Disciplinary Hearing
A Thursday Prompt story
© 2021 by Walter Reimer


Prompt: source


The Abbess shifted uncomfortably in her seat as her tail drooped. She reread the note that had been brought to her:

My dear brother, I have long admired your delightful arse, which resembles two agreeably baked loaves of bread, so delectably browned, but not holding a candle to your sausage and eggs. I have devoured you with my eyes for many an hour, and I long to have my mouths, both the superior and inferior, sample your delights.

It contained a crude drawing of a female’s nether regions.

The Abbot of the adjacent monastery had sent the message to her, stating that one of the monks under his supervision had found it with his meal that very morning. The feline added that the brother was understandably distressed by the event, and the Abbot requested that she investigate and do something about it. There was a hint that he would bring the matter to the Bishop’s attention if there was no action taken.

The Ibizan hound took a deep breath to steady herself before saying a brief prayer. Divine aid having been invoked, she started to think.

The Abbot’s report stated that the monk, a certain Brother Sebastian, had discovered the message in his breakfast, concealed between two pancakes. The tod-fox had immediately gone to his superior about it, which was good of him, and Brother Sebastian was praying for whoever had sent the note.

Which was also good of him. However, it wasn’t helping her very much, apart from the knowledge that it was the nuns who cooked the meals for the monks.

The Abbess stood and stepped behind her chair so she could look out of her office window. The note’s sender had obviously been able to see over the cloister wall that separated the monastery from the convent, and what she’d seen was equally obviously much to her taste. The convent was situated partway up the hillside from the monastery . . .

Ah.

The complex had two bell towers, but only the monastery had the bells to mark the hours of the day. With its location near the seacoast, the convent’s tower housed a telescope as part of an agreement between the Church and the King in Lisbon to keep a lookout for any seaborne adversaries.

Someone had been using the telescope for reasons other than scanning the sea, and even if she hadn’t used the telescope, the view from the tower enabled anyone to see down into the monastery’s confines.

The note had been received by Brother Sebastian that morning, so whoever sent it may have been up in the tower the previous day, and perhaps more than once.

The Abbess nodded to herself, said a quiet prayer of thanks, and went back to her desk. She rang a small bell and the convent’s secretary entered. “Yes, Mother Abbess?” the terrier asked.

“Find out for me who had the duty in the bell tower,” the Ibizan hound paused, “over the past week.”

The slightly younger woman knew better than to question, and silently closed the door to collect the necessary information.

Gleaning the necessary information from the chaff of the convent’s paperwork took only an hour; getting the actual truth took almost until lunchtime. The Abbess was distressed – no, she admitted to herself; angered – to learn that some of the nuns were bribing others to serve their turn in the tower. Nevertheless, one name kept appearing.

“Sister Mariana, Mother Abbess,” the secretary said, as the nun entered and stood waiting, her eyes respectfully downcast. Sister Mariana was a vixen.

Brother Sebastian had been a tod-fox.

“Sister, what do you know of this note?” the Abbess asked, holding the piece of paper up so that the nun could see it.

“I – “

“I remind you that you have taken vows of obedience, Sister Mariana.”

The vixen’s jaw worked as she struggled to reply before her brush drooped and her shoulders slumped. “The fault is mine, Mother Abbess,” she whispered. “I – I saw him, and – “ She stopped speaking with a soft sob.

“I see,” the Ibizan said in a soothing tone. “I will hear your confession, and you will spend six months under silence for your infraction.” She smiled and took the vixen’s paw. “We are all tempted, Sister, but be steadfast in your faith, and it will strengthen you,” she said as she led the vixen to the confessional.


***


Scholar’s note: This event, taking place in Portugal in 1731, could conceivably be termed a case of sexting.


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