Brothers in Arms by Michael Carson

Author:Michael Carson
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 2016-02-23T13:00:00+00:00

The novices showered after cross-country, wearing for modesty’s sake voluminous black bathing costumes kept in a bin near the showers for that purpose and used communally. Then they said the rosary outside, walking round and round the building, through the gardens, with Novvy leading the prayers and striding out in his aged, shining black boots.

There then followed a Bible Study class which led to a bread-and-butter tea. When the tea things had been washed up, a twenty-minute recreation period was allowed.

Joachim walked into the Novices’ Room. He saw that Ninian was sitting at his desk chatting to Brother Aiden. He did not want to talk to Ninian and looked around for other company. Brother Egbert was by himself, writing in a note-book, Brother Egbert was usually by himself.

It occurred to Joachim that he could kill two birds with one stone by going over to talk with Brother Egbert: he could do a good deed by talking to the novice whom everyone found to be heavy going; and he could show Ninian that he was not pleased with him.

However, any satisfaction he may have felt soon paled when confronted by the actuality of twenty minutes of Brother Egbert’s conversation.

After five minutes of agony, listening to Brother Egbert expounding on the merits of the Douai Translation of the Bible over the King James Version, Joachim made an excuse and left.

He fled back to Ninian, made friends with him and spent the rest of the time swopping Holy Pictures. The time flew by.

It was ten p.m. The novices sat in a semi-circle around Novvy who presided over the Black Box stereo player. It was an unheard-of time for them to be still up. Not since the day trip to Walsingham had the novices been up so late.

Novvy read from the libretto the conclusion of ‘Strange Meeting’.

He did not say anything else. He knew his audience and knew that the music was moving, teaching some of them; felt that he had sown a seed for music that would last for life. He had given short introductions to each section of ‘War Requiem’ and then left the music to work its magic.

He looked from face to face of the group of novices in front of him. They were just children, he thought. It would be his tenth group, and over the years he had been saddened that so few of the youngsters who thought they had a vocation to be a Brother had managed to continue as far as Final Vows. The vast majority would leave long before they took those last binding vows. Then what would happen to them?

Side four of the work began. The orchestra, chorus and Soprano started the ‘Libera Me’ and the room shook with the sound. Novvy wondered for a moment what the rest of the Brothers trying to sleep upstairs would make of the loud music coming from the Novices’ Room. But he decided they would just have to offer it up. A novice, the first from this group,

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