Doctor Martha Livingston:
Suppose the saints would have smoked if tobacco'd been popular back then?
Mother Miriam Ruth:
Undoubtably. Not the ascetics, of course, but, well, St. Thomas More.
Doctor Martha Livingston:
Long, thin, and filtered!
Mother Miriam Ruth:
St. Ignatius would smoke cigars and then stub them out on the soles of his bare feet. And of course all of the apostles?
Doctor Martha Livingston:
Hand rolled.
Mother Miriam Ruth:
Even Christ would partake socially.
Doctor Martha Livingston:
St. Peter?
Mother Miriam Ruth:
Pipe!
Doctor Martha Livingston:
Right!
Mother Miriam Ruth:
Mary Magdalene?
Doctor Martha Livingston:
Ohhh! You've come a long way baby!
Mother Miriam Ruth:
And St. Joan would chew tobacco!
Doctor Martha Livingston:
All right! What do you suppose today's saints are smoking?
Sister Agnes:
As much as Mother Miriam loves me?
Doctor Martha Livingston:
As much as God loves you
Mother Miriam Ruth:
My dear, I don't think a Communion wafer has the recommended daily allowance of anything.
Sister Agnes:
[
whispers] Of God...
Doctor Martha Livingston:
Agnes, how do you feel about babies?
Sister Agnes:
Oh, they frighten me; I'm afraid I'll drop them. They have a soft spot on their heads, and if you drop them so they land on their heads, they become stupid. I was dropped on MY head; that's why I don't understand things.
Doctor Martha Livingston:
Like what?
Sister Agnes:
Numbers! You can spend your whole life counting 'em and never reach the end.
Doctor Martha Livingston:
I don't understand them, either... Do you 'spose I was dropped on my head?
Sister Agnes:
[
concerned] I hope not... it's a terrible thing to be dropped on your head.
Doctor Martha Livingston:
Sister Mary Cletus, she used to call me Polka-Dot Livingston!
Mother Miriam Ruth:
So, you left the church because you had freckles?
Doctor Martha Livingston:
No... I... uh... YES! I left the church because I had freckles!
Eve LeClaire:
Nobody is interested in sending a nun to prison.
Justice Joseph Leveau:
We're not telling you what to decide Martha. We're not even telling you to take this.
Eugene Lyon:
Is there any reason why you feel you shouldn't take it?
Doctor Martha Livingston:
Today's my birthday. I always make bad decisions on my birthday.
[
last lines]
Doctor Martha Livingston:
[
Last Lines] I don't know the meaning behind the song she sang. Perhaps it was a song of seduction, and the father was a field hand. Perhaps the song was simply a lullaby she remembered from many years ago, and the father was hope, and love, and desire and a belief in miracles. I want to believe that she was blessed. And I do miss her. And I hope she's left something; some little part of herself with me. That would be miracle enough, wouldn't it?
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