Sisters of the Last Straw: #1 The Case of the Haunted Chapel

by Karen Kelly Boyce

  Sister Lovely swallowed hard. “Yes.”

  Mother Mercy paused before she turned her attention to Sister Lacey. “Sister Lacey, are you still struggling not to say bad words?”

  Sister Lacey hung her head. She had tried so hard. She had grown up in a rough part of town with five burly brothers, and had lost her mother at a young age. When she was young, she had learned the language of the streets, and now she had a terrible time overcoming her habit of using bad words.

  An elderly nun at her last convent had tried to help her. The older nun told Sister Lacey to make up other words to replace the bad words. Sister Lacey had used the kind nun’s idea. When she got angry, she used silly words. Sometimes the words rhymed. Sometimes it just went with the circumstances. It worked, but it was too late. She had still been asked to leave her former community.

  Looking up, Sister Lacey answered, “Yes, Mother Superior.”

  Mother Mercy looked at the two nuns before her. “My dear Sisters, I know it is hard. Once habits are made, it’s hard to change them. It’s better never to start the bad behavior.”

  Mother Mercy spoke in a calm voice. Both of the nuns were glad she wasn’t angry. But they were both still afraid. Perhaps this is the calm before the storm? worried Sister Lacey.

  However, Mother Mercy’s face seemed peaceful. “My dear Sisters, I know your struggles. I have struggles of my own. I think the reason you have not been able to overcome your faults is that you tried to overcome them alone. We are weak, and we need to turn to God together to ask for help,” said the Mother Superior.

  Both of the nuns before her desk stood in surprised silence.

  Mother Mercy continued, “I want each of you to go to the chapel and pray. Spend some time with the only One who can help. Spend some time with Jesus.”

  Both Sister Lacey and Sister Lovely were glad to get out of the office. They hurried toward the chapel. They were both so happy that they had been given another chance.

  Sister Lacey sat in the pew before the side altar of the Blessed Mother. Lighting a candle, she prayed that her lips would only allow sweet words to pass them.

  Sister Lovely sat quietly in the back of the chapel, unable to form her prayer. I’ve prayed so many times, I don’t know what to ask! she worried. She bowed her head and silently asked that Jesus heal her of smoking. As she continued—she heard a voice!

  “We’ve got to get out of here!” a woman whispered softly.

  Sister Lovely opened her eyes and looked around. Was it Sister Lacey who had spoken? Sister Lacey seemed deep in prayer. It must be my imagination again, thought the pretty nun as she bowed her head to pray again.

  “We have no choice! Don’t let those nuns scare you! I’ll deal with them!” shouted a strong male voice.

  There was no mistaking it now. Now when Sister Lovely looked up she could see that Sister Lacey was looking around. The tiny Sister Lacey was startled. She had also heard the voice!

  “What do you mean?” the woman’s voice rang out, “You can’t do anything to scare those nuns!”

  The male voice shouted, “I have no choice. This is our place—we can’t have them here! I’ve got to get rid of them.”

  The two nuns stared open-eyed at each other.

  “Did you hear that?” whispered Sister Lovely, as both nuns turned toward the altar.

  “There’s no one there! It has to be ghosts!” cried Sister Lovely.

  “Oh…galloping goosebumps!” shouted Sister Lacey as she rose in fright.

  Mother Mercy was pleased with how she had handled the situation with the two nuns. Thank you Jesus, she prayed silently, Thank you! You helped me control my temper.

  She was in a great mood as she left her office. As she walked toward the gift shop, she heard the front doorbell ring and started towards the door. But before she had gone far, Sister Shiny appeared and opened the door.

  Standing behind Sister Shiny, Mother Mercy could see a priest with a pleasant face at the door.

  “Hello,” announced the visitor, “I’m Father McNulty. I’ve been sent by the Bishop to check on your convent.”

  Sister Shiny was speechless. Mother Mercy stepped forward and took control.

  “Why—I am surprised that the Bishop didn’t notify me of your visit. Why didn’t he tell me?” Mother asked quizzically.

  “Perhaps that is because he just decided I should visit today,” answered Father McNulty.

  Mother Mercy cast a knowing glance at Sister Shiny, “Did he decide that because of a particular complaint?”

  “Well, I can only say,” Father McNulty’s face reddened as he looked at the floor, “he did get a call from a Mr. Lemon.”

  Well! Another problem for me to fix! thought Mother Mercy.

  “Come in, come in, Father. Let me take your coat,” welcomed the Superior.

  Stepping in the door and closing it carefully behind him, Father entered the hallway. He was glad that his visit seemed welcome.

  Sister Shiny stood to the side, as Mother hung the priest’s coat in the closet. That’s when she heard the ruckus coming from the chapel. She quickly stepped further to the left to protect herself.

  The doors of the chapel slammed open as both Sister Lovely and Lacey ran screaming into the hall.

  They ran as if they were on fire. They did not notice the priest even when they knocked him down.

  “O…oooh!” yelled Father McNulty as he felt himself falling.

  Mother Mercy turned quickly and grabbed at the priest’s coat to stop the fall. But instead of stopping his fall, the chubby nun fell with him. Bam! She landed on her rear! Bam! He landed right on her lap! The nun’s face turned red with embarrassment. It looked like she was holding a baby!

  Father McNulty just sat there in shock. Finally, Sister Shiny reached out a hand to help the priest up. She, of course, was as neat as always.

  Sisters Lovely and Lacey continued running down the hall and into the kitchen. As the surprised priest got to his feet, he finally made out what the nuns were screaming.

  Sister Lovely was crying, “The chapel is haunted! There are ghosts in the chapel!”

  And as for Sister Lacey, she was yelling in a voice that echoed on the walls, “Holy…Sp… Sp…Sputtering Spooks!”

  Chapter 6

  Secret Passages

  Sister Shiny, Mother Mercy, and Father McNulty followed the two frightened nuns to the kitchen. Sister Lovely and Sister Lacey clung to each other in the corner of the kitchen, shaking with fear. Sister Lovely was on the verge of tears.

  Mother Mercy exclaimed, “You’re both so pale! What happened?”

  Both Sister Lacey and Sister Lovely spoke at the same time and it was impossible to understand their panicky gibberish.

  Father McNulty took charge, “Come, come, sit at the table.” Turning to Sister Shiny, the priest asked, “Would you put on the kettle, please? I think we could all use a cup of tea.”

  All the nuns sat, as Sister Shiny prepared tea. She poured the tea into porcelain cups and served each person. When they had drunk their tea, the two terrified nuns calmed down.

  Stirring the sugar into his tea, Father McNulty started, “Now Sister, could you tell us what happened in the chapel?”

  Sister Lacey’s face remained pale with fear, but she started, “Galloping…ghost! We heard voices in the chapel. It had to be ghosts talking because no one was there!”

  Father McNulty turned to Sister Lovely. Her hands were still shaking as she tried to lift her cup of tea to her lips.

  “Sister, did you hear the voices also?” he asked her.

  “Oh yes, I did! And I heard them earlier when I was down in the basement. They sounded eerie and oh, so very angry!”

  “Where did you hear them in the basement?” asked the priest.

  Sister Lovely’s face reddened. She remembered why she had been in the basement. “I heard the voices coming from the ceiling—from the spot right below the chapel.”

  Father McNulty seemed lost in thought for a
moment. “Well, if the strange voices are coming from the chapel, I’d say we had better investigate.”

  Sister Lacey’s eyes opened wide, “Oh…blasted babbling banshees! I’m not going into that chapel again!”

  Father took the last sip of his tea and rose to his feet, “You’re not going alone. Mother Mercy, gather up all the nuns. We’re all going together.”

  It took Mother Mercy about fifteen minutes to find Sister Krumbles and meet Father McNulty in front of the chapel.

  “We’ll all spread out,” whispered the priest. “Everyone, pick a section of the chapel and do a thorough search. There has to be a source for the voices. If we work together, we will solve this mystery!”

  The nuns were nervous, but felt confident enough to follow the priest into the silent chapel.

  Sister Shiny stayed in the back. Jittery, she whipped open the doors of the two confessionals and scanned the insides. Feeling the perspiration bead on her forehead, she quickly dabbed it with the spotless handkerchief which she always carried in her pocket. She wondered what bothered her more—looking for ghosts, or seeing the dust on the woodwork. Things should be neat and orderly, the spotless nun thought. Even ghosts should keep their places clean!

  Mother Mercy and Father McNulty went from pew to pew. Bent over, they each slowly went up the two side aisles. With each pew, they found themselves looking at each other as they moved forward and scanned the empty pews. It didn’t seem that anyone was hiding there.

  Sisters Lovely and Lacey clung to each other as they went to search the sacristy. They were still too shaky to go alone.

  When they entered the room by the altar, it had so many dark corners and hidden crevices that they didn’t know where to start. Together they searched the closet which held the priest’s vestments for Mass. But there was no one hiding there.

  On a whispered count of three, they whipped open the cabinets beneath the sacrarium. But there were just the usual cleaning products.

  Then they tiptoed to the bathroom door. Sister Lovely opened the door while Sister Lacey snapped on the bathroom light. There did not seem to be anyone in the bathroom. But with knowing looks, they both edged over to the tub, and yanked aside the shower curtain. No one was behind it. Both Sisters giggled in relief.

  The rest of the investigators were walking on tiptoes around the chapel in order to hear the slightest sound. But Father McNulty and the nuns didn’t find anyone or anything. They didn’t hear a sound.

  Sister Krumbles rummaged around the altar area. Unlike everyone else, she made quite a bit of noise. Rolling up the edges of the rug beneath the altar, she stomped on the floor, looking for a hidden hatch door. Then she tapped and rapped on the walls surrounding the altar.

  She didn’t know what the different sounds meant, but she knew that this was what was done in all the murder mysteries she had watched on TV.

  Sister Krumbles continued to slowly search every inch of the front of the chapel. But the rest of them were tired. They gathered together in the center of the chapel. They were about to give up when they all heard it: a loud voice. An eerie voice. It really did sound like a ghost!

  “Hoo…oooo! Get out of here!” the loud voice exclaimed.

  For a moment, the crowd in the center of the chapel stood in shocked silence. But then they started to run.

  They ran so fast that when they reached the chapel door, Sister Lacey, Sister Lovely, and Mother Mercy were shoulder to shoulder, and became wedged together in the opening!

  The three nuns yelled and pushed, unable to move. Finally, they whittled their way apart and tumbled out of the door.

  When they were all safely in the hallway, Mother Mercy looked around.

  “Oh my! Where is Sister Krumbles?” she asked.

  “She must still be in the chapel,” exclaimed Father McNulty

  “Oh….chattering chapel! I’m not going in there again!” said Sister Lacey.

  “We’ve got to save her!” shouted Mother Mercy as she ran back to the chapel.

  The rest quickly followed. When they entered the chapel they saw that Sister Krumbles was standing by the altar, frozen in fright. She stood so still that she looked like a statue.

  “Sister Krumbles, come on! We’ve got to get out of here!” Father McNulty shouted at the frightened nun.

  His voice awakened the scared-stiff nun. As she realized where she was and what had happened, Sister Krumbles started to run. She didn’t want to see any ghosts!

  She ran so fast that she caught her toe in the edge of the rug she had rolled up.

  As she fell, she grabbed at a column on the side of the sanctuary to break her fall. “Whoaahhhhhhh!” she yelled.

  When she fell against the column, it moved with a shriek…eeeeek!

  “Eeeeek!” shrieked Sister Krumbles.

  The entire column tilted to the side, and then there was another scraping sound…ssssssssm.

  “Aaaaaaaaah!” gasped Sister Krumbles, along with everyone else.

  There was a hidden door opening up behind the altar!

  All of the nuns and the priest stood watching with their mouths open.

  The door stopped moving, and there behind the altar was a little room! It looked just like a kitchen, with a stove and sink. There was a table in the middle of the room, and sitting around the table were a man, a woman, and two children!

  Chapter 7

  Hidden Housemates

  For a moment, there was silence, as the two groups of people stared at one another, the investigators and the family sitting around the table in the hidden room.

  Sister Krumbles was closest to the strangers and the first to shake off the shock of the discovery and speak. “Who-hoo are you people and what are you doing hiding in our house?”

  The man at the table rose, and the nuns in the chapel backed up in fear. Still frightened, Sister Lacey shouted, “Hidden hauntings…Stay right where you are!”

  “Call the police!” called Mother Mercy to Sister Shiny as she inched her way toward the door.

  “Please don’t call the police. We’ll leave. And we won’t bother you anymore,” pleaded the man, as he held up his hands in surrender.

  “But Daddy…where will we go? We have no home to go to!” the little girl at the table cried.

  “Shhh…don’t be afraid,” whispered the mother, as she took the little girl onto her lap and comforted her.

  The nuns, now no longer afraid, looked at each other with puzzled expressions.

  Sister Krumbles walked toward the family and held her hand out to shake the man’s hand, “Hello. My name is Sister Krumbles. Can you tell me how you came to live in a wall in our chapel?”

  Mother Mercy grew frightened again. Sister Krumbles was getting entirely too close to the interlopers. However, the nun had moved so quickly that there was no time to tell her to stop.

  Much to Mother Mercy’s relief, the man took Sister Krumble’s hand and shook it in a gesture of friendship.

  The man smiled, and answered, “Oh, we are not just hiding in the chapel wall. We live in this apartment.”

  “Apartment!” responded Father McNulty, “You mean that there is a whole apartment attached to the chapel?”

  Sister Krumbles walked past the table and peered through the doorway behind, “Oh my, come and see! It is the cutest little apartment with a living room, and bath, and two large bedrooms!”

  By now, all the nuns and the priest had entered the hidden rooms. They looked around as the family silently watched.

  “I can’t believe it! My aunt never told me that this was here!” said Mother Mercy as the nuns all gathered again in the cozy living room of the small apartment.

  The family of four sat on the sofa, still looking a bit frightened, and staring wide-eyed at the investigators.

  “But what are you doing living here? How long have you been hidden behind the chapel wall?” Sister Shiny asked.

  “We worked for the last owner of the home,” said the soft-spoken woman. “When she decided to
move to Europe, she asked us to leave and find other work. She gave us wonderful references and letters to tell any new employers what good workers we were, but it didn’t seem to help. No one was hiring.”

  “We quickly ran out of money,” added the man. “So when the cold of winter came, we came back here so our children could be warm and safe.”

  “Please don’t call the police!” cried the little boy. “We don’t want to go to jail!”

  “Now, now,” answered Father McNulty, smiling at him and patting him on the shoulder. “No one is going to jail. Let’s talk, and see if we can find a solution.”

  The children, who had been weeping softly, wiped their tears and looked hopeful.

  “If you worked for the woman who lived here before, then you must have worked for my aunt,” said Mother Mercy, “What did you do for her?”

  The woman answered, “I worked as her housekeeper, and kept the home sparkling clean.”

  Sister Shiny nodded with approval, suddenly deciding that she liked this family after all.

  The man spoke up, “I was the landscaper. I kept the lawn and gardens. I even grew a vegetable garden for your aunt. She loved vine-ripened tomatoes.”

  “Please, don’t call the police. We’ll pack up our things and leave as quickly as possible. We won’t cause you any more trouble,” pleaded the soft-spoken woman.

  “Sit, sit!” answered Father McNulty as he raised his hands. “I think we can work out a better solution if we put our heads together. Maybe the Sisters could use your help, and in return, perhaps they could let you stay in the apartment that has become your home.”

  Mother Mercy grew red with anger. Who was this priest to tell her what to do? They couldn’t afford to pay a housekeeper and a landscaper!

  Sister Lovely asked, “Have you been hungry? How did you buy food without any money?”

  The little girl looked up. “Mommy has been cleaning houses for other people. When we go to school, she goes to work.”