Emilia Bowden, 24 year old church girl

I look around when my vision clears, not sure if that really just happened. I didn't leap 50 feet and nothing seems to hurt. No one on the street seems to be acting strangely. An older man slips past me, grumbling something about the sidewalk being a stupid place to stop. Being the polite girl I am, I start walking toward my cathedral a few blocks down. But what the h-e-double hockey sticks just happened? My church dress seems fine. Not even a little singed. Could I really have just been hit by lightning? It doesn't seem possible. I do my best to shake it off.

I reach St. Magdalen's and put on my most pleasant smile. The cathedral is a big one, and the pride of the community. An old American Catholic church that I thought was the most beautiful thing in the world. I hurry in to the back office, where I find my favorite nun. "How are you today, Sophia?" I ask, formally. Sister Sophia was fairly new to the area, and new to being a nun. I think she's just took her final vows last year. She's a younger woman, probably less than a year older than I am, and had a very pretty face.

"Emilia!" she says, putting a box down. "You're just in time to help me dust the altar." She grins at me and my heart soars. I've been trying to impress her for a while. I know we're going to be friends.

We work on the dusting, which is absolutely a two person job. I've been volunteering here for most of my teenage and adult life, so I know the procedure better than her, and I'm trusted with all of the most sacred items. We talk about trivial things, I try to avoid asking about her past because I know it's a touchy subject. In truth, it is for a lot of nuns. Many of them have had hard lives leading up to this. Still, it seems that today curiosity gets the better of me. Blame my lack of tact on having been struck by lightning, I suppose.

"So, what made you decide to pick up the habit?" I asked.

"Oh, it's nothing strange. I was sick for a long time and God helped me through it. I promised Him that if I got better I'd give him the rest of my life." She polishes some of the gold, seemingly unoffended.

"I'm glad He saw you through that. Are you fully recovered?" I ask. She's never shown signs of being sick.

"Oh yes, I really am fine. Occasional soreness in my joints, but I almost never feel it unless it's going to rain."

"I'm very glad. That's a pretty tame story compared to some of the other's I've heard. I heard, and don't tell anyone I said this, that Sister Rita joined up because she thought Father Liam was hot." Now, I'm not sure why I said that. I had always thought that Rita had a thing for him, but no one had told me anything like that.

"No!" Sophia says, giggling.

"Haven't you seen the way she looks at him?" I add, encouraged. "I'm not saying she's broken any vows, but she sure looks like she wants to, doesn't she?"