She looked up at me for a minute as she gnawed on her lip and contemplated.
“Okay,” she finally said.
I was ecstatic.
I should have known it wouldn’t last.
*****
That night, my dreams took a different tone.
“Evan, what are you doing?”
“I was trying to find something to keep warm,” I say through chattering teeth.
“Why aren’t you using your blanket?”
I look at her, confused, but then realize it might be a test.
“It’s a sin,” I say.
“What is?”
“Covering.”
“Why do you say that?”
I narrow my eyes.
“Father Paul said so,” I tell her. “Thou shalt not cover.”
Sister Margaret laughs softly, reaches out, and hugs me to her.
“Oh, Evan,” she sighs, “it’s covet, not cover. Thou shalt not covet. It means to want something that belongs to someone else.”
I furrow my brow as I consider this new information.
“Like Heather’s Game Boy?”
“Yes,” Sister Margaret says, “just like that.”
“So I already sinned?” I ask. “I do want one.”
“Let’s pray about it, shall we? Then you can get covered up and go to sleep.”
I woke with the memory still in my head. I listened to Lia’s breathing for a few minutes before shoving myself out of bed and heading to the shower. I brought my razor in with me and shaved in front of the little steam-proof mirror on the shower wall.
“Evan, your phone is ringing!”
“Which one?” I asked as I stuck my head out the shower door.
“The iPhone.”
“Can you bring it here?” I turned off the water and stepped out onto the bathmat. Lia came into the room with the phone in her hand, and I quickly glanced at the number.
Rinaldo.
There was no way any good would come out of a conversation with him, but I answered anyway.