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Two Fathers (5)

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Two Fathers (5)

5 minuten leestijd Arcering uitzetten

A true story retold by B. J. Bennink, originally translated from the Dutch Twee vaders gezocht en geuonden
by J. Banning

With strangers

Frederick did not see the tears in the strange woman’s eyes as she walked out of the room. It took a little while before she came back. When she returned, she brought some bread and milk for the little wanderer. Silently, she pulled him up from his hard bed, and only sighing now and then, she pulled on his clothes. Then she served him his meager breakfast. Frederick wanted to talk to her again, but she did not speak anymore. She only said to him, “Eat now, little one.”

“But, Auntie,” Freddy said, “we need to pray first.” This second “Auntie,” however, did not know what prayer was. Frederick was confused, also. He mixed in his morning prayer because he was not used to praying alone before eating. Rather than to miss a prayer, he prayed his morning prayer and the prayer before meals together. “Poor boy, from now on, you will have to pray alone; in this you will also miss your loved ones.” With stammering lips Frederick prayed the child’s prayer he had learned from his mother. Then his ration of bread and milk quickly disappeared.

Suddenly, Simon came home. You could hear his rough, bellowing voice clearly. He came into the room where Frederick was, and it caused the last few crumbs of the bread he was eating to stick in his throat.

“Come here, boy,” he said, trying his best to be friendly. Timidly, and with a glance at the lady that seemed to ask if it were safe, Frederick slowly approached Simon. Simon placed him on his knee, and Frederick dared to ask, “When is Auntie Judith coming back?”

“Auntie Judith is not coming back,” said Simon. “I sent her far, far away.” He smiled at his own imagined wit. Naturally, Frederick did not laugh.

“If you are a good boy,” Simon continued, “I’ll soon let you see something beautiful—wonderful horses and dogs and many other things. That is what you will see.”

“I would rather you take me home,” said the little one. “I really want to go back home.”

“Don’t talk about that anymore,” said the rough man. “Don’t ever talk about that again, or I will punish you.”

Simon left, and Frederick stayed in the room where there were some things for him to see. He soon met Jim and his friend. In this way days and weeks passed. Then a great change came in his life.

The stunt rider

Even our youngest readers will understand that Simon did not pay fifty dollars for dear little Freddy out of love. What did Simon know about love and loving? He loved no one or anything. What he loved most were a plug of tobacco and a glass of whiskey. Men and animals were all the same to him. He did not love his wife any more than he loved his dog. No, he had purchased Freddy only so that he could sell him again. As soon as a good opportunity presented itself, he would use it. That was why he always kept the hope alive in Frederick that if he were good, he would see “beautiful horses and dogs and all kinds of other nice things.”

Simon knew exactly what he was going to do with Freddy. This would not be the first child he had sold to the circus. This was also his plan for Frederick, who slowly but surely was beginning to feel at home in this sinful house. The memory of his own home still lived in his mind, for he would never forget his friendly and loving parents and other house mates. However, it was surprising how quickly he forgot most of his misery, so that although he sometimes thought about the past, he seldom spoke about it. This was probably because of the often repeated threat from his master, “I’ll punish you if you say that again.”

There was one thing, however, that continued to bother him immensely. Simon had changed his name. His name was no longer to be Frederick, or Freddy, but Tom. He did not want to be called Tom. He said many times that his name was Frederick, not Tom. This caused him a great deal of trouble, and he received many hard slaps before he submitted to it. It was as if the young boy felt that this would move him even farther away from the home of his parents. This was true because they had lost Frederick, not Tom.

“Just for a short while, my boy,” the woman whose name was Dianne had said to him when Frederick had asked her the first morning if he would stay with her. That time was longer than both Dianne and Simon had expected it to be. There had been only one opportunity to get rid of Frederick so far, but the boy had come down with an illness which made it impossible for Simon to get more for the boy than he had paid for him in the first place.

Then, a second chance presented itself. On a certain day, a man from the circus came to ask Simon if he had a boy for him. Simon was happy; this was just what he had been looking for; yes, he had a boy for the gentleman. Frederick was brought into the living room. The first question the stranger asked was, “Well, boy, what is your name?”

“Frederick,” he answered quickly.

“No,” said Simon, “his name is Tom,” and giving Freddy a hard slap, he said, “Get going, you scoundrel.” Frederick went away crying.

(To be continued)

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Two Fathers (5)

Bekijk de hele uitgave van maandag 1 maart 2010

The Banner of Truth | 24 Pagina's