Published: 3 Nov 2025.
by Gerry Gaffney
This story contains violence and swearing.
On Monday I was afraid that my step-mother would want me to help her do her hair but she didn't so I wasn't late for school and Sister Agnes didn't slap me.
Sister Agnes is mean.
Last year I had Sister Margaret. I like Sister Margaret, she never slapped or hit us or yelled at us. She made me stop writing with my left hand but she never hit me for it.
I keep my left hand under my leg when I'm writing because if you use your left hand Sister Agnes hits you on the knuckles with her ruler and shouts. It's the sign of the devil, she says, the Devil!
Sometimes Jenny forgets and she uses her left hand and gets hit but I never do. I don't think it's really the sign of the devil. Sister Margaret told me that if I used my left hand it would be awkward for lots of things. She said everything is made for right-handed people. So it would be easier for me to be right-handed. But she never hit us and she never blamed the devil.
I miss Sister Margaret. She still smiles at me and says hello to me when I see her in the corridor. She remembers my name.
I wish I could be in Sister Margaret's class again. Now I have a whole year with Sister Agnes.
Everybody is afraid of her.
Sister Agnes has a stick. She calls it a cane. It's long and bendy. Like a walking stick but thinner. She hits us when we do anything wrong. Sometimes she whacks you on the shoulders or on your back and that's not too bad, it doesn't really hurt. But if you do something bad or something she doesn't like or if you don't remember something you're supposed to remember then you have to go and stand at the front of the class and she gives you slaps. One or two or sometimes even six. The slaps hurt a lot. First your hand stings and then it starts to throb.
On Tuesday morning my stepmother decided to wash her hair. I always have to help her but it makes me late for school if it's not the weekend. I try to hurry but she tells me do it properly. If it's worth doing, it's worth doing well and the more haste the less speed. I tell her that I'll get in trouble with Sister Agnes if I'm late for school but she just laughs and says I better run so.
My father doesn't say anything. If he does she just says Oh Francis don't spoil the girl. It won't do her a bit of harm to hurry to school instead of dawdling along like she usually does.
But even if I run I can't get to school on time. And anyway I can't run the whole way. I go as fast as I can and I'm out of breath when I get there.
As quick as I can I hang up my coat on the hangers outside the classroom and I knock on the big wooden door.
Sister Agnes says enter and I do.
She looks at the clock to count how many minutes late I am. It's one slap for every five minutes. I have to stand at her desk in front of the whole class and hold out my hand for my three slaps. You're not allowed to move your hand. Don't flinch she says. If you do and she misses or doesn't hit properly she adds another one. It hurts but you have to try not to cry.
At least she doesn't make me stand there for ages before she slaps me. That's the worst, when you've done something wrong and you have to stand at the front of the class with any other girls who're in trouble and wait and all you can think about is the slaps you're going to get.
When I sit down I put my hand on the brass cover of the inkwell because it's cool and that helps a little bit for a minute. Then I put it under my shoulder, my oxter, even though that's warm. I don't know why but that feels better too.
It's worse on cold mornings because your hands are cold and they sting a lot more when she hits.
When it's really cold there's ice sometimes on the inside of the windows until the radiators
warm up and it melts.
Sister Agnes isn't just mean to me, she's mean to nearly all the girls.
Nearly every day she's mean. Sometimes even if it's really cold she goes over to the window and opens it up and stands there for a while. She tells us we're exasperating.
Sister Agnes might be harsh, my father says, but if you do your lessons and stay out of trouble you'll be fine. But you can't really stay out of trouble the whole time. Even Sally Casey can't. It's easy to have an accident like getting ink on your hand. Or forgetting the name of a river in geography or forgetting to carry one when you're doing sums.
Slap!
Sister Agnes is ancient and everyone's afraid of her, even the other nuns I think.
Mary Nugent's not afraid though. She doesn't care when Sister Agnes gets out her cane and tells her to hold her hand out. She just puts her hand out and takes the slaps without crying or anything.
Your hands are dirty, says Sister Agnes, after she's hit her. Go and wash them. And Mary Nugent just strolls out of the classroom to wash them.
I like Mary Nugent but my father and my stepmother say not to hang around with any of the Nugents. They're bad company. She's really smart and she doesn't care what anyone thinks. Her clothes are all old, she gets them from her big sisters and her shoes are falling apart but she doesn't care.
She knows the names of all the rivers and mountains in English and in Irish and hardly ever makes a mistake in class but when she does she doesn't care. One day she drank the ink in her inkwell. Her lips were blue and Sister Agnes was really angry and gave her ten slaps. Five on each hand. When she was walking back to her desk she stuck her tongue out. It was blue. I wanted to laugh it was so funny but nobody did because we could all see that Sister Agnes was furious.
One day one of the big girls from another class, I don't know which one, was bullying Mary Nugent in the yard. She called her a bad name. Mary Nugent punched her in the guts and when she fell on the ground she kicked her in the ribs. Lucky for her none of the nuns saw that happening or she would have been in big trouble.
On Wednesday the blackboard duster was too chalky. When that happens Sister Agnes picks someone to go out to the yard and hit it against the wall a few times to clean it. Everyone likes doing that, you get to leave class and walk through the corridor that's empty because everyone is in class, and you get to go outside into the empty yard and you're free for a few minutes and there's a cloud of chalk that smells nice when you clean the duster.
I don't know why Sister Agnes let Mary Nugent do it when she's usually in trouble for something like drinking ink. Anyway off she went with the blackboard duster but she didn't go outside. Instead she banged it on the walls along the corridor and there was chalk dust on everyone's coats on the hangers. She got four more slaps for that but she didn't care.
Because Sister Agnes was so annoyed, instead of morning tea she made us all stay at our desks and copy out a passage from our reader.
When you write it's hard because you have to stay inside the lines and not make a mess with the ink. It's harder for me too because I have to use the wrong hand. I sit on my left hand and concentrate as hard as I can.
Retract your proboscis, Sister Agnes says. I don't know what she means. Your tongue, child. Keep your tongue in your mouth and stop chewing on it like a farm animal. But at least she doesn't hit me.
So now I have to concentrate on writing and not sticking my tongue out. But it's harder to write if you can't move your tongue, I don't know why. It's the same when I tie my shoelaces, my father laughs at me because I always move my tongue around but he's laughing in a nice way and I don't mind.
On Thursday Sister Agnes got really annoyed at Mary Nugent because she was answering back. She slapped her across the face with her hand. It was very loud and we all jumped. Mary Nugent's cheek was very red and maybe bleeding after that but she didn't say anything. Then Sister Agnes gave her four slaps with the cane and sent her to wash her hands and her face.
At break time I saw her sneak into Mr Grogan's toolshed. We're not allowed to go into the toolshed and I thought it was always locked but she got in anyway and stole a saw. She didn't know I saw her from where I was sitting against the wall eating my apple.
She looked around to try to make sure nobody was watching and then went back into the classroom. I snuck over to the window and looked in. I saw Mary Nugent go in the door and close it behind her.
She took Sister Agnes' cane from its place beside her desk and broke it across her knee. Then she put the two bits on Sister Agnes' desk. I held my breath. I couldn't believe she was doing it. But then it was even worse, she got the saw and cut almost the whole way through one of the back legs on Sister Agnes' chair. There was some sawdust on the floor and she blew at it until it all disappeared away. When she looked up she saw me watching her from outside. She just grinned and put her finger to her lips. I ran away.
When we got back from our break I was afraid. Sister Agnes saw the broken stick straight away.
Who did this? She sounded really calm. Somehow that was even scarier than when she yelled.
Nobody said anything.
Sister Agnes walked around the room, slowly. She stopped beside some girls, mostly the ones who get in trouble. Mary Nugent was one. Everyone was dead quiet and nobody said a word.
When Sister Agnes had been all around the classroom she went back to her desk.
As nobody is willing to tell the truth, you will all be punished, she said. I will have to decide on a suitable course of action.
She pulled out her chair and sat down. I held my breath.
For a minute nothing happened and then suddenly the chair collapsed and she fell down.
There was a crack. I don't know if it was the chair or Sister Agnes. She let out a kind of a yell. Some of the girls ran up to her but she wouldn't let them touch her.
Get the nurse, she yelled. Sally Casey and another girl ran off to do that. We stood around and stared at Sister Agnes. She was starting to sob with the pain.
Two nuns came running in and the nurse. They shooed us out of the class and told us to go to the rec room and wait there. We did and all the girls were chattering. Everybody was worried but it was a bit exciting too.
Mary Nugent was standing next to me. She didn't look worried at all.
She put her mouth close to my ear and and said I hope the old cunt dies.
I was shocked. That was a very bad word and I never heard a girl say it before.
But I didn't say anything. I hoped she'd die, too.
Copyright © Gerry Gaffney 2025