Prompt: Shea Tart
Source: I know several people named Shea (with spelling variations, of course)
Response:
The tiny, bald woman was deep in meditation. She did not move. Shea watched her carefully, wary of the nun opening her eyes and catching her staring. The woman who was guiding Shea's class through the Buddhist temple was still talking, but she did not hear any of it.
Shea watched the nun. The woman was thin, fragile-looking inside her robes. The woman's face was distinctively Asian, though Shea could not guess at her specific ethnicity - maybe Chinese? They were in a Chinese Buddhist temple, after all.
Shea wondered what had made the woman become a nun. She tried to picture the woman with lustrous black hair, dressed in street clothes, and failed. The nun's face was perfectly smooth, absolutely calm.
What would that kind of tranquility feel like? Shea wondered. Sitting there, she could imagine her own dark hair falling in clumps to the floor. She could almost feel the nun's robes, sense the peace of meditation.
"Tart," her teacher barked; the group was at the doorway, ready to leave. One of her male classmates giggled as someone always did when they heard her last name.
Shea looked at the woman once more. The nun's expression had not changed. The girl stood and followed her class out of the room.
Notes: I went to a Buddhist temple a few years ago and got to learn some basic meditation techniques - it was an amazing experience. Though I did not see any nuns, I did think about what it would be like to be one.
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