Get thee to a nunnery!

October 17, 2008

Panera Bread is where nuns go after work. I’m not making this up.

Today, while working on the concepts for my November novel, I decided to get away from my home office and spend some time at Panera. While I sat in a booth and refilled my bottomless tea, I was astounded by the number of shawled women wandering into the store.

It’s probably because they don’t have Wifi in the rectory.

You’ll be relieved to know that I didn’t see one iPhone or Blackberry in the hands of these holy women. But they did seem to chatter as much as regular women.

And boy could they eat.

Plate after plate appeared on the “Pick up order here” counter and a literal processional of nuns collected the plates and brought them to their tables.

Watching and listening, I was amazed at how the crumbs and napkins flew, how the jaws moved and how fast the words cascaded out – all at the same time.

I’m not the product of a religious education. But if the church works with the fervor that these women attacked their meals and assaulted the air with their non-stop blather, I might just become a believer.

Holy (literally) sorority!

More to come…