Disappear with Me

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

1875, London, England

The old squeaky water pump woke him each morning. The housekeeper always rose first and pumped the water needed for the first part of the day. She kept the household in order and on schedule; her husband, the sexton, maintained the church building and the parish house. Father John was the official head of the household, but he only dealt with the students who came to study and, of course, Leander.

After breakfast with the small community, Leander helped the sexton with maintenance or the housekeeper with cleaning. After luncheon was his favorite part of the day—lessons with Father John. He taught Leander the stories of the Bible and about Jesus, but also how to read and write the Queen’s English and Latin. He introduced Leander to classical literature and the music of the masters.

He loved to ask questions. The housekeeper would tell him that children were to be seen and not heard. The sexton would make up answers to the things he didn’t know. Both the sexton and his wife would threaten him that if he wasn’t obedient, no family would adopt him. But Father John would answer his questions and encourage him to ask more. If Father John didn’t know the answers, he would show Leander how to find them in his enormous library. Leander’s parents, however, were one of the few subjects Father John didn’t encourage.

“Tell me about my mother and father,” he asked.

“Leander,” Father John replied, as a scowl appeared on his face, “we’ve talked about this before.”

“Please,” Leander begged.

Father John frowned for a moment, but then let out a sad sigh. “Your father and mother dropped you off on the church’s front steps. They left a note inside your basket. It said, We will return when the barley harvest will allow us to pay our debts to the landlord and survive the winter.”

“I thought you said before they would return when the wheat harvest was good?”

“Oh, yes,” Father John corrected himself. “We will return when the wheat harvest is good.”

Sometimes instead of lessons or chores, Father John took Leander on errands around London. Leander loved leaving the church, which was located in a London slum. Inside the confines of the church, he smelled the dust and dank from two hundred years of chaste living. Outside, the air came alive with the sweet smells of the season. He especially loved going to the docks with Father John to experience the hustle and bustle of the port, the smell of salt in the air, and the shrieking gulls.

“I want to fly like the gulls,” Leander said as they walked along the pier. “The gulls’ wings make them free.”

“Ah…but are the birds really free?” Father John responded. “You see how their lives are attached to the fishermen who bring in their catch each day?”

“Like I’m attached to my chores each day?” he asked.

Father John didn’t answer. As they continued their walk, Leander’s attention was drawn to the fishermen, who had begun unloading nets full of glimmering fish.

“Are those men like Peter and Andrew in the scriptures?”

“Yes, they’re similar. Do you remember what the Lord said to Peter and Andrew that day?”

“And Jesus said unto them, Come ye after me and I will make you to become fishers of men,” he recited.

“And what does that really mean?”

“You told me before it meant Jesus was asking them to help Him reach the people of Galilee and preach the good news of the New Testament.”

“Ah, yes, very good. You are learning your stories nicely.”

“But what good is that today? Everyone attends church on Sundays.”

“Oh, I think you’d be surprised not everyone attends church, Leander. There’s a whole wild world out there, with people who’ve never heard of our Lord, Jesus Christ.”

“Never heard of the Lord?”

“No.”

“Do you want me to ask those men to be fishers of men?”

Father John chuckled, stifling a hearty laugh. “No, I want you to understand there will always be people who don’t know the Lord. Our job as Christians is to tell his story.”

“I love the Lord Jesus with all my heart, Father John. I will always tell his story to anyone who will listen.”

“Good, now let’s pick out some fish for supper.”

“When did you decide to become a fisher of men?”

“Oh, I received my calling at a young age, probably not much older than you,” Father John said as he eyed the fish lying in neat piles on beds of ice. “You see, not only do you have to have a desire to do God’s work, you must also be called by the Lord.”

“By God himself?” Leander’s eyes grew big.

“Yes, by God himself. One day, when some older boys were picking on some younger kids, I stepped in and stopped them. My own father told me I was doing God’s work. That’s when I knew it was God’s will I continue to do His work.”

“When will I know if God is calling me?”

“The only thing I can tell you is you will know.”

“All right,” he said, his voice trailing off in disappointment.

After lessons or outings with Father John, there was the evening meal, more chores, vespers, then bedtime. Most days it seemed as if his head barely hit the pillow and the housekeeper was already working the pump to start the day over again.

The most important ritual in the household was Sunday morning worship, which for him started on Saturday night. After dinner, the sexton helped the housekeeper fill the large washtub with water. The housekeeper scrubbed him from head to toe until his skin was raw, making sure she got all the dirt from underneath his fingernails. After the bath, she slathered his skin with a soothing balm. By the next morning, the regimen had revealed his soft pink skin. It was almost like she was cleaning her pig for showing at the fair.

On Sundays, Father John showed the prize pig to the people at church. He introduced him to the young couples, the childless couples, and the couples whose children had grown up. No one wanted him.

“Do you suppose it’s because they know my parents are coming back for me?” he asked Father John one afternoon on a Sunday picnic.

Father John grimaced, but then said with a smile, “Maybe that is it. But you should not be worrying about such things at your age. We will continue your studies and your parents will be proud of you when they come.”