Ignorance (2012)
“Her name was Jeanne: I clung to that. Could you miss someone you’d never met? Sometimes her absence felt solid as lentil purée, pressed on my heart like a weight on pâté. Sometimes she sneaked up, just behind me, blew on the back of my neck. I’d whisk round, trying to catch her, but she’d melt away on to the flagstones. I’d try to melt with her, but I’d be shaken back to life by Sister Dolorosa clapping her hands, snap out of it will you, and I’d lurch back into the convent kitchen, soapy scrub...bing-brush dripping suds down my skirt.
On the day of my Confirmation, when I was thirteen, Marie-Angèle Blanchard showed me a photograph of herself and my mother. The nuns left us alone together in the parlour while they went off to sing Compline: Andrée, you’re to keep your godmother company. Madame Blanchard said: we’ll have a little chat, won’t we, and you can tell me how you’re getting on.
She plucked out pictures from an envelope in her black leather handbag. Now, Andrée, which is which?MoreLess
On the day of my Confirmation, when I was thirteen, Marie-Angèle Blanchard showed me a photograph of herself and my mother. The nuns left us alone together in the parlour while they went off to sing Compline: Andrée, you’re to keep your godmother company. Madame Blanchard said: we’ll have a little chat, won’t we, and you can tell me how you’re getting on.
She plucked out pictures from an envelope in her black leather handbag. Now, Andrée, which is which?MoreLess
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