Sister Floriana

The Robe

The Fourth Sunday of Advent. A mere six days remained before Christmas Morning itself! What started out as a little side project soon turned into a remarkable production- Sister Eulalia and Sister Marisol's performance of Silent Night with the ducks on handbells. Father Alvadeo loved the idea, and once Mother Superior saw Eulalia demonstrate how well she'd trained the ducks, she gave them free range in her sewing room to make Sister Marisol a nice robe for the Christmas mass. Of course, the sisters got a bit carried away and made robes for the ducks too. 

It took them all night, but they were both proud of the end result- a beautiful white gown with a crucifix embroidered into the collar and a little sailor hat to top it all off. Without her coif on, Marisol tied her hair back into a long ponytail, making her blush a bit. She wasn't used to showing her hair to people. 

"You really didn't have to do this," she said bashfully, as Flori and Eula showed her off to Sister Carmen and Sister Gabriella.

"Like we would ever waste a chance to go inside Mother Superior's sewing room by ourselves!" said Floriana, scratching at her band-aids. (Of course she'd managed to prick herself several times over the night.)

On the table next to them, the ducks were out cold. They'd been helping all night of course. 

"I can't wait for the performance!" Sister Carmen gushed. "We're going to knock their socks off!"

"I don't think anyone else knows how smart these ducks are," Gabriella remarked. "I imagine they'll be quite alarmed!"

"Oh goodness!" Marisol laughed, blushing even more at the thought of it. 

When they showed Mother Superior the fruits of their labor, she was even more delighted. She hugged all three of them, and gave them the day off. Father Alvadeo was also impressed.

"You'll make quite a splash this Saturday," he said. 

"An understatement!" Mother Superior declared. "You're an angel, Sister Marisol! And soon everyone in town will get to see it!"

Marisol didn't like the sound of that.

She'd gotten rid of most of her performance anxiety first with her friends and then with the ducks, but with the whole town? All of Fornelos de Gende packed into the cathedral while she sang? It made her sick to her stomach.

It was such a pretty robe and she'd be doing it such a great disservice if she did poorly! What would everyone say? The prospect of having performance anxiety gave her even more anxiety in an endless cycle. She wasn't ready for this, she had to say something. But they'd already spent so much time training the ducks and making the robe for her! Why hadn't she put a stop to it before it got so out of hand?

They came back down from Mother Superior's room, stopping to admire the snow beyond the windows. Looking down on the courtyard, they took in the fresh blanket of snow covering it like a layer of frosting on a cake. Fortunately, it was overcast so they could look at it without going snow-blind. 

"I can't wait," said Floriana. "Just six more days before we get to pile the presents under the tree!"

"You'll love what I got you," Eulalia remarked.

"Ahh, don't say that!" Flori groaned. "Now I'll be obsessing over it all week!"

"I know," she said, with a smirk.

"Give me one hint!"

"It's small."

Flori looked at her.

"That's it?"

"That's one hint, so..."

Flori huffed at her, and they went down the hallway in the direction of the kitchens.