She had her answer a few minutes later. Conrad and his uncle came to tell her the visitors had been invited to share “a humble supper” in the refectory with the monks. The family had gratefully accepted. This kindness, said her brother, would relieve her of the need to prepare a meal for the family at her home. “You have school tomorrow, Edna,” explained Robert. “We can’t impose any longer on you and Arthur. You know we only came for the day. Come and join us and the brethren before we leave you.”
“The brethren! I am no sister to these… maladjusted celibates. They’re not normal.”
“Aunt Edna,” Conrad interposed in some irritation, “they are not Catholics. They may marry, and have children. Father Vladimir there has seven.”
“Who…how do you know--?"
This interchange was cut short by the arrival of cheerily avuncular ‘Brother Roly-Poly’ himself with a number of other more voluble guests to conduct them all to the refectory, some fifteen or sixteen in all. But when they were all inside, Amelia noticed that Edna was not among them.
“Leave her be,” advised Robert. “Let’s leave well enough alone.”
The meal was simple but nourishing: wholemeal bread and a wholesome vegetable broth after a short grace said in Russian and English. After a few friendly words with their neighbours at the long refectory table, the visitors all dispersed.
The family trio found Edna sitting under a tree smoking furiously.
“Well, did they convert you?” was her first salvo.
“No, they were very generous and polite,” chirped Amelia, ever anxious to avoid conflict.
“They have seduced you into mistaken beliefs,” came her predictable retort, “Free food does that. It’s time to go now.” She got up heavily. The others watched her in silence, and then walked to the car. ‘Beep-beep’ went her key to unlock the doors. Conrad opened the front door and sat down beside his aunt. She looked at him askance at this liberty, but said nothing.
“Aunt Edna,” he began, “with respect, hospitality is not bribery. The piety we see here is not the product of brainwashing, but of deep faith. Evangelizing, done with dignity, respect, and discretion, is the task of every believer. Politeness, generosity, and consideration for others should not be … cynically derided. You want us to see the world as you do, but I, for one, cannot. You work in a Catholic school, yet you mock its teaching. You criticize my choices of art, career, and reading material. You are intolerant, and such intolerance is, frankly, intolerable.”
The ensuing silence was unexpectedly broken by his father’s unsteady voice from the back seat,
“Connie’s right, Edna. I told you in Boston about your need to guard your tongue and moderate your feelings in public, and with us, but you didn’t listen. You told our parents, both of whom accused me of browbeating you. I told them, and you, that self-righteousness ill becomes you.”
