No One Writes To The Colonel

Mina, a young woman who lives with her mother and grandmother, fumbles in the dark for her dress's shirtsleeves. She tries not to wake her sleeping grandmother, who is blind, and shares the room with Mina. Mina's grandmother, though, does wake and tells Mina that she washed her shirtsleeves the night before and they're drying in the bathroom. Mina finds them still wet and tells her grandmother not to touch her things again.

Mina's grandmother says she'd forgotten today was "the first Friday" (146) as Mina places the shirtsleeves on the stones in their fireplace to dry. Mina's grandmother cautions her not to get the sleeves dirty on the stones then takes her coffee out to the veranda. She tells Mina that it's "sacrilege to take communion when one is angry" (147) but Mina doesn’t reply. Mina puts on the wet shirtsleeves then leaves in a hurry.

Mina returns just fifteen minutes later. Her grandmother says she'll miss the reading of the gospel but Mina says she can't go to Mass because her sleeves are wet and her dress is wrinkled. Mina's grandmother chides her for missing Mass on First Friday. Mina goes to the toilet then comes back to drink coffee beside her grandmother.