachers screen flashes. When the teacher wants to ask a specific student a question, they just tap the student's image."

After a laugh, Judith said, "It's very embarrassing to be caught sleeping or dozing off. In our classes everyone is on live TV. Sometimes the school's Dean will be auditing a class and announce a slacker. All it takes is a couple of those to get notoriety and a little detention. No one likes to type, "I will not sleep in class," a hundred or more times with 'spell checking' and the 'copy' and 'paste' functions disabled!"

Again Judith laughed. "It's a little hard for seventh graders to get used to the constant surveillance as they are the first grade where our laptops are used. Earlier grades have lots of computer experience and are trained to 'Touch Type' but as seventh grade begins, it's more intensive and controls the learning experience.

"I was caught early on ... many times ... nodding off in class. I was up to typing detention so often I reached the thousand mark before I learned my lesson."

John laughed with her. "Wow. That must have given you tired hands."

"Not only that. If you made a typing error on a line, it's automatically erased. You have to do it again, no backspacing either," she sighed. "I don't know who wrote that program for our Convent but it is a 'Ball Buster!' Each line has a counter and the detention supervisor determines what has to be typed.

"One time I was really bad and my punishment was, 'The Quick Brown Fox Jumped Over The Lazy Dog's Back.' You learn real quick how to type fast and accurately in our classes."

"Well, looks like you're finished," Sister Grace said.

Like before, John dried off her breasts, put on the breast pads and helped Judith back into her Page outfit. Then they were off to the hospital for his physical. John didn't know it but he was in for quite a few surprises.

They walked through the doorway under the sign, 'Examination Rooms, ' and up to the nurse's station. The Sister there told Page Judy, "Use room seven," as she handed over a folder full of paperwork.

"Over here," she told John and they were soon inside the appropriate room. All the normal things were there, he thought. "That exam table is going to be the death of me. I hate that annoying white paper that always sticks to my ass when I get up from sitting on it while the doctor examines me."

Page Judith had already started to remove his robe and he was quickly standing there naked. "Just sit there for a second while I look over things. Oh, this is interesting," she commented.

"What?"

"It says right here at the top ... You were BORN," she said with a wink. Adding, "Just kidding."

"Cute!"

"Nothing out of the ordinary," she noted as she flipped over the pages John remembered filling out for his medical history.

"Well, let's get started," Page Judy said and she reached for that little pointy viewer thing and poked it into each of his ears then up into his nose after changing the protective cap. Along with holding a tongue depressor in front of his mouth and the command, "Say Ahhh!" she looked at John's tonsils and mouth.

Setting down the viewer and tossing the depressor into a Red Container marked 'Contaminated' her hands came up to palpate his glands and throat. Tracing her hands up and down his arms she palpated them and felt his armpits too.