Late Nights in Pink Heaven

This is Our Lady Academy, a boarding school for girls in Manteno starting in 1907 that eventually evolved into a public school by 1968. It had a lengthy era of being a high school for girls between 1919 and 1956 before it closed down and became a public school.

“The passion play is next Saturday!” cried Pat, her nightgown skirt gracefully floating as she twirled and then fell on the couch. 

      “Ive never been in a play before,” said Gene, tying up her braids.  “I hope I can portray a Roman soldier and disciple well enough.”

      “I have,” I said, “been in a play, that is.”  I was trying not to look at them but at the pillows that garnished the couches in our Pink Heaven, just one of the many rooms in Our Lady Academy’s stout brick building. The windows showed the last of March’s snow flurries as even during the Easter holidays, Spring was far too timid to show itself until mid-April. But Pink Heaven was a safe haven for us high school girls at Our Lady Academy and had kept us warm and comfortable during the worst of that semester’s storms.

      The way I remember it, that evening was most likely one of the last times the three of us would sit in here together.  The rest of my graduating class of seven were off studying for their upcoming tests.  But we three were the naughty ones tonight who wanted to stay up late and simply relive our fondest memories of Our Lady Academy.  This was its high school’s last year and fittingly, our last as well. “I’m really going to miss this place. I never thought it would end this soon, high school I mean.”  I finally looked up at them, hoping for compassion.

      “I do hope we enjoy ourselves,” said Pat, taking both my hands in hers and squeezing. “Who are you all inviting to the passion play?”

      “Just a few family members,” I replied.

      “Me too.  And…my boyfriend,” Gene peeped.

      Pat gasped.  “Gene, you’ve got a boyfriend?  I never took you for the type.  But that’s swell anyhow!  We should go on a double-date together sometime.  You got anyone special Martha?”

      I shook my head.  “No.  Just inviting my family.”  I said it a bit louder this time, hoping they heard me over the wind. “You ever wonder what it’s like to be a nun, like one of the sisters here?  I’ve thought about it—only a little mind you, but who knows what my future holds.”

    Pat only laughed her voice light and airy as if she had to convince the people around her that she really was laughing. “I love the sisters who serve here, don’t get me wrong but I could never grow up to be one of them.  That kind of responsibility is just not for me.”

      Gene raised a shy finger but I pretended not to notice when Pat kept talking.

      “Remember the time when you asked if you could stay over at my house for the week-end and Sister Sebastian asked you all those strange questions before you could stay?  Almost like she was interrogating you?”

      I laughed with her.  “That was because your mother asked her to.  I really don’t think your mother likes me.”

      “Well, Sister Sebastian did not have to ask such personal questions.”

      I giggled and then turned back to Gene.  “What were you going to say, Gene?”

      “Um, I was going to say that I love the sisters too but they’re all just too good and faithful.  I could never hope to be like any of them.”  She then burst out laughing.

      “What?” I asked.

      “One of the questions she asked…remember?  It was whether or not you brushed your teeth.”  Both Gene and Pat were snorting laughs now.  I couldn’t tell if the joke was directed at me or Sister Sebastian but it was still very amusing in the moment as I laughed along with them. 

I thought about the sisters and my place in the world after high school late into the night. If I were to be a nun, I would strive to be angelically righteous which would take plenty of patience.  But who knows? Maybe being a maiden of heaven here on earth just won’t suit me in the long run.  Whatever path God sees fit for me to walk is the one I shall walk.  For now, I was a maiden of our private high school room: Pink Heaven.