...Sister Montoya: Zach Survivor

[mm_danii]

As strange folks go, she's not really all that strange. True, there are less and less nuns every day year

Comments

[mm_ygrane]

A tiny blond boy wanders in, blinking when this isn't his preschool's playground.

[mm_danii]

She smiles and gestures for him to come over. She isn't an old woman, not even close, but there is a motherliness, a wisdom in her eyes.

"Come here, little one, mi niñito."

[mm_ygrane]

She's a nun, he can see that as well as feel it, so she isn't really a stranger. He toddles over and hugs her leg.

[mm_danii]

She lifts him up into her lap.

"Hello, little one. What brings you here, eh?"

She smiles. It's good to see children. There were so few of them for a time, when the Great Panic hit and everything went to--

Well to a very bad state of affairs.

After her time in the army, she'd taken some time within the convent to clear her mind and her soul, to settle. As such, and because there was still very little need for middle-school teachers, she hadn't seen children (and not little ones) for some time.

[mm_ygrane]

He points back to the door and then blinks up at her in obvious confusion and shrugs his shoulders.

[mm_danii]

She nods.

"Quiet one, then? That's all right."

She looks around.

"Is your mother alive?"

Not around. Most children who would wander alone did so because their parents were dead. Any mother wouldn't let her child, not one of this age, out of her sight, knowing how dangerous it could be.

[mm_ygrane]

He nods and pulls a laminated index card out of the front of his overalls.

My name is Adam Sloane, I am three years old, and am mute but not deaf. My mother is Bethany Sloane, and she works at the 7th Street Planned Parenthood. I am a student at Saint Michael's Preschool.

[mm_danii]

She looks at the note, somewhat surprised.

"You are a little young for--"

Not something to discuss with the child.

"Would you like some milk and a cookie?"

[mm_ygrane]

He grins and nods so fast his little head might bobble off.

Thank you!

[mm_danii]

She nods and smiles, tapping the bar and ordering.

"Leche y Oreos para el niñito, por favor."

The bar does as such and she nods to the counter.

"You're welcome to take as you like."

[mm_ygrane]

He grins and picks one up and offers it to Sister. Sharing is Nice.

[mm_danii]

She takes it with a smile. He's a good boy, one who had learned the lessons of the Great War as they should be learned; that the only way to survive was to help one another. She takes a bite, appreciatively, and nods to the plate.

He should enjoy too.

[mm_ygrane]

He grins and munches, sipping his milk too.

After a moment he taps her chest and points to the door inquisitively.

[mm_danii]

She nods to the door.

"Originally, I am from New Mexico. Now, however, I live in Pennsylvania, helping with the reclamation and rebuilding. More than just iron and stone were broken in the great war."

[mm_ygrane]

He nods sadly. Lots of people had died too.

And oddly enough, the movie about his mother was filmed in Pennsylvania.

I'm from New Jersey.

Well, he tries to spell New Jersey. Mostly it's baby talk.

[mm_danii]

"New Jersey or New York?"

She knows a little sign language, but she isn't fluent. But she knows the alphabet.