CHAPTER 19
Night duty again. I’ll just snoop around the old monastery a bit and see what I come up with.
She floated past the newly-planted mums, senses attuned to any possibility of the presence of another person. The community seemed more on edge these days. Maybe it was just her imagination, certainly not something she had done.
The trickle of a small fountain in the garden startled her into thinking someone else might be present. She had the intuitive sense that a little child was nearby, but how could that be? Others might be around also.
She was getting pretty good at finding her way around and triumphed over holding the keys to the main monastery building in her hands.
The keys of the kingdom. I’ll get in there this time and find the background I’m looking for. Some of the members of this community are pretty interesting characters. I’d love to know more about them so I can really get to know them.
Leaves had fallen but, for the most part, were not at the point where they crackled under foot.
A few small crunching sounds won’t attract any attention, but that white metal screen door does squeak a little. Better be very careful.
Ever so slowly she opened the screen door on the porch. It moved almost noiselessly and let her in to a foyer housing the red wooden door to the main house. The key slipped easily into the dead bolt and she turned it. This door did squeak. She held her breath. Nothing stirred.
Didn’t find any files here the last time but I couldn’t find any in the Abbot’s office either—not that I had much time to look. Had to get out too quickly.
She rummaged around for a quarter of an hour but all she came up with was paperwork for monastery appliances, postal forms, and a schedule with dates and phone numbers for reaching the Abbot while he was traveling.
As her frustration grew, so did her assertiveness and risk-taking behavior. Not bothering to place everything back exactly as she found it, not really remembering just where every paper went anyway, she moved to the front door. In seconds she was outside and on her way to the Abbot’s quarters.
Once inside the Hermitage she pulled on filing cabinet drawers to no avail. Irrationally, she only pulled harder on the drawers when they did not open.
Calm down. Remain logical. All I need is a key to this filing cabinet. I’ll bet anything it is in the desk, but I wonder if that is also locked.
It was not! As she burrowed through the contents of the desk drawers in search of a key she came across some letters. They were opened flat as if to have them handy for reading or reference.
Very interesting indeed. So that’s the background of the person in question. Why did they take such a candidate? Numbers going into monastic life are dramatically down these days but this place seems to be content with a few dedicated folks. They can’t be that desperate for members.
She continued reading intently, illuminating the papers by the silver Maglite Brother Francis uses for patient exams. The light beam shook as she read.
Wow! That hits close to home. I have a strange feeling that I’ve met this person before. Why do I know so much about the situation? My head is spinning. I may faint. I’d better get out of here before I do.
She was completely unconcerned about being quiet now and moved quickly through the Hermitage, out the door, locking it behind her, and back to her hiding place.
The Little One saw everything. He had a way of blending into the background wherever he was. No one paid much attention to him but he paid attention to everyone and everything else. It was as if all his senses were quadruple in strength compared to the rest of the population.
I hope she liked my flowers--and I hope that she found whatever she was looking for. She seemed to be happy about the papers she was reading. Grown ups! I don’t understand why things written on paper are so important to them. After all, it’s just paper.
Maybe when I grow up I will understand that and lots of other things, like why people mistreat one another. It makes you want to hide away somewhere.
I like the night. No one bothers you. Everyone is asleep and you don’t have to put up with them.
Those ground hogs have dug more tunnels under the Oratory. I heard the monks and nuns complaining about hearing thumping during the praying of the Office. I guess the little critters were having a party under there.
I know that they are quiet during the winter. They must sleep or black out like I do or something. It won’t be long before they do that again. Now I can help.
Lucky for me Brother Matthew left a shovel out, it’s over there between the Oratory and the garage. I’ll just fill in the tunnels.
The Little One almost danced across the driveway, so happy was he to be helping out around the monastery. The shovel was taller than he was but it didn’t stop him. He walked to the edge of the property, a small wooded strip between the monastery grounds and the road, and collected a shovel full of dirt.
He walked back to the Oratory and deposited the dirt soundlessly into a hole created by the ground hogs. It felt like a drop in the ocean but he kept at it. There were about seven tunnel entrances and it took the Little One several hours to fill in the holes working with one small shovel and no wheel barrow.
At last the job was completed. He saw an edge of red coming up over the Pocono Mountains.
I’d better get out of here before I’m discovered. The Little One disappeared.
She saw it all. What was that kid doing out there? If she goes out to investigate she will be discovered.
I don’t want any harm to come to him so I’ll just watch.
And watch she did—all night long. She awoke from a brief slumber to discover that he was gone.
There are more people here than anyone knows about. I’ll bet I haven’t even seen them all.