At its end, the century-old five-story building filled the horizon, despite the illusion of distance. Giulia felt as intimidated as Maria did in The Sound of Music when she first saw the von Trapp mansion. Funny, since this experience was the exact opposite. She was coming back to the convent instead of plunging into life on the outside. The stone walls looked the same as the last time. It’s only been eighteen months since you left the Community, dummy. What did you expect? Graffiti and psychedelic paint? She’d always liked how the ivy covering the walls shaded from gold to orange to cranberry to maroon in autumn. The farther she walked down the driveway, more present-day details clashed with her memories. That narrow window on the third floor marked her room after temporary vows, the limbo between the Novitiate and a full-fledged Sister of Saint Francis. The cupola should still be decorated with the “all for one and one for all” logo she and her fellow Novices painted on the underside of its roof one midnight.
