In This Small Spot Read Online Free PDF

hurried over to
her.
    “Look at your hands,” she commanded. Mickey
looked down to see that her hands were smudged with dirt from the
paper wrapping on the roll she had been carrying. “You cannot touch
silk with hands like that.” She groaned as she laid out a length of
embroidered scarlet cloth on one of the worktables. “It will take
us days to get these clean.”
    “I’m sorry,” Mickey repeated.
    “Why did you come in that door?” the nun
asked crossly.
    “Sister Lucille asked me to bring this,”
Mickey said, pointing to the roll. “I didn’t know any other way
here.”
    The nun took a deep breath, controlling her
irritation with great effort. “I will take care of this mess. You
may go.”
    Mickey nodded and reached for the door
through which she had entered.
    “No!”
    Mickey turned.
    “That way.” The nun pointed to a wooden
stair Mickey hadn’t noticed in the excitement.
    “Yes, Sister,” Mickey said. Behind her, she
could hear the other nun grumbling. “You’re welcome, too,” Mickey
said under her breath.
    She climbed the steep wooden stairs,
glancing back at the nun who now had a small brush and was
carefully whisking the scarlet cloth. Exiting the vestment room,
Mickey found herself in an unfamiliar set of corridors. After a few
minutes’ wandering, and a couple of wrong turns, she began to
recognize where she was and hurried back toward the refectory which
was now empty except for Jessica who was waiting with a plate.
    “Oh, thank you,” Mickey said gratefully as
she bowed her head for a quick grace and sat to eat.
    “What happened?” Jessica asked. “Where have
you been?”
    Quickly, in between bites, Mickey told
her.
    “I wondered,” said Jessica.
    “What?”
    “About Father Andrew. Whether he ever had
visitors,” Jessica said. “It must be so lonely for him. At least we
have each other.”
    “Well, that old nun, Sister Linus, is
certainly protective of him,” Mickey said. “But she’s nothing
compared to the other one, the one in the vestment room.”
    “Sister Anselma,” Jessica said, nodding.
    “How do you know these things?” Mickey asked
her.
    Jessica shrugged. “I just listen. The other
sisters say she’s like some kind of genius in there, with the
weaving and artwork, but… difficult,” she said tactfully.
    Mickey snorted. “That was very edifyingly
said.”

 
    Chapter 5
    Mickey stirred in the early morning light.
She rolled over in bed, and heard the shower in the bathroom next
door. Closing her eyes, she drifted off to sleep again until, “Wake
up, sleepy,” she heard in her ear.
    Smiling, she said, “Mmmm, you smell good.”
She could feel Alice’s soft lips on her forehead, her cheeks, her
mouth.
    “Come on,” Alice murmured. “Time to get
up.”
    “Oh,” Mickey groaned. “Do I have to? I
didn’t get home until two.”
    “I know,” Alice said sympathetically. “But
Christopher is counting on us. We’re in charge of the cookies after
Mass today.”
    “Oh,” Mickey groaned again. “I’m sorry. I
was supposed to help you bake them.”
    Alice yanked the covers away. “Luckily, I
figured you wouldn’t get home in time to help, so I baked six
dozen.”
    “Ummm, not anymore,” Mickey said, sitting up
on the edge of the bed, her hair sticking up in a bad case of
bedhead. “I ate three oatmeal cookies when I got home last
night.”
    “That was probably your dinner,” Alice
said.
    “Yeah. It was. Thanks.”
    Thirty minutes later, Alice was loading
Tupperware containers full of cookies into Mickey’s hands to carry
out to the car. When they got to St. Matthew’s, the side door to
the rectory was standing open.
    “Good morning,” beamed the large, burly man
standing there.
    “Hey, Christopher,” Mickey returned. Without
asking, she popped open the lid on the container holding the peanut
butter cookies.
    Looking around guiltily, Christopher took
two, popping one whole cookie into his mouth. “To keep my energy
levels up, you