Chapter Twenty Two #2
‘I’m twenty one this year … in October.’
‘So, have you plans for a big party?’
‘I don’t think so … I know Mum wants to organise one, and I might agree to it to please her, but I’m not really one for parties. I’d prefer just a meal out with one or two friends, that kind of thing.’
‘Yes, I know what you mean, I wanted to celebrate, but I’m not one for huge gatherings. I worked for a couple of years in an orphanage in Africa before I decided to study. I celebrated my birthday out there.’
‘Did you really? That must have been a great adventure.’
‘It really was an incredible experience, and Africa was not at all what I expected. It sounds na?ve, but I hadn’t realised African countries were so developed.
I’ll never forget the first time I saw office blocks and motorways like we have here - I thought they didn’t exist over there.
We’re fed such a different view in newspapers or on television, and while I witnessed extremes of wealth, vast riches and the direst poverty, I found there were many building better lives to help those in need, and met plenty of people dedicating themselves to the service of others.
‘It sounds as if you’d like to go back again,’ I said, and thought how much I should like to see Africa too.
‘Yes, I’d love to … find some way I can do more … perhaps help to build a school.’
‘Was it in Africa that you became interested in Theology?’
‘Yes, though I think I’ve always been fascinated by the idea of the divine, and theories about God, as well as the relationships humanity have with both divinity and religion.
I always used to think there were so many differences between the religions, but the more I’ve studied them I’ve come to know how very similar they are, and I wanted to explore that a lot more. ’
‘Oh, yes, it’s such a vast subject, and there are so many questions. I’ve always been intrigued by religious paintings … we’ve studied some of them in history of art.’
‘Do you know the painting of Madonna with Saint Giovannino?’
‘Yes … the one with a flying saucer? I know the painting is an artist’s vision, but I can’t help thinking people in all ages have witnessed such things, or that perhaps the whole idea of God came from outer space.’
‘I’m also fascinated by that idea … the descriptions in the bible of angels and chariots sound so other worldly that it’s easy to think of them in terms of spacemen from other planets.
I quite like the idea of astronauts coming down from the skies to spread the word about a higher deity.
But, in the end, I think I’m coming to the idea of a divine spirit, as a force for good within us all. ’
‘I think I know just what you mean … that it’s innate, part of our DNA, and it’s up to us to choose whether we use it or not.’
‘That’s it, exactly … it’s the theory that God or goodness, whatever you want to call it, is in every living cell on the planet, part of the entire universe around us.’
‘So, it’s up to each individual to make sure his or her life impacts on everyone else’s in a positive way.’
‘If we all helped and loved one another, there’d be no wars, no want, and no inhumanity.’
‘I absolutely agree … and as Jane Austen herself said, “We have all a better guide in ourselves, if we would attend to it, than any other person can be.”’
‘Oh, if Elsa could hear me she’d be really cross. She’s always saying I go on too much. I am sorry; I feel as if I’m preaching at you, and that’s the last thing I want to do.’
‘No, what you say makes so much sense to me, though I can’t say it as eloquently as you do.’
‘On the contrary, you say it beautifully, and like Jane Austen, you are a very wise woman, ahead of her time.’
Harry looked into my eyes and smiled. We were in Lyncombe Vale, following the raised footpath by the side of the brook, which Harry said Jane had mentioned in her letter.
I liked to think of Jane walking there, even if the views were changed.
The trees bent their branches over our heads, as we passed a neat row of Victorian houses on one side with the fields on the other as green and lovely as I imagined they’d been in any other time.
I learned later we’d walked in a very round about way because there was still quite a climb to Prior Park, but I didn’t care.
If it had taken all day to get there I loved talking to Harry, hearing his voice and listening to his thoughtful answers.
As we rounded the bend in the road a set of large gates to Prior Park could be seen at last, and Harry held out his hand.
***
Mr Gallagher, Harry’s old school teacher had left instructions with the caretaker to let us in.
We followed the path that took us round to the back of the college, the view opening up before us, so our eyes moved down to the magnificent Palladian bridge, its reflection clear in the lake to the views beyond of the crescents of Bath, and the Abbey in the distance.
It was impossible not to think of Catherine Morland as the green grass sloped down the hill, and I was tempted to lie down and roll all the way to the bottom.
Harry said he remembered a walk, which would take us through shaded paths down to the bridge.
It was lovely to feel his fingers holding mine, and every time he saw something to excite him he squeezed my hand.
The heat of the day was at its fiercest, and the serpentine path between stately pine trees felt cool.
Soon the wild garlic would be blooming with its heady fragrance, Harry said, and the woods would be filled with birdsong now the eggs were hatching.
Drifts of bluebells bloomed in a haze of amethyst, green shoots nudged through grey twigs on tree branches, and everywhere seemed as if it were burgeoning with life.
‘The trees are coming into leaf … doesn’t it feel as if we’re waiting for spring to finally announce that she’s here?’ I said.
We could have been the only people in the world, enveloped by the green tunnel of leaves whispering over our heads. Harry stopped on the path, and turned his head towards mine.