Unholy Stories by Carole David

Author:Carole David
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Short Stories
Publisher: Guernica Editions
Published: 2005-09-01T16:00:00+00:00

An Unholy Story

The girl’s name is Corinne Gilbert. Ever since grade school, she has dreamt of becoming a saint. She loves to look at pictures of Christ on the cross. And of his Sacred Heart! Her collection of holy pictures so impressed the nuns that they organized an exhibition for their protégée. In grade ten during Latin class, Sister Marie-Évariste singled out the girls most likely to don a novice’s robe. Corinne Gilbert was named a candidate.

She has been mutilating herself for some time now – wrists, feet, hair, sometimes even her eyelashes.

This aspect of pain fascinates her. She refuses the invitation that has been issued. She likes to model her behaviour on the lives of Saint Theresa of Avila, Catherine of Sienna and Kateri Tekakwitha whose village she visited the previous summer.

Her parents are unaware of her aversion to food. More than once, a charitable soul has picked her up in the bus or on the subway. When these special moments occur, she is ready for them. The heat rises up through her body and travels to her extremities. The effect, similar to a heroin hit, does not last. When the sensation lessens, her arms and legs fold and she collapses. She hates the changes that her body is undergoing: her roundness, her face attacked by acne, her smooth hair gone frizzy.

She vomits her breakfast in the garbage pails on the way to school. “I am thin and I have beautiful bones,” she repeats to herself as she walks, head high, towards the goal of perfection she has fixed for herself. God has spoken to her but she keeps it a secret. One evening, when she is out walking with her younger sister and dying of boredom, the miracle happens. After several calls placed here and there with different friends, she finally reaches Fred, a dealer.

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