Novella: Sister Aloysius Beauvier’s Mortal Sin, Chapter: 10 Questions In The Taxonomy of Sin
Title: Sister Aloysius Beauvier’s Mortal Sin
Chapter: Ten, Questions In The Taxonomy of Sin
Author: halfsquat (aka Half Squire)
Fandom: Doubt
Pairing: Sister Aloysius/ Sister James
Rating: PG 13
Genre: Romance/Drama/Suspense
Spoilers: Doubt
Disclaimer: All characters from Doubt belong to their creators. I claim no ownership and intend no copyright infringement. Everything unrelated to Doubt and all divergence from their script is my doing. Much of the dialogue comes directly from the script.
***
“Sister Aloysius Beauvier’s Mortal Sin”
a fan fiction novella
by Half Squire
inspired by the film Doubt,
and, respectfully, drawn heavily from it
***
Chapters:
I. The Dragon Is Hungry
II. My Concerns Are My Own
III. Candy, By Another Name
IV. Farther From God
V. Doubt Presses Her To The Bed
VI. Cat, Kitten, Rat
VII. The Cat And The Kitten
VIII. A Serpent In The Garden
XI. Caged
X. Questions Of Taxonomy
XI. Madonnas
***
X. Questions In The Taxonomy Of Sin
***
The snow of winter has become lazy. Outside, there is a downpour. The skies are gray, like a sullen she-peacock. Only spats of dull blue and purple lash through the heavy clouds. Sister Aloysius is returning from her meeting with Donald Miller's mother. With a solitary hand, she grips her stomach, as rolling nausea rips through it. Rain drips over the dark brim of her bonnet. She had gotten caught in the rain; her habit is heavier from the moisture. Pulling off her damp shawl, she places it on a nearby coat rack. Water pitters into the room; her office window is open; she starts to walk towards it. Flynn appears in the archway of her door.
"May I come in?"
"A third party would be required," she says dismissively. She continues towards the window.
"Yeah," he acknowledges, but edges into the room. "What was Donald’s mother doing here?"
"We were having a chat."
"About what?"
"A third party would truly be required, Father. Why-" Flynn closes the door behind him. Sister Aloysius stiffens.
"No, Sister. No third party." The storm rises up into a heightened rage outside, then subsides. "You and me are due for a talk. You have to stop this campaign against me!" His face is purpling with the exertion of taming his temper.
"You can stop it at any time." He walks towards her.
"How?" His stepping falters.
"Confess and resign."
"You are attempting to destroy my reputation!" A gale of wind bites through the window, shakes a desk's papers about and onto the floor. Holding the hem of her habit from the floor, Aloysius rushes to the window. Shutting the window, she flips the blinds open to let the dim light in.
"Who keeps opening my window?" she curses to the window, then, with venom, turns to Flynn. "What are you doing in this school?"
"I’m trying to do good!"
"Even more to the point, what are you doing in the priesthood?" To retrieve the scattered papers, Sister Aloysius goes to her knees. The papers are leopard-spotted with rain from the floor.
"You are single-handedly holding this school and this parish back!" Flailing an arm, he stands over her.
"From what?" she asks, peering up with scorn.
"Progressive education and a welcoming Church.
"You can’t distract me, Father. This is not about my behavior, it’s about yours."
"No, this is about your unfounded suspicions."
"That’s right." Shaking slightly, she gathers the papers. "I have suspicions."
"Just leave that," he spits, gesturing at the documents. "It’s not important."
"I will decide what’s important." Her voice is a hiss.
"Why," exasperation latches onto his voice, forces it to rise. "Why do you suspect me? What have I done?"
"You gave that boy wine, and you let him take the blame," she replies bitterly.
"That’s completely untrue! Did you talk to Mr. McGuinn?"
"All McGuinn knows is that the boy drank wine. He doesn’t know how he came to drink it." Taut lips pull back to reveal a snarl.
"Did his mother have something to add to that?"
"No," she lies.
"So that’s it."
"I am not satisfied." Aloysius rises, places the wet papers onto her desk with a slam of her fist.
"Ask the boy then!"
"Oh, he’d protect you."
"Why would he do that?"
"Because you have seduced him." Her hand waves in the air, frustrated with it.
"You’re insane! You’ve got it in your head that I’ve corrupted this child after giving him wine, and nothing I say will change that."
"That’s right." Glowering, she bores holes into his head.
"But this has nothing to do with the wine. Not really. You had a fundamental mistrust of me before this incident! It was you that warned Sister James to be on the lookout, wasn’t it?"
"That’s true."
"So you admit it!"
"Certainly."
"Why?"
"I know people."
"That’s not good enough!"
"It won’t have to be."
"How’s that?"
"You will tell me what you have done!"
"Oh I will?" the light bulb overhead blows out.
"Out again!" Aloysius says, pointing upward.
"Sister James isn't so convinced of my guilt."
"Oh, so you talked to Sister James?" Snidely, she eyes him, then mutters to herself. "Well, of course you talked to Sister James." From toe to head, she tenses. Flynn sees it.
"Did you know that Donald’s father beats him?"
"Yes."
"And might that not account for the odd behavior Sister James noticed in the boy?"
"It might."
"Then what is it? What? What did you hear, what did you see that convinced you so thoroughly?"
"What does it matter?"
"It matters! What does it matter? I want to know." Sister Aloysius rises and goes to a window.
"Out this window" A pause. "I saw you grab William London’s wrist...and I saw him pull away," she says quietly.
"Are you serious?"
"I am."
"That’s all?"
"Yeah. That was all."
"That’s nothing!" He sits at her desk, writes in his book. Rain pounds its little fists against the windows.
"What are you doing now?"
"I’m writing down what you say. It might be important when I have to explain why you have to be removed." Aloysius's eyes grow wide, then narrow with calcuation.
"This morning," she says, then pauses, gathering her words, "before I spoke with Mrs. Miller, I took the precaution of calling your last parish."
"What’d he say?"
"Who?"
"The Pastor."
"I did not speak to the Pastor. I spoke to a nun."
"You should have spoken to the Pastor," he reprimands crossly.
"I spoke to a nun," she replies smugly.
"You know that’s not the proper route for you to have taken, Sister! The Church is very clear. You’re supposed to go through the Pastor."
"Why? You have an understanding, you and he?" Her lip curls.
"No, you have no right to go rummaging through my past!" His hands flail, he drops his ballpoint pen.
"You have a history. This is your third parish in five years. Why?" she asks pointedly. She begins to pace the room.
"Call the Pastor. Ask him why I left! It’s perfectly innocent."
"I’m not calling the Pastor."
"I’m a good priest!"
"You will go after another child and another child, until you are stopped."
"What nun did you speak to?"
"I won’t say."
"I’ve not touched a child."
"You have."
"You haven’t the slightest proof of anything."
"But I have my certainty, and armed with that, I will go to your last parish, and the one before that if necessary. I’ll find a parent. Trust me, Father Flynn, I will."
"You have no right to act on your own! You have taken vows, obedience being one! You answer to us! You have no right to step outside the church!"
"I will step outside the church if that’s what needs to be done, till the door should shut behind me!" She pulls her rosary from her habit's loop for it.
"I will do what needs to be done, though I’m damned to Hell!" During last, she brandishes rosary and then slams it down on a nearby table. "You should understand that, or you will mistake me. Now, did you give Donald Miller wine to drink?"
"Have you never done anything wrong?" He asks. His eyes spark with knowledge.
"I have," her eyes, downcast, but they return fiery.
"A mortal sin?"
"Yes."
"And?"
"I confessed it, Father!"
"Then whatever I have done, I have left in the healing hands of my confessor. As have you! We are the same! In more ways than one."
"No, we are not! We are not the same!" she yells, the mutters. "A dog that bites is a dog that bites." Her voice rises. "Did you give Donald Miller wine?"
"No."
"Mental reservation?"
"No."
"You lie. Very well then. If you will not leave my office, I will. And once I go, I will not stop." She goes to the door. Suddenly, a new tone comes into his voice.
"Wait! I can’t say everything, you understand? There’s things I can’t say. Even if you can’t imagine the explanation, Sister, remember there are things beyond your knowledge. Even if you feel certainty, it is an emotion, not a fact."
"You will request a transfer, and take a leave of absence until it’s granted."
"You’d leave me nothing?"
"It’s Donald Miller who has nothing, and you took full advantage of that.
"I’ve done nothing wrong. I care about that boy."
"Why? ‘Cause you smile at him and you sympathize with him, and you talk to him as if you were the same? You are a cheat. And that warm feeling you experienced, when that boy looked at you with trust, was not the sensation of virtue. That could be got by any drunkard with his tot of rum."
"And what of that warm feeling you experienced? When that Sister James looked at you with lust? That was not the sensation of virtue!" Sister Aloysius blanches. Flynn grins in triumph. "It was Sister James wasn't it? The one you confessed about. You've seduced her, haven't you? She's half your age! I hadn't been sure, but I can see it in your eyes, Sister. I can fight you." Through his tirade, her eyes narrow. Her arms cross.
"You will lose."
"Where’s your compassion?"
"Nowhere you can get at it." The clouds hustle away. Sunlight illuminates the office. "Stay here. Compose yourself. You can use the phone if you like. Good day, Father. "She starts to go, but has one more thought. "I have no sympathy for you. I know you are invulnerable to true regret." She walks to the door. "You are nothing like me. Our 'loves' are nothing alike. You disgust me." She goes, closing the door behind softly her. After a moment, he sits at her desk. Stillness and quiet spread out. He opens his Bible. There are pressed flowers within. He crumples them in his fingers, litters them to the floor.
***
Chapter: Ten, Questions In The Taxonomy of Sin
Author: halfsquat (aka Half Squire)
Fandom: Doubt
Pairing: Sister Aloysius/ Sister James
Rating: PG 13
Genre: Romance/Drama/Suspense
Spoilers: Doubt
Disclaimer: All characters from Doubt belong to their creators. I claim no ownership and intend no copyright infringement. Everything unrelated to Doubt and all divergence from their script is my doing. Much of the dialogue comes directly from the script.
***
“Sister Aloysius Beauvier’s Mortal Sin”
a fan fiction novella
by Half Squire
inspired by the film Doubt,
and, respectfully, drawn heavily from it
***
Chapters:
I. The Dragon Is Hungry
II. My Concerns Are My Own
III. Candy, By Another Name
IV. Farther From God
V. Doubt Presses Her To The Bed
VI. Cat, Kitten, Rat
VII. The Cat And The Kitten
VIII. A Serpent In The Garden
XI. Caged
X. Questions Of Taxonomy
XI. Madonnas
***
X. Questions In The Taxonomy Of Sin
***
The snow of winter has become lazy. Outside, there is a downpour. The skies are gray, like a sullen she-peacock. Only spats of dull blue and purple lash through the heavy clouds. Sister Aloysius is returning from her meeting with Donald Miller's mother. With a solitary hand, she grips her stomach, as rolling nausea rips through it. Rain drips over the dark brim of her bonnet. She had gotten caught in the rain; her habit is heavier from the moisture. Pulling off her damp shawl, she places it on a nearby coat rack. Water pitters into the room; her office window is open; she starts to walk towards it. Flynn appears in the archway of her door.
"May I come in?"
"A third party would be required," she says dismissively. She continues towards the window.
"Yeah," he acknowledges, but edges into the room. "What was Donald’s mother doing here?"
"We were having a chat."
"About what?"
"A third party would truly be required, Father. Why-" Flynn closes the door behind him. Sister Aloysius stiffens.
"No, Sister. No third party." The storm rises up into a heightened rage outside, then subsides. "You and me are due for a talk. You have to stop this campaign against me!" His face is purpling with the exertion of taming his temper.
"You can stop it at any time." He walks towards her.
"How?" His stepping falters.
"Confess and resign."
"You are attempting to destroy my reputation!" A gale of wind bites through the window, shakes a desk's papers about and onto the floor. Holding the hem of her habit from the floor, Aloysius rushes to the window. Shutting the window, she flips the blinds open to let the dim light in.
"Who keeps opening my window?" she curses to the window, then, with venom, turns to Flynn. "What are you doing in this school?"
"I’m trying to do good!"
"Even more to the point, what are you doing in the priesthood?" To retrieve the scattered papers, Sister Aloysius goes to her knees. The papers are leopard-spotted with rain from the floor.
"You are single-handedly holding this school and this parish back!" Flailing an arm, he stands over her.
"From what?" she asks, peering up with scorn.
"Progressive education and a welcoming Church.
"You can’t distract me, Father. This is not about my behavior, it’s about yours."
"No, this is about your unfounded suspicions."
"That’s right." Shaking slightly, she gathers the papers. "I have suspicions."
"Just leave that," he spits, gesturing at the documents. "It’s not important."
"I will decide what’s important." Her voice is a hiss.
"Why," exasperation latches onto his voice, forces it to rise. "Why do you suspect me? What have I done?"
"You gave that boy wine, and you let him take the blame," she replies bitterly.
"That’s completely untrue! Did you talk to Mr. McGuinn?"
"All McGuinn knows is that the boy drank wine. He doesn’t know how he came to drink it." Taut lips pull back to reveal a snarl.
"Did his mother have something to add to that?"
"No," she lies.
"So that’s it."
"I am not satisfied." Aloysius rises, places the wet papers onto her desk with a slam of her fist.
"Ask the boy then!"
"Oh, he’d protect you."
"Why would he do that?"
"Because you have seduced him." Her hand waves in the air, frustrated with it.
"You’re insane! You’ve got it in your head that I’ve corrupted this child after giving him wine, and nothing I say will change that."
"That’s right." Glowering, she bores holes into his head.
"But this has nothing to do with the wine. Not really. You had a fundamental mistrust of me before this incident! It was you that warned Sister James to be on the lookout, wasn’t it?"
"That’s true."
"So you admit it!"
"Certainly."
"Why?"
"I know people."
"That’s not good enough!"
"It won’t have to be."
"How’s that?"
"You will tell me what you have done!"
"Oh I will?" the light bulb overhead blows out.
"Out again!" Aloysius says, pointing upward.
"Sister James isn't so convinced of my guilt."
"Oh, so you talked to Sister James?" Snidely, she eyes him, then mutters to herself. "Well, of course you talked to Sister James." From toe to head, she tenses. Flynn sees it.
"Did you know that Donald’s father beats him?"
"Yes."
"And might that not account for the odd behavior Sister James noticed in the boy?"
"It might."
"Then what is it? What? What did you hear, what did you see that convinced you so thoroughly?"
"What does it matter?"
"It matters! What does it matter? I want to know." Sister Aloysius rises and goes to a window.
"Out this window" A pause. "I saw you grab William London’s wrist...and I saw him pull away," she says quietly.
"Are you serious?"
"I am."
"That’s all?"
"Yeah. That was all."
"That’s nothing!" He sits at her desk, writes in his book. Rain pounds its little fists against the windows.
"What are you doing now?"
"I’m writing down what you say. It might be important when I have to explain why you have to be removed." Aloysius's eyes grow wide, then narrow with calcuation.
"This morning," she says, then pauses, gathering her words, "before I spoke with Mrs. Miller, I took the precaution of calling your last parish."
"What’d he say?"
"Who?"
"The Pastor."
"I did not speak to the Pastor. I spoke to a nun."
"You should have spoken to the Pastor," he reprimands crossly.
"I spoke to a nun," she replies smugly.
"You know that’s not the proper route for you to have taken, Sister! The Church is very clear. You’re supposed to go through the Pastor."
"Why? You have an understanding, you and he?" Her lip curls.
"No, you have no right to go rummaging through my past!" His hands flail, he drops his ballpoint pen.
"You have a history. This is your third parish in five years. Why?" she asks pointedly. She begins to pace the room.
"Call the Pastor. Ask him why I left! It’s perfectly innocent."
"I’m not calling the Pastor."
"I’m a good priest!"
"You will go after another child and another child, until you are stopped."
"What nun did you speak to?"
"I won’t say."
"I’ve not touched a child."
"You have."
"You haven’t the slightest proof of anything."
"But I have my certainty, and armed with that, I will go to your last parish, and the one before that if necessary. I’ll find a parent. Trust me, Father Flynn, I will."
"You have no right to act on your own! You have taken vows, obedience being one! You answer to us! You have no right to step outside the church!"
"I will step outside the church if that’s what needs to be done, till the door should shut behind me!" She pulls her rosary from her habit's loop for it.
"I will do what needs to be done, though I’m damned to Hell!" During last, she brandishes rosary and then slams it down on a nearby table. "You should understand that, or you will mistake me. Now, did you give Donald Miller wine to drink?"
"Have you never done anything wrong?" He asks. His eyes spark with knowledge.
"I have," her eyes, downcast, but they return fiery.
"A mortal sin?"
"Yes."
"And?"
"I confessed it, Father!"
"Then whatever I have done, I have left in the healing hands of my confessor. As have you! We are the same! In more ways than one."
"No, we are not! We are not the same!" she yells, the mutters. "A dog that bites is a dog that bites." Her voice rises. "Did you give Donald Miller wine?"
"No."
"Mental reservation?"
"No."
"You lie. Very well then. If you will not leave my office, I will. And once I go, I will not stop." She goes to the door. Suddenly, a new tone comes into his voice.
"Wait! I can’t say everything, you understand? There’s things I can’t say. Even if you can’t imagine the explanation, Sister, remember there are things beyond your knowledge. Even if you feel certainty, it is an emotion, not a fact."
"You will request a transfer, and take a leave of absence until it’s granted."
"You’d leave me nothing?"
"It’s Donald Miller who has nothing, and you took full advantage of that.
"I’ve done nothing wrong. I care about that boy."
"Why? ‘Cause you smile at him and you sympathize with him, and you talk to him as if you were the same? You are a cheat. And that warm feeling you experienced, when that boy looked at you with trust, was not the sensation of virtue. That could be got by any drunkard with his tot of rum."
"And what of that warm feeling you experienced? When that Sister James looked at you with lust? That was not the sensation of virtue!" Sister Aloysius blanches. Flynn grins in triumph. "It was Sister James wasn't it? The one you confessed about. You've seduced her, haven't you? She's half your age! I hadn't been sure, but I can see it in your eyes, Sister. I can fight you." Through his tirade, her eyes narrow. Her arms cross.
"You will lose."
"Where’s your compassion?"
"Nowhere you can get at it." The clouds hustle away. Sunlight illuminates the office. "Stay here. Compose yourself. You can use the phone if you like. Good day, Father. "She starts to go, but has one more thought. "I have no sympathy for you. I know you are invulnerable to true regret." She walks to the door. "You are nothing like me. Our 'loves' are nothing alike. You disgust me." She goes, closing the door behind softly her. After a moment, he sits at her desk. Stillness and quiet spread out. He opens his Bible. There are pressed flowers within. He crumples them in his fingers, litters them to the floor.
***