The Reception Room

This postcard story is given in its entirety. This is the reception room where I had my first interview with the Mother Superior before entering the convent where I subsequently spent 16 years. The sisters now have a new convent so this is a story that has historical significance. The building is now being used as a Roman Catholic school.
"The reception room was small. It was no more than a bulge at the end of a corridor, for it was here that the original grey stone house connected to the red brick addition by means of a second door. The fireplace with its marble surround cried out for the crackle of logs; and each tick of the brass domed clock on the carved mantle piece held a moment of waiting, as if the room longed for its earlier life.
The window seat, now a shelf for potted African violets in colors of white through pink to deep purple, called for the long forgotten chintz-covered cushions. The oak-paneled wall seemed to anticipate the imminent return of family photographs, while it fulfilled its temporary duty as backdrop to a wooden crucifix and a portrait of the Mother Foundress.
I sat on one of the chairs, their needlepoint seats and backs reminiscent of days gone by, and awaited my appointment with the Mother Superior. The hardwood floor beneath my feet drummed the footsteps of long dead patients, for this had been a doctor’s house. The patients’ ghosts released hundreds of butterflies satisfying their search of a home by invading my stomach."

Kodak Image

Kodak Image is my second short story in Part 2 of Welsh Cakes: Book of Short Stories. As the title indicates, there is a photo at the heart of this story. It is in the genre of romance, with our protagonist living on the west coast of Canada where she meets the man of her dreams. When he leaves the area, our main character follows him, first to Ottawa, the capital of Canada, and then venturing to the rugged mining north of Ontario where she loses the love of her life. She returns to Ottawa where she leaves the world for convent life--she leaves the world but takes the photograph of Pierre with her. She cannot forget him and eventually leaves the convent, returning to the world and to the Province of British Columbia where her romance first began. She marries the doctor in whose office she worked as a nurse all those years ago. She marries the doctor, works for him, but still holds on to the Kodak Image of the one she cannot let go from her heart.

Holy Clothes

This is the ninth and last story about Gwen in Part One of Welsh Cakes: Book of Short Stories. It is about Gwen as a young adult who longs to give herself completely to God and enters a convent. Thes story shows her desire to be a holy person and the struggle she goes through to live the life she thinks God wants from her. Wearing the nun's black habit makes her look holy and assists her in her aspirations. We see Gwen through her postulancy and novitiate years; into her temporary and then her final vows. Her struggles continue and she must decide whether it is God's will for her to live in these cloistered walls, or whether she should leave and find a means to holiness elsewhere. Why not buy the book to find out what she decides.

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Canada available by contacting author at info@judithlawrence.ca