HOW I FELL IN LOVE WITH A PRIEST

Chapter 4: InvisibleAfter that first Sunday, I tried everything to be noticed by him. Father David.

I could pass by him after mass, hoping he might stop and greet me. I volunteered for extra duties in church whenever he was there. I even swung my hips a little more when I walked past him.

But it was as if I were invisible. His eyes passed over me like I was a shadow.

And then there was Sister Martha.

Martha was older than me, maybe by four or five years. People loved her. Even the parish children clung to her like bees to sugar. So when the parish assigned her to accompany Father David on a mission to the villages, my stomach dropped. I felt threatened.

I told myself it was fine. God’s will. Nothing to worry about. But when they left together, I imagined them walking side by side down those red-dirt roads, talking, laughing. I pictured him listening to her the way he had spoken in the chapel, his eyes soft and his voice gentle.

The image gnawed at me. I felt so jealous.

When they returned a week later, I watched from the balcony as they carried supplies back into the store. They exchanged some small joke that made Martha laugh. David smiled too, his teeth flashing in a way I had not seen before.

That smile...