Friday, January 21, 2011

Snowbound!

We had 27 inches of snow last week, more after that and last night about 4 inches more. I'm not even going to go there!

So, I'm posting a teeny, tiny except of my work in progress for those of you who also might be snowbound and for those in sunny climates--you lucky kids you!!!!

Here ya go:

WIKTORIA’S SECRET

One

“Er...um...oh, yeah. Bless me father for I have sinned—” I leaned forward in the darkened confessional, a place I’d feared since second grade when Sister Mary Margaret made me stay in one for hours for not bringing my rosary to school on the first Friday of the month—when all good Catholic children went to Mass and confession. How many sins could a seven year old have anyway?

“Are you there my dear?” the disembodied voice of Father Nawrocki said.

Gulp.

Father Nawrocki. Since high school all my friends and I had a crush on the tall, brown-eyed priest. Priest! I should add that to my list of sins right now. Ogling a priest.

“Um...yes, I am.” I managed a few fake coughs and despite knocking on the door of hell by lying to a priest in the confessional no less, I coughed again. I ran through the first part of the confession format, which I’d learned rote in Saint Stanislaus Catholic school from the nuns who told us we didn’t need to know the reason for learning things, we just had to memorize them.

Now the priest coughed.

I gave him the benefit of the doubt that it was real and continued, “my last confession was—” Good Lord. Did he really need to know that? And when was it? Second grade? Did it not count if I wasn’t accurate? “—well, it was...awhile so I’ll wing it.”

“Wing it, Wiktoria?”

Oh geez. The only thing worse than having to go to confession and spit out your sins was when the priest knew who you were through the supposedly camouflaged screen! And, no one, no one, called me by my Polish name since grammar school other than my mother when she scolded me. “You know, Father, I think I’ll just tell it like it is.”

“I would assume you would anyway. It is confession.”

Was it getting hot in here or was the trapdoor to hell and beyond opening up? I forced a laugh, knowing he couldn’t see my face and the pained look it must have on it. Or could he? Damn it. Oops. I had to get out of here if I ever wanted to scurry through the Pearly Gates to all eternity someday. Because right now I thought I caught a glimpse of fiery flames coming from beneath the hand-crocheted throw rug near the kneeler. “Yes, well. Look, Father N, I really didn’t come here to confess anything.”

“Excuse me?”

“I know. I know. I’m holding up the line.” And what a line it was on the first Friday of the month at Saint Stanislaus Church in the cozy town of New Bochenia, named for the hometown of the Polish immigrants founded it. Over the years it was Americanized to New Boch, pronounced New Boc by non-Poles and the rest of the world. Anyway, in a town like New Boch you could count on a long line of Polish Catholic women snaked around the pews and nearly out the door. Only males were the priest and a few from the over eighty crowd.

“Okay, Father N, I am going to level with you.” I leaned forward as if that would draw his attention to the confessional screen where I knelt, sweating and waiting for the devil to yank me out of here, which at the moment didn’t seem like such a bad idea.

“Level, Tori.”

Phew. He’d lightened up or at least wanted to get this over with as fast as I did. “Okay. My last confession seems like eons ago, but you know me. I am a good girl—” I could imagine him rolling his eyes. After all he’d been hearing my confessions throughout the teen years. Gulp again. There was that night with Ricky Rinaski...never mind. “I really am, a good girl that is, so consequently, I don’t have any sins to confess at the moment.”

I heard him sigh, rather loudly for a man of the cloth.

“Really. When I was fifteen I used to make some up to give you something to do. Er...never mind. The reason I am here is more to ask a question to see if I need to confess something. You know, clarify something I can’t Google.” I giggled.

He didn’t.

“Perhaps we can talk in my office after confession is over, Miss Gansecki?”

Lord no! Then we’d be face to face. It was one thing to be hidden behind the confessional haze, even though he knew who I was, but to be face to face with a priest sent shivers down my Catholic School induced conscience’s spine—as if I really was a bad girl.

Ricky and I only made it to second base.

36 comments:

Unknown said...

Thanks for the great excerpt! We got about three inches of snow ourself last night. When is the snow going to stop. We have had snow on the ground since the beginning of Dec and this usually doesn't happen for us. We get snow but it usually doesn't stay around that long and a lot of times we get ice, rather have the snow though.

Danielle said...

Thanks for the excerpt. We've been blessed with very little snow but right now we're in an artic feeze!

AnonymousWoman said...

Good excerpt. I appreciate your sense of humor. We got snow and ice last week - 5 inches! Which is a lot for the south. Looking forward to the continuation of the story.

Barbara E. said...

I enjoyed the excerpt - it sounds like a great story.
I live in Florida - though it hasn't exactly been sunny here (it rained most of the day), it's a heck of a lot better than tons of snow, and quite a bit warmer as well.

Kristi said...

Hey no fair, what was the question?! lol

We've had about 110 inches of snow so far this year with another 6-12 coming tonight and 5 degrees tomorrow.

The Scarf Princess said...

Enjoyed the excerpt. And you're not the only one stuck in the snow. Every three or four days it snows here and it's getting very annoying. It makes it feel like summer will never arrive.

joderjo402 AT gmail DOT com

Judy said...

Thanks so much for the excerpt. I really enjoyed it.

No snow down South, but we are having another hard freeze tonight. BRRRR

Judy T. said...

Snow, ice and bitter cold here as well. Thanks for the excerpt - I enjoyed the humor.

JeanMP said...

Thanks for the very enjoyable excerpt. Enjoyed the humor. Cold and snowy for us here.

mommyreview.com said...

Love it! Can't wait to read more <3

sonya said...

great excerpt

Anonymous said...

There's a woman at my workplace with the last name of Nawrocki. What kind of name is it, anyway?

Suzan Harden said...

*shiver* Makes me glad I'm in Houston. I only have to worry about covering my palm trees so they don't freeze tonight.

robynl said...

very nice today here; but lots of snow.

thank you for the excerpt.

Sue A. said...

It's the year for crazy weather. We got surprise snow overnight, but it got washed away by rain during the day.

Jenyfer Matthews said...

Oh man, now I'm having flashbacks!!! LOl

Jane said...

Thanks for the excerpt. We had a bit of snow on Friday and it seems another storm will be heading here on Tuesday.

rrshep said...

I loved reading your excerpt and can't wait to read more!

Laura said...

We've had so much snow in NJ ...it's been ridiculous. We're supposed to have a storm again on Tuesday. Ugh!

krisgils33 said...

thanks for the excerpt! hope you dig out soon!

Cricket said...

Loved the excerpt...but excerpts of WIPs always make me sad, cuz I never know when I get the rest of the story, lol... Very sorry about the snow -- seems most folks are getting way more than their fair share this year...hope it lightens up soon for you!

Robin Kaye said...

Love the excerpt, Lori. I used to go to confession with the Spanish priest who didn't speak much English. That worked for me, a few hail Marys and I was good to go.

As for snow, we had two late openings because of it this week. Having the kids around has been a load of fun. We probably got a total of 4 or 5 inches, but it melted down some before the deep freeze hit us. Now we're expecting another Noreaster. Lovely, one more thing not to look forward to.

Maureen said...

We only had a few inches of snow but I am sick of it already. Thanks for the excerpt.

Refhater said...

Thanks for the excerpt. We're not exatly snowed in yet. Only getting a couple inches here and there. It's VERY cold though.

Brandy said...

Fun excerpt! Thanks for sharing. We had a week of ice two weeks ago and I am so glad to have it gone. Snow is fine, ice is evil.

catslady said...

I enjoyed your excerpt! That's a lot of snow but right now we are in single digits and I'd rather have snow than this bitter, windy cold.

bettycd said...

Your excerpt put me right back in 2nd grade with confession and all. My principal somehow was also Sr Mary Margaret.
thanks for sharing - we managed to get thru the last storm with only 4 inches also.

Susan Mo said...

Thanks for the wonderful contest. I enjoyed reading the blog every day. Great authors and such fun topics!

Cathy M said...

I am so not a snow girl, and thanks for sharing the excerpt with us.

Estella said...

I enjoyed the excerpt. Have no snow here---thank goodness!

Alice said...

Too funny, I came over here from Pub Rants, now, I gotta find the published fiction.

Coolestmommy said...

What a great excerpt. I'm so sorry to hear how much snow you've gotten. I guess I need to stop complaining about our puny amounts now.

Stay warm!
coolestmommy2000 at gmail dot com

Janean said...

Great experct Thanks! No snow here right now in NC but bitterly cold. It got down to 10 last night brr. We might get some some Wednesday hopefully not ice like last time. Happy Reading, Janean

Kammie said...

Enjoyed the excerpt!

Rebekah E. said...

Thanks for the excerpt.

Anonymous said...

Being a confession-shy Catholic, I very much enjoyed this excerpt.
Good Luck!