Extract from "Hologram," by Alice Thompson. Forthcoming in The Book of Iona: an Anthology, edited by Robert Crawford. (Edinburgh: Birlinn, 2016)
When Orla went out looking for mussels on the South Beach, she knew very well that mussels could only be found on the North Beach. But she wanted more time away from the small wooden hut where her family unintentionally crowded her out. She wanted an isolated place where she had all the time in the world.
Orla was very fine and precise and fair because of her Norse ancestry. Her skin was pale like paper. Her hands and feet were thin and oulined clearly by her bones. Her veins showed through her fine skin like lines of purple ink as if she had been drawn into existence.
Arriving at the South Beach, Orla was surprised to see a nun sitting cross-legged on a rock, her back to her. Orla watched as the nun carefully undid her wimple and placed it on the ground. Her golden hair was the same colour as the sand.
Hearing Orla approach, the nun quickly turned round. Orla could see clearly that her face was contorted and tear-stained.
“What’s wrong?” Orla asked her, gently.
“I keep telling them it is not a good idea.”
“Telling whom?”
“The voices in my head. But they are insisting I document everything.”
“What do you mean?”
The nun’s tears stopped and her eyes turned stony.
“You are too young too understand.”
The nun seized her wimple and leapt up and ran back up the beach in the direction of the nunnery. Was it her imagination or had Orla seen whip marks on the nun’s legs and arms?
The sea looked flat and calm and gave nothing away. The sea was perfectly itself, its colour the slate grey of neolithic rock. All that remained of the nun now were her footprints in the sand by the shore line. Orla watched the footprints slowly fill with water.
The nuns were not popular on the island. They were resented when they first arrived, thought not to be needed. The Augustinian nunnery was established at the same time as the Benedictine monastery and lay just south to it. There was hidden rivalry between the denominations. It was thought unfair by the villagers that the Lord of the Isles favoured the nunnery over the monastery. The nunnery had a chapter house with stone seats, a chapel with an aisle on the North side a, refectory and kitchen on the South, all grouped round an enclosure There were mutterings amongst the villagers that the nuns should be exiled to the women’s island where Columba over half a century ago had put all the women of Iona.The huts with straw roofs nestled in the shadow of the monastery. The heavy stone building of the monastery was just another form of rock.
Orla was very fine and precise and fair because of her Norse ancestry. Her skin was pale like paper. Her hands and feet were thin and oulined clearly by her bones. Her veins showed through her fine skin like lines of purple ink as if she had been drawn into existence.
Arriving at the South Beach, Orla was surprised to see a nun sitting cross-legged on a rock, her back to her. Orla watched as the nun carefully undid her wimple and placed it on the ground. Her golden hair was the same colour as the sand.
Hearing Orla approach, the nun quickly turned round. Orla could see clearly that her face was contorted and tear-stained.
“What’s wrong?” Orla asked her, gently.
“I keep telling them it is not a good idea.”
“Telling whom?”
“The voices in my head. But they are insisting I document everything.”
“What do you mean?”
The nun’s tears stopped and her eyes turned stony.
“You are too young too understand.”
The nun seized her wimple and leapt up and ran back up the beach in the direction of the nunnery. Was it her imagination or had Orla seen whip marks on the nun’s legs and arms?
The sea looked flat and calm and gave nothing away. The sea was perfectly itself, its colour the slate grey of neolithic rock. All that remained of the nun now were her footprints in the sand by the shore line. Orla watched the footprints slowly fill with water.
The nuns were not popular on the island. They were resented when they first arrived, thought not to be needed. The Augustinian nunnery was established at the same time as the Benedictine monastery and lay just south to it. There was hidden rivalry between the denominations. It was thought unfair by the villagers that the Lord of the Isles favoured the nunnery over the monastery. The nunnery had a chapter house with stone seats, a chapel with an aisle on the North side a, refectory and kitchen on the South, all grouped round an enclosure There were mutterings amongst the villagers that the nuns should be exiled to the women’s island where Columba over half a century ago had put all the women of Iona.The huts with straw roofs nestled in the shadow of the monastery. The heavy stone building of the monastery was just another form of rock.