A Matter of Angels

By Nyla Nox

'The Virgin Mary had more lines but I had the better costume.'
After the Christmas play was announced, I had been dreaming all autumn of the Virgin Mary and the essence of femininity that I knew the role possessed if I could only get it.
No longer would I have to pull on pants, hide my hair, swagger around with plastic swords or sit in a chair uttering the mild regrets of middle age. No, for once I would be the centre of delight and attention, with a husband, a donkey and various deferential well-wishers from all walks of life to support my soft and vulnerable womanhood while at the same time getting the lion’s share of lines and scenes.
Tender, frail, passive and beautiful, I would be the chosen one. The star.
But since I had the wrong religion, this was not to be.'
For everyone who has ever been in a school play, or whose daughter is in one right now.
At the age of nine, Nyla runs into the hard facts of life. Her school nativity play turns out to be a pretty ugly affair. It opens up the cracks in the social divides, religious discrimination and dark family secrets.
Told with wry humour and compassion for the pain of children, unseen by adults, a complex web of history unfolds underneath the rivalries and small disasters of Nyla's school play in which she is cast as an angel. Well, at least she’s not a sheep. So far...
‘However, when I saw the costume, I started to love the angel.
For the first time in my life, my costume white, like the costume for a princess, it even had little frills and a starchy petticoat.
I stared at it and couldn’t believe I was actually going to put this on.
Instinctively I looked for my sister but she wasn’t there. This costume was mine.
It was shiny and smooth and soft and pliable, except for the bits where the petticoat propped it up. In those places it was grand and majestic.
When I tried it on, I could feel the softness all over my skin and I wanted to swoon. Never mind that nobody was there to catch me, for me it was all in the falling.
I opened my braids and my hair cascaded over my shoulders and the dress. My hair, of course, was a rich dark brown like the colour of well-polished furniture, as my mother never tired of pointing out. Not that we had a lot of such furniture, but perhaps it was part of my mother’s aspirations, garnered from the romance novels she loved to read when my father wasn’t looking. From photographic evidence I knew that I had actually started life as a blonde, like my mother and sister, and like our Virgin Mary. But now, at the age of nine, my hair had already darkened towards the dark brown that would accompany me throughout adulthood. This process was a process of failure, foreshadowing a dark fate.
Luckily my sister had so far retained her honey coloured hair.’

• Language: English
• Publisher: Nyla Nox
• Release date: Dec 24, 2014
• ISBN: 9781311721556

Nyla Nox

Nyla Nox is the author of the 'Graveyards of the Banks' trilogy (Athens,2015). 2 of the 3 volumes have been published so far. Volume 1: 'Graveyards of the Banks - I did it for the money' and volume 2 'Graveyards of the Banks - Monsters Arising.' 'An elegant and insightful memoir from the dark heart of captialism.'(Jane Routley) Follow NylaNox on facebook and twitter. 'She seems to be able to see very clearly in the dark' (Nina Bodenlosz) "Nox’s voice is as enchanting as any storyteller’s should be.” Soleil Noir in Black Sun Reviews Biography 2009: Heart of the Desert (literary fantasy in 'Needles and Bones', Drollerie Press 2010: The Midnight Moralist (Seven Fund) 2012: The Widow's Man, short story in 'Thrones of Desire', Cleis Press 2012: Secrets from the Presentation Center: A Night in the Life of a Graveyard Shift Operator ( Mergers & Inquisitions) forthcoming 'Winter in America' 2013 interview in the Guardian 'Voices of Finance' about life on the graveyard shift at the Most Successful Bank in the Universe http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/joris-luyendijk-banking-blog/2013/jun/20/bankers-predators-proto-fascist-ideology?INTCMP=ILCNETTXT3487 2013 Interview BBC radio about the death of a young banking intern http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b039rqqh Description "Nox’s voice is as enchanting as any storyteller’s should be.” Soleil Noir in Black Sun Reviews ' “Heart of the Desert” is a tale of heat and dreams, longing and sacrifice. There is a hero who is hooked on sweets, a heroine who hangs fairy lights, and a Queen in a castle made complicated by riddles, hallucinations and the fluidity of time.' Donna Quattrone in Cabinet des Fees

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A Matter of Angels

A short story by Nyla Nox

Copyright © 2014 Nyla Nox

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

First Edition, 2014.

Published by Noxbox

The Virgin Mary had more lines but I had the better costume.

By far.

At first I had been upset. I was the best actress in class, not just by my own assessment but also as overheard several times in comments from my teacher. So when the roles were handed out, I was stunned. The lead went to a class mate who had never shown a special interest in the theatre. I looked at her. She smiled and acknowledged the privilege, her blonde hair shimmering in the late morning winter sunlight that fell through the class room windows. Was it my hair?

Then I looked around in the room and at all the other girls who had been cast in background parts. Why her? The boys, of course, had plenty of parts to share amongst them. Joseph, shepherds, inn keepers, Romans, kings... At least I had been cast in the second best female part – I was the archangel Gabriel. But right then I have to admit I felt nothing but contempt for the archangel Gabriel. A consolation prize, appearing in only one scene.

Why?

The answer was a lot more complex than I knew.

In fact I had fallen