The Temple of the Holy Ghost

"The lanterns gilded the leaves of the trees orange on the level where they hung and above them was black-green and below them were different dim muted colors that made the girls sitting at the table look prettier than they were. "

"She could hear the distant sound of the calliope and she saw in her head all the tents raised up in a kind of gold sawdust light and the diamond ring of the ferris wheel going around and around up in the air and down again and the screeking merry-go-round going around and around on the ground."

"She had since changed and decided to be an engineer but as she looked out the window and followed the revolving searchlight as it widened and shortened and wheeled in its arc, she felt that she would have to be much more than just a doctor or an engineer.  She would have to be a saint because that was the occupation that included everything you could know; and yet she knew she would never be a saint."

"The sound of the calliope coming through the window kept her awake and she remembered that she hadn't said her prayers and got up and knelt down and began them.  She took a running start and went through to the other side of the Apostle's Creed and then hung by her chin on the side of the bed, empty-minded."

~  All quotes from the short story: A Temple of the Holy Ghost by Flannery O'Connor