(photo by Doris Ullman, 1930)
A nun entered the convenience store. The clerk on duty quickly hid his hard core porno magazine.
She glimpsed it before it went under the counter. Inwardly, she cursed her curiosity. Trying to weed out one’s interest in sex, she thought, is like trying to find zebras under a microscope. Once again, the colors of her habit made her think of zebras, not the penguins of cliché. She pictured a stampede of tiny zebras on a slippery glass strip, a doctor finding zebras in a teardrop.
She bought band-aids, Ben Gay, and Gatorade.
Her mind filled with things miscellaneous: pyramids and ceiling fans, tattoos and powdered wigs, fists and French kisses. The porn glimpse had triggered her imagination.
As she passed through the front door she saw the cover of a tabloid, with the photo of a frat boy in a wedding dress beneath the words, PLEDGE STUNTS. She silently thanked God they hadn’t made him wear a habit. Then she smiled, despite herself, at that last image.
In her mind, to chastise her, a mushroom cloud appeared behind the crosses three on Calvary.
Some fears are bigger than God.
-- © 2010 by Jack Veasey
All rights reserved. This work may not be reproduced or duplicated in any manner without the author's written permission.
I enjoyed this one! "Trippy" in that ex-Catholic kind of way.
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