Elisavet A Short Story

The ride did take all of the forty-five minutes Cédric had foreseen. Not only because of the mist, fog, and black-out conditions, but Cédric was concerned about Elisaveta. Several times he inquired as to how she was feeling and if she needed to walk. She thanked him for his concern but she was doing well. When they arrived at the Monastery’s driveway, the mist had stopped and muted light from the moon shown through the clouds. They dismounted the bikes and walked up the cobblestone drive. Even in the partial light, Saban and Elisaveta felt the presences of the immense red brick, four-story structure. The entrance was in the corner of an L-shaped section. Various sized, arch-topped, rectangular, multi-paned windows filled the exterior walls. Saban and Elisaveta waited while the bicycles were placed alongside the wall. Cédric helped Saban as they approached the entrance on a red, flat stone walkway. After climbing three concrete steps, they were standing in front of two large, tan, vertical planked, wooden doors. The arched top over the doors was inlaid with ornate leaded-in glass. Saban smiled, admiring the workmanship, as he ran his fingers over one of the six, wide, black pieces of iron shaped like a horizontal, round-top, “T” that held the wooden planks in place. Three adorned each door: one near the bottom, …show more content…
“As you can tell, we sympathize with the freedom fighters. When the Nazis invaded Poland in ‘39, Belgium mobilized and Dom Bruno was assigned as chaplain to the 41st Artillery Regiment. In May of the following year, Nazi troops invaded Belgium. During the fighting, Dom Bruno sustained a leg injury and spent the next six months in prisoner-of-war camps at Wolfsburg and Doessel, in Germany. In the camps, he continued to provide religious and moral support to fellow prisoners. Upon his release from the camp, Dom Bruno returned to Mont-César only to find the Nazis occupied Belgium. He resumed his teaching activities here at the