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"Dammit, I hate that he has one too"

"I don’t…"

Nora closed her eyes as a memory floated up out of the mists of the past

"Eleanor Louise Schreiber! Get out of bed this instant," herthe covers over her head in her determination that this would be the day she broke her mother’s spirit This would be the day she would defeat the tyranny of organized religion She’d skip Mass today and never, ever, go back

"I’m a Buddhist," she shouted back froet out of bed this instant and get ready for Mass"

Nora reer made her erratic She’d either kill her or storm out Either way, it ht her way out of Mass, she’d be free…unchained, unfettered, unbound by the Catholic Church forever

"I’m an atheist" She flipped over onto her stomach "I’ll incinerate the second I walk into church It’s for everyone’s good that I stay away frorowled under her breath So that’s where Nora got that habit fro wasn’t good Sighingto try to either reason with her or bribe her

"What?"

"Father Greg is retiring soon Today is the day the new priest is starting at Sacred Heart If the new priest hires soet free tuition to St Xavier anymore"

"Don’t care Send me to public school No more uniforms"

Nora remembered the sharp breath her mother took That her mother hadn’t just beat the shit out of her yet was one of life’s greatwith saccharine "Mary Rose toldher eyes, Nora had flipped back over and glared at her ross"

But her ot her attention

"What kind? Not some no-thrust piece of crap froht herher head, her mother tapped her chin "I can’t re Du-so"

"A Ducati?"

"That was it"