My sister and I went to St. John’s elementary school in Greece, NY. It was a dour place with dark cavernous hallways and black-habited nuns who wore long black veils, smelled like a box of Kleenex and clicked like clocks when they walked because the oversized wooden rosary beads that hung from their waists rhythmically clicked with each step. They kind of sounded like the crocodile who ate the clock in Peter Pan. Tick-tock, tick-tock, you always knew where the nuns were, but it would also send a chill up your spine.
One of the nuns that taught me was Sister Clothilde. She was shaped like a dumpling and had a white doughy face with hands to match. The nuns were totally covered up by their habits, which were almost like a burkas, except their faces and hands were in full view. Everything else was covered in black, except for a halo of white starched cotton wrapped tightly around their heads and necks that also formed something like a bib on their chest. If a nun bent down towards you to help you with your schoolwork, you could see under the black veil and check out more closely this white tight-fitting head and neck gear. It always made us kids wonder: did she have hair? Was she bald? Have a crew cut? Did she wear this when she took a shower? Our imaginations went wild.
One of the nuns that taught me was Sister Clothilde. She was shaped like a dumpling and had a white doughy face with hands to match. The nuns were totally covered up by their habits, which were almost like a burkas, except their faces and hands were in full view. Everything else was covered in black, except for a halo of white starched cotton wrapped tightly around their heads and necks that also formed something like a bib on their chest. If a nun bent down towards you to help you with your schoolwork, you could see under the black veil and check out more closely this white tight-fitting head and neck gear. It always made us kids wonder: did she have hair? Was she bald? Have a crew cut? Did she wear this when she took a shower? Our imaginations went wild.