WE REMEMBER ... WE DREAM?

I remember a time at school when a nun came into my classroom with Judith and asked me a maths question, which I answered correctly.

She turned to Jude and said: 'See how stupid you are! Even your younger sister knows the answer' and then marched out.

I hadn't realised what was happening at the time and dearly wished that I had hesitated and given the wrong answer.

Over the years I have often thought about this and I mentioned it to Jude when I was considering writing my book "NUN'S HABITS" and asked her if she minded if I used it. She looked at me quite blankly and said she had no memory of it happening. I then wondered how many times she had been humiliated by these 'caring' teachers to have forgotten this one, which I had remembered with such sadness over the last 50+ years.

She did, however, remember the day she and I had an argument and I had taken a kitchen knife and threatened her with it. She said that she had never been so scared in her life. It was my turn to stare blankly at her. My memory with the nun is real and I know that she is convinced that her memory is real also, but it is not. I would remember being so angry with someone to actually take a knife and threaten them with it. It was a dream/nightmare, whatever, but it is a memory she swears is real.

I am now more upset about her memory than mine.