Jack is out for a walk…
My gosh, I'm living in and I'm a member Of a family. I never dreamt That this could ever be. I'm right away A brother and a son; I have four sisters, Just like that, a father and a mother, Too. How can this happen overnight?
One day I am a double orphan foundling, A nothing Jack from nowhere, knowing not A soul, and here I am the next day, accepted As a brother and a son, and holding My own place within the bosom of A warm and loving family. If anyone Had told me this might happen I would surely Just have laughed out loud and passed it off As being plain impossible. But -
Here I am; and now I must take care to be The sort of brother son who will fulfill The expectations held of me by all My newfound kin, my brothers and my sisters And most of all my father and my mother.
But I remember, when I first met Ietje, She had a problem with my faith; she was not Pleased that I am Catholic. Her parents too, Have made remarks which indicate That Roman Catholic is not the thing to be.
They surely are not Buddhist; they must Be Protestant of some denomination.
And Jim, he was not happy with the notion That I might be a Roman Catholic priest.
I'll have to ask the father, how this could be So critical an issue; what is implied For me as member of this family.
When I was in the monastery it never Seemed important that other folks have other Faiths. What was the chance, that after all I ever would have much to do with people Of strange, and much worse yet, intolerant Religions.
How can religions be intolerant?
Do they not all teach fatherhood of God And brotherhood of man? There must be some Misunderstanding here, or else I missed The mark when Brother Cyprios explained The underlying common elements Of almost all the earth's professing faiths.
It would be good to speak with Brother Andre, To disentangle some of this. But that, I cannot do.
He is in Heaven; he's dead.
It takes some time for Jack to get his bearings. He's not used to almost all of what is suddenly both new and normal. At first he tries almost too hard to please, and soon he learns that little sisters can be quick to take advantage. He has to find a middle way between standing back and being walked on.
And what an amazing range of curious ploys four little girls come up with! How straightforward the good old monks were, in comparison. Jack has to learn a whole new set of skills, learn to get along with four new sisters. Well, get along - survive with.
