Everyone has left the house as usual.   I am lying on my stomach feeling miserable and hoping that this is the last day for the vile poultice on my back.

Someone is coming.  I wonder who.  I sit up on my bed.  Mother Superior comes in the door.   Close behind her is Amelia.  There is another nun, but she stands outside.

Suddenly I see how squalid the house is.  How pitiful I must look.  I can die from shame right there.

Amelia says don’t be ashamed, Doreen, we lived like this when we were in Indochina.

I don’t remember the rest of their short visit.   I only remember that everything changed.  There were no promises and no motivational sermons.   They were just there, just long enough.

Somehow, I feel connected again.