“I have arranged work and accommodation for you with a good friend of mine, whose husband owns a huge corporation. You will live and work in the city for one year, experience life, learn the hardships of working for a living and experience the joys of modern life. It will be difficult and something you will no doubt fight against, but if at the end of it your heart brings you back here, I will be waiting with a broad smile and outstretched arms to welcome you to thesisterhood. If you prefer to walk away, it will be with my blessing because, more than anything, your happiness is the most important thing to me.”
She turns to Alice and smiles. “Push away your fear, my child, and embrace the lesson you are about to learn.”
She reaches into her drawer and pulls out a brown envelope and slides it toward her.
“In here are your ID, some money to get by, and instructions on where to go when you get there. Your flight leaves in two days, and a car will arrive at six am to take you to the airport.”
Alice’s voice shakes as she whispers, “Where am I going?”
“New York.”
I stiffen as I gaze at her in shock.
“America?” Alice heaves a deep breath, and Sister Agatha nods.
“You will instruct the cab at the other end to take you to this address. They are expecting you.”
Once again, she rummages in her desk and pulls out a cell phone.
“Programmed inside this phone are two numbers. One is mine and the other belongs to my contact.”
She pulls out two more envelopes along with a further two phones and slides them across the desk to Tiffany and me.
“You will not all be making the same journey.”
The shock hits me hard, and I gasp as Tiffany cries out. “No!”
Sister Agatha’s eyes raise, and Tiffany splutters, “I can’t go alone. I need to be with my sisters.”
“No, you don’t.”
Sister Agatha’s voice hardens, which shocks me morethan the conversation because she is always so affable, sweet and kind. However, it’s obvious this occasion warrants a firm hand, and she is not shying away from that.
Her gaze is fixed on me.
“Rose, you are to travel to Washington, and Tiffany, you are heading to London, England.”
Tiffany sobs as her fingers close around the envelope, and my heart crashes against my ribcage as Alice gasps, “This is so wrong. We can’t be separated. It’s not, well, right.”
I am wondering why my own alarm is quickly being replaced with excitement, and as I struggle to breathe, a thousand visions are flooding my mind.
Freedom.
I will be free like the birds who soar high in the sky outside my window. I will breathe different air, and I will be unrestrained, and yet, like my sisters, my concern is more that I will be alone.
Sister Agatha shakes her head sadly.
“Girls, listen to me and listen hard because this is important.”
We fall silent, and she says gravely, “You cannot give your soul to God if you have no alternative to compare it with. He requires your full commitment with no regrets because this life is not an easy one. There are many sacrifices you must make to dedicate your life to the church, and it is my duty to make certain your choice is made from a free spirit. You have the phone; use it if you are worried about anything, but use it wisely.”
I’m not sure what she means by that, and her voice lowers an octave.
“There will be many temptations in the outside world. The devil will walk in the shadows with you, and you will be tested. One year is enough time to test your commitment,and it is in your best interests to do it alone with no help from your sisters.”
She takes a deep breath. “Which is why you will not speak for the entire time you are away. You will have no knowledge of where the other one is going, and their number will not be programmed into your phone. The cabs will take you to your destinations, but you will all share the same contact should you need to get a message to one another.”
My heart is heavy as I whisper, “Who is the contact, if I may ask, Sister Agatha?”
