(Ecole
St. Louis School
1955/56
C hick
Evens moved heavily out of the back playground, adjacent to the school, Ecole
St. Louis School, built in 1886,
a decorative French School, in St. Paul, Minnesota, it
was autumn, and the winds were chilled, the kids were having recess, Sister
Severina, called Evens from the backdoor, motioned for him to join her in the
classroom.
—You are one of the wildest boys I’ve
ever met, I can’t read your name off your paper: print your name on the
blackboard fifty-times, she said, looking at a sheet of paperwork he had done
and his name hardly legible.
—Where? Asked Chick Evens.
—On the blackboard in front of you!
Responded sister Severina sternly, a little annoyed.
The other kids that were already in the
classroom bent over their writing pads, some filled their fountain pens with
ink, as Chick kept writing down line after line his name. A silence filled the
half empty classroom, a few kids looking timidly at the nun, her dark attire.
It was hard for Evens to be idle, to concentrate at times, was that a sin? He
questioned. He really didn’t know, he just couldn’t sit still to write his name
properly—long enough, or cared to one way or the other, waiting for recess so
he could get out his boiling energy, and that in itself was a lot of work just
to keep his body seated. I mean if it was a sin, he’d simply go to confession,
but it was part of his character.
The doors opened quietly and closed
quietly, as more kids were coming in from outside.
—Quick! Emphasized Sister
Severina…looking at Evens, and then started counting heads
there was a long moment of dead silence,
then the noise of the back end of a pencil on glass, it was the glass that
covered her desk. Chick’s eyes leapt to the side, Sister Severina had gotten
his attention, had gotten everyone’s attention.
—Finish it after school, she said to
Evens, now go sit down, take your place at your desk.
Again there was a long silence as Evens
walked back to his desk, nonchalant—his normal causal gait.
—Anyone that can’t write their names
down with clarity, lazy writers, will find themselves writing their names out
on the blackboard; now let’s get busy with this afternoon’s studies…
No: 925/6-17-2012
Haiku
for Sister Caroline Ciatti
Memories shine
of her in the sunlight
Of youthful
days (1950s)
At Ecole St.
Louis
#3361(6-16-2012)
For: Sister
Caroline Ciatti (died: August 8, 2006)
