17

All the Mothers gather for prayers with Arina in the Third Corridor, then the other Sisters and I are dismissed for a few hours during the day, so we go down to the beach.

When we were younger we used to play in the sand or in the sea with wooden toys or scented herb dolls that our Mothers made for us, but as we grew up the beach stopped being our favorite place to play. Each small group had their favorite place on the island. And it was never the lighthouse. I can see it from where we are. I have to keep myself from looking over there, wondering if the stranger is well enough to get up and leave, and then be seen by all the Sisters.

But that doesn't happen.

There is nothing attractive about a crumbling old tower, so my Sisters don't even look there.

Some undress and enter the water.

I sit on the sand.

Hani sits next to me, then we watch the others play in the sea, young, beautiful and carefree.

I would like to be like them again, but I realize that I don't think I ever was. I've alwa