by June Ahern
A hard punch to his chest forced him to back off a bit. But he was full of mischief and yelled loudly, “She’s gonna put a spell on me! The witches are eating me! Eeww.” He relentlessly kept his dialogue aimed at June, “What color is my underwear?!”
June stood up, collected her cards off the bench and shouted at him, “Brown all around!”
The girls clapped and laughed at June’s comeback. The boys started to boo. Eddie leaned far back into a pitching position. With a mighty thrust he came forward, throwing the basketball hard at June. Mary caught the ball midway with both hands and kept a firm hold of it. She would not let it loose, no matter how fierce the struggle between her and Eddie became. The two careened crazily together in circles, eventually falling smack onto June, who scrambled to get out from beneath them, dropping her cards.
Eddie finally saw his opportunity to win the battle. He picked up some of the fallen cards and crushed them in his fist. “Whadda ya gonna do now?” he said taunting the sisters.
June’s shrieks were frighteningly piercing. The kids backed away. Sobbing, she screamed, “No! No! My cards! I hate you! I hate you!” She furiously flailed her fists, hitting him in the face and head.
He punched back, hitting June hard on a cheek.
Trying to get to her little sisters, Maggie pushed kids aside, punching them out of the way if need be. Mary had fallen down, pummeling a few boys and taking them down with her. Scared of Maggie’s strength and anger, some of the boys scattered away as fast as they could.
Across the schoolyard, Annie sat with two girls, their books opened between them on the bench. She looked up at the ruckus and saw her sisters in the middle of it. The yard duty nun also saw the commotion and started across the yard in hot pursuit of the perpetrators. Out of the corner of her eye, Annie saw the nun as a flash of flying robes. She jumped up so quickly that her book banged to the ground. “My sisters need me,” she told her schoolmates.
Dashing across the yard faster than a yearling colt in a summer green pasture, Annie reached June before the nun arrived. She slapped Eddie’s face and took possession of the crumpled cards in his hands.
“Get out of here Gallagher, before I really hurt you,” she warned him.
He didn’t want to mess with this MacDonald. Annie may have been the quietest of the sisters, but she packed a mean full-fisted punch. He backed off, rubbing his face.
Annie shoved the remaining cards into Mary’s lunch bag. “Here, give me those,” she said to the sobbing June.
Her little sister held forth the crumpled torn cards, but not before she attempted to smooth out the damage.
Annie saw the nun getting perilously close. Her heart started beating loudly, awaiting the confrontation. Just then she heard a cheery voice calling the nun, “Sister! Yoo-hoo! Could you help me over here?”
Then Sister Noel waved at the nun, indicating for her to come to the opposite side of the yard. The nun stopped and stood for a moment, with indecision about which problem had more importance. The group of children was dispersing and the scene appeared calmer, so she turned toward Sister Noel.
Maggie rushed up to Annie and June. She was breathless from punching and pinching anyone she deemed may be guilty.
“Why did you let her do this? You know this will only bring her trouble, don’t you?” Annie said, her cool blue eyes boring into Maggie’s defiant face.
Chastised, Maggie pushed out a hip with her hand on it. A rising welt on June’s face caught Maggie’s eye. Guiltily, she said, “I’m just helping her be popular.”
Mary swaggered over, feeling good that she fought so well. She was ready to brag, but Annie gave her a dirty look.
Puzzled, Mary asked, “What? What’d I do? They started it.”
Annie turned her back on them. June kept sniffling, holding the bag with the cards. The school bell rang loudly to announce that lessons were to resume for the afternoon. Girls and boys began to line up.
“Don’t bring those cards to school anymore,” Annie said to June. “I won’t be able to help you stay out of trouble after I graduate in a couple of months. You can’t count on those two to keep you safe.” She nodded backward at their sisters who were tagging along behind them.
“It doesn’t matter what I do. They hate me here. I’m not like them,” June muttered.
“Well, try to fit in better. You should pray to God and ask Him to help you be a better person. Okay?” Annie didn’t see June shake her head “No.”
Mary bounced the basketball she had won from Eddie. Each bounce was a taunt to his ego. She eyed him glaring at her as he stood in the boys’ line, still smarting from his loss.
“You’ll never get boys to like you if you act like that,” said Maggie, tossing her ponytail around as three eighth-grade boys walked by smiling at her. She returned the gesture sweetly.
Mary rolled her eyes at her sister’s flirtatious ways. “Acting like what?” she asked.
“Like a boy,” Maggie answered. She walked away with her friend Loretta.
Hearing what Maggie had said, June turned to look at Mary. From her look, June knew her sister had been hurt by Maggie’s insult. As she walked past the basketball hoop, Mary threw the ball at the hoop from a decent distance, making the basket. She looked to see if anyone had seen her successful accomplishment. Eddie was staring at her. June saw the interaction. She also saw a soft pink light travel between the dueling duo.
* * * * *
Chapter 21
KINDRED SOULS
THE LONG LINE of children freed for the day from the containment of classrooms at Holy Savior snaked through the hallway, moving silently and slowly out of the building. The nuns herded them and kept the lines orderly until each row reached the opposite ends of Diamond Street. As soon as the students reached their destinations, they broke free from their restricted lines. Happy voices ricocheted along the street.
June’s woolen sweater was yanked back as she attempted to exit the classroom unnoticed. “You, Miss MacDonald, downstairs to the principal’s office,” Sister St. Pius snarled as she kept a tight hold of the sweater. “She’s expecting you. And tell your mother to contact me.”
“But, my sisters are waiting,” June answered back.
“Now!” the little nun commanded before turning her attention to some unruly boys in the back of the line.
Heavy footed, June stomped all the way down the stone steps to the Mother Superior’s office, fuming at the unfairness of the nun as well as the earlier incident with Eddie Gallagher. But worry replaced her anger. Ever since her mother had started a part time job at Cliff’s Variety Store on Castro Street, she was supposed to walk home with her sisters. Each of the girls pitched in with the household chores and had to help with starting dinner before their parents came home from work. And now her sisters would be mad at her again. She was consoled knowing her pal, Brian, would wait at the park next to Holy Savior to walk her home.
With most of the students gone for the day, the school’s hallways were calm and quiet. June sat on a smooth wooden bench outside Mother Superior’s office listening to the plinking of piano keys coming from the music room across the hall. The tune that was hesitantly repeated, grated on her nerves. Trying to sooth the erratic fluttering of butterflies in her stomach, her fingers rose up and down on her lap as though it was she who was playing the piano.
She tried to not let her mind wander to her pending meeting with the principal. Mother Superior, who was stern enough, had lately become impatient with June’s attitude and had insisted on bringing Cathy into the office for several meetings. Her mother always believed what the nuns said. She would take their side, agreeing that her daughter was wrong to interrupt with pesky questions during religious studies. Although June continued to take the punishment, she would not submit to the nuns’ stance that she was wrong for not accepting certain religious practices without question. When she questioned her second grade teacher about why it was that only boys could serve with the priest at Mass, the nun g
ave her no meaningful answer. Instead, out of irritation, the nun gave June a hard poke on top of the head with a long sharp fingernail. Thinking of how mean the nuns were to her, she squeezed her eyes and small mouth shut. She imagined how she’d like to get even with them. She giggled, not caring if her images were naughty.
Sister Noel, humming softly, walked past the office, her long black robe and brown rosary beads swaying with each step. June pretended she didn’t notice her. With arms filled with books, Sister Noel sat next to the gloomy student. The sister playfully tapped June’s foot with her shoe, hoping for a smile. The freckled face with vivid blue eyes looked at the nun, unsmiling.
She placed the books on the floor and patted June’s clenched fists. The little girl stared down at the highly polished tiles on the floor. Slowly, the nun’s gentle touch eased June’s anger.
She opened her small hands and held them up in a questioning gesture, asking, “Why can’t I be a good Catholic?” The nun had no ready answer. The girl spoke again in a quavering voice, “I don’t want to burn in hell.”
“Oh, June, please. Sister St. Pius really didn’t mean that,” Sister Noel answered.
“Sister, I’ve got a secret,” the girl whispered. Sister Noel sat quietly, giving the girl time to reveal what was bothering her. June looked furtively around the hallway for prying ears. Seeing no movement or hearing anything other than the painful piano lesson, she surmised it was safe to reveal her secret.
“I know things about people. Even if they don’t tell me, I just know. I can’t stop the voices telling me things. Annie says I’m not crazy. I’m just unusual. She says to keep it a secret from the grown-ups.”
“I know how keeping secrets can become a heavy burden to bear,” Sister Noel said. “Do you feel better, telling me your secret?”
June nodded “yes,” thinking that this pretty young nun could be her friend. “I’m scared. Please, what will happen to me? Will I have to stop being a Catholic?”
“Would that be a terrible thing for you?” Sister asked.
Looking downhearted, June shrugged and revealed more of her dilemma. “Daddy wouldn’t let me live at home anymore. He told me only good girls could stay. Oh Sister, I really, really wish I wasn’t so bad.”
Sister leaned closely to June as though they were having a clandestine meeting. “I understand. You’re not a bad girl or a bad Catholic. You’re just different in your thinking. And you speak your mind, too.”
The woman’s closeness, along with the light, fresh scent of dusting powder, encouraged June to relax. She took in a deep breath and her eyelids dropped, partially closing.
“You’re different like me, Sister. You get in trouble too, don’t you?” June whispered.
In a surprisingly throaty laugh, Sister Noel said, “Oh yes, I do. And I did a lot when I was a little girl like you.”
June leaned back to look up at the nun’s gentle face. With eyes wide with wonderment at hearing Sister’s secret, June exclaimed, “Bad girls can become nuns?”
Sister Noel laughed and encircled June with both arms, drawing her close. They stayed in the embrace, breathing softly in unison.
June’s question was so quiet that Sister almost missed it, “Do you dream that you can fly?”
“I used to when I was a kid. I did fly over here from my home which is far, far away.”
“Oh! Is that where you had Meise?” June asked.
The nun pulled back and looked down in amazement at the child’s innocent face. “You can see that?” she asked.
June grinned, happy that she was free to show off her ability to know things about people. Matter-of-factly, the girl said, “You miss Meise, don’t you?”
“I had a dog named Meise in Africa that I had to leave behind when I came here. Yes, I miss my Meise very much. But, tell me, how did you get that image?”
Excited to share her special gift, June explained as though she were teaching Sister about her abilities. “Well, I can see it in my head like a picture. I know more. You’re going to fly back home again and have another Meise.”
Sister Noel sat quietly, no longer smiling.
Not wanting to lose their connection, June took the nun’s hand. “I wish I could fly with you,” she said.
Neither heard the Mother Superior approach, but there she stood, frowning down at them. She pursed her colorless lips and said, crisply, “Sister Noel, aren’t you in charge of dinner tonight?”
The young nun’s eyes widened in surprise at being caught hugging a student––especially one waiting for reprimands. Regaining her composure, she said, “Yes, Mother. I am, but June’s upset and I…”
Mother Superior’s long thin hand slashed the air, ceasing further conversation with her subordinate. “Miss MacDonald, come along. Quickly now.” The principal turned swiftly on the heels of her black leather shoes and walked into her office.
The young nun laid a hand on top of June’s mass of unruly curls. “Be brave.”
The colorful buttons at Cliff’s Variety store circled in front of Maggie when she turned on the conveyer belt that was used to display the huge assortment. Casually, she examined the buttons while waiting for her mother. The four large brick-red buttons coming toward her would be perfect for the black bandstand skirt her mother was making her for her upcoming thirteenth birthday. She wanted to wear it for her debut on “Dance Party,” the popular new television show for teenagers in San Francisco. For a moment she became lost in the variety of colors and styles, until she caught her mother’s disapproving look from across the room.
Cathy was annoyed at her daughter for coming into the shop while she was working, not wanting her first job away from home to be a failure. She surprised Maggie by switching off the conveyer belt.
“Why aren’t you at home getting dinner ready?” she asked in a hushed voice just as the shop owner, Ernie, walked by and merrily greeted Maggie. Nervous, Cathy started to apologize about her daughter being there but he walked on.
Maggie reassured her mother that everything at home was under control. Casually, she said, “Call the principal right away. It’s about June.”
“Oh, for the love of God. Not again! Now what?” Cathy hissed through her clenched teeth. She looked down, smoothed out some material and grimaced as though she had an attack of indigestion.
Maggie had been unanimously voted the best one to present June’s case to their mother. The girl’s convincing smile and confident attitude seemed to intone that all problems had an answer.
“Take it easy, Mom. We wanted you to know before Daddy found out. Anyway, it isn’t June’s fault. It’s that old crabby nun.” As an afterthought, she added, “Even I got in trouble with St. Pius.”
“That’s true,” Cathy murmured.
Maggie was a very well-liked girl, both with the nuns and the students. The problem between Sister St. Pius and Maggie had begun when the nun accused her of being indecent for putting on lipstick at lunchtime. The girl denied the allegations. The Mother Superior had to intervene to stop the Sister’s unfair punishment of Maggie.
“What’d she do now?” Cathy said, keeping her voice low and fidgeting with the lace doilies on the counter.
Making light of the situation, Maggie said, “Oh, Mom, St. Pius made it sound like it was a mortal sin. June was just saying that in our family we pray to God’s Mother, too. Something simple like that. She’s just an old nutty woman.”
“Be respectful of the nuns, Maggie,” Cathy said.
The nuns can be too strict at times, Cathy agreed inwardly, although she still had an undying respect for the religious women. She shooed Maggie out of the store, promising to stop by to talk to the principal before coming home. She also promised to buy the big red buttons for Maggie’s skirt.
After her daughter left, Cathy went back to work, distracting her mind from June’s problems at school. She wished she had never let June play with the tarot cards, which she felt were the beginning of the problems. If she had been a better mother, as Jimmy
reminded her, she would have squelched June’s interest in the occult and demanded her daughter stop telling upsetting stories about her angel and dead people.
Nervously, Cathy rearranged a display while trying to work up enough confidence to ask to leave early and meet with the principal. Just then she looked up to see Mother Superior coming down the main aisle of the store with her hands folded inside her black robes. The nun’s long thin face with its high cheekbones and deep-set steely, gray eyes had a regal look. The patrons and salespeople greeted her warmly. Many of them had children at Holy Savior.
The Mother Superior paused to talk briefly with each person as she slowly made her way across the floor to Cathy.
“Good afternoon, Mrs. MacDonald. Do you have a moment?”
The two walked toward the back of the store as if seeking a particular item. When they reached an area out of earshot of everyone, the nun stopped and stood in front of several bolts of material. A rush of embarrassment spread across Cathy’s cheeks as though she were the bad schoolgirl.
The nun spoke with a low, gentle voice. “I didn’t want to inconvenience you in the evening at home. I am confident we can settle this matter about June without it escalating any further.”
As was customary for conversations with Mother Superior, this meeting was short and to the point. Mother told Cathy, “If June is to continue at Holy Savior, she must learn to not challenge her teachers on Catholicism any more, for it is disruptive and disrespectful. For her punishment, June is to stay after school every day for the next week to clean the blackboards. She is to offer an apology to Sister St. Pius. She will also spend her recess time with Sister Noel for an extra Catechism lesson.”
The nun did not divulge that it was Sister Noel who had presented a convincing plea for June, arguing that perhaps the third grader was a bit confused about the teachings of Catholicism.
At the conclusion of the conversation, Cathy gave her word that her daughter would behave properly and do whatever was necessary to remain in the school.
