I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK:

[READ: December 7, 2023] “Stigmata”

This year my wife ordered me The Short Story Advent Calendar.  This is my sixth time reading the Calendar–it’s a holiday tradition!  Here’s what H&O says about the calendar this year.

The 2023 Short Story Advent Calendar is a deluxe box set of individual short stories from some of the best writers in North America and beyond.  Now in its ninth year, the SSAC is back to once again bring readers a deluxe, peppermint-fresh collection of 25 short stories from some of the best writers in North America and beyond.

The author of this story was Thomas King.  Each day has an online component with the author with a brief interview.

It’s December 7. Thomas King, author of Indians on Vacation, opts for the mini-donuts.

I enjoyed this story so very much.  It’s a shame that the interview above is so lame.  King doesn’t want to say anything.  But I won’t hold  that against him for my enjoyment of this story.

Bria’s great-grandmother was sent to St. Anne’s Residence School in Montreal.  She was there from age six to sixteen.  One day a priest from Montreal brought all of the girls a gift: a rosary blessed by the Pope–made out of cedar from Lebanon.

Bria’s grandmother asks Bria if she knows what her great0-grandmother’s dying wish was.  Specifically, we are not told what it was, but we can infer since the Pope is coming to Canada and Bria’s grandmother wants her to fly to Calgary with the rosary.

There are nine scratches on the back of the rosary.  No one is quite sure what they mean, although Bria thinks it’s how many times she was raped by a priest.  They sold Bria, but they all know it had to be something unpleasant.

The rosary keeps turning up in Bria’s bag–her grandmother is stealthy.  But Bria isn’t flying to Calgary for this.  Then one night she takes the rosary and throws it in the lake.

The next day, the news says that the Pope was struck by something–something that hit him across the face.  And he won’t stop bleeding.

Incidentally, Bria has a friend named Tabby who I also love.   She is very funny–pointing out wen Bria is being obstinate and bearing the abuse of Bria’s tastes:

How can you eat that stuff?
What?
Butterscotch, Yuck.

As the story proceeds Bria tries to ignore the evidence that it was her grandmother’s rosary that hit the Pope in the face.  Because that’s impossible.  Right?

This story was powerful and funny at the same time.  I loved it.