The Sister silently shook her head and motioned for them to wait there. They watched as she turned and walked toward an old stone building at the end of the compound.
“ She’ s gone to get Bela Lugosi,” Catherine whispered.
Beyond the building toward a promontory that rose above the sea, they could see a cemetery framed by rows of tall cypress trees.
“ This place gives me the creeps,” Larry said.
“ It’ s as though we’ ve stumbled into another century,” Catherine replied. Unconsciously they were whispering, as though afraid to disturb the heavy silence. Through the window of the main building they could see inquisitive faces staring out at them, all women, all of them dressed in black.
“ It’ s some kind of religious nuthouse,” Larry decided.
A tall, thin woman emerged from the building and started walking briskly toward them. She wore a nun’ s habit and had a pleasant, friendly face.
“ I am Sister Theresa,” she said.“ May I help you?”
“ We were just passing by,” Catherine said,“ and we were curious about this place.” She looked at the faces peering from the windows.“ We didn’ t mean to disturb you.”
“ We are not honored with many visitors,” Sister Theresa said.“ We have almost no contact with the outside world. We are an Order of Carmelite nuns. We have taken a vow of silence.”
“ For how long?” Larry asked.
“ Gia panta— for the rest of our lives. I am the only one here permitted to speak and then only when necessary.”
Catherine gazed around at the large, silent courtyard and repressed a shudder.“ Does no one ever leave here?”
Sister Theresa smiled.“ No. There is no reason to. Our life is within these walls.”“ Forgive us for troubling you,” Catherine said. The Sister nodded.“ Not at all. Go with God.”
As Catherine and Larry walked out, the huge gate slowly swung closed behind them. Catherine turned to look back at it. It was like a prison. But somehow this seemed worse. Perhaps because it was a voluntary penance, a waste, and Catherine thought of the young women she had seen from the window, walled up here, shut away from the world for the rest of their lives, living in the deep permanent silence of the grave. She knew she would never forget this place.