Jack
Horner was referred to by the townsfolk who knew him as 'a
curious boy.' Brushing negative implications aside the statement
was, at it's heart, quite accurate, Jack was curious. He was
a fountain overflowing with questions. His parents and school teachers were
quickly overwhelmed by his barrages of inquiry and more often than
not left his questions half answered or ignored completely. So Jack
sought answers wherever they were most convenient. He sought them in
the patterns of raindrops in puddles and the flickers of embers in
the hearth. He sought them in the footprints left in the mud by the
horses, in the number of steps it took him to walk somewhere. He
sought them in the shapes of the clouds in the sky and the way a deck
of cards would fall if dropped. He sought them in the hundreds of
regular daily occurrences the rest of the town took for granted. To
Jack there was no question that couldn't be answered if one was
willing to ask. Had he been raised in a far away land, his
inclination could have earned him some renown as a diviner or seer. However, the superstitions in Jacks town were of a more orthodox
nature and folks looked upon Jack's practices and notions with fear,
disdain, pity or a mix of the three. There were some who talked in
hushed breath that he was involved in some sort of witchcraft or
devilry, but most regarded him as odd but harmless, yet not to be
encouraged or associated with. The town's children tended to look
upon Jack as a prophet or charlatan and treated him with reverence or
bemusement accordingly. Those that became overtly interested in his
antics were strongly discouraged by their parents from becoming too
friendly with the boy. None of the townspeople were openly
disrespectful to Jack's parents on account of their son's behaviors,
but invariably the emotions he triggered in people would pierce
through the usual courtesies and leak into conversation through
subtle changes in voice and expression. Mr & Mrs Horner, were
good people and did their best to accommodate their strange child
while always working to steer him towards more proper behavior.
Jack's father, also named Jack, carved bowls, cutlery, combs, flutes,
pipes, pins and other small knick knacks which he sold out of the
store in the front of the house. Jack showed promise as a carver, but
had a hard time staying focused with his head full of questions and
would often abandon his projects part way through. The same went for
his school work, where he was often chastised for uncompleted
assignments, inattention in class and arguing with the teacher.
Although it seemed that one so curious would flourish and find
comfort in the world of academia, there was not room within the
schooling of the day for Jack's alternative methods of inquiry,
weather or not they provided the correct answers, and he was told to
stop the superstitious nonsense and learn proper science, writing and
maths. On the day the students were let off for their Christmas
holiday, Jack's teacher sent a note home to his parents wherein she
explained the situation and suggested that Jack may be better off not
continuing his schooling and instead focusing on a trade. This
distressed Mr & Mrs Horner, for while Mr Horner had done
reasonably well for himself as a carver, they knew that if Jack were
to have any other options, and any socially accepted place to channel
his endless curiosity, it would be through higher schooling than they
could give him. They resolved to have a serious talk with their son
and early on Christmas Eve they sat him down. They explained that
they loved him and wanted what was best for him and what was best and
what was necessary was for him to pretend to be someone he wasn't.
They told him they knew that he was smart and moral and whatever
compass he had in his head steering him was alright by them, but not
everyone would feel this way and in a healthy society everyone
compromises for the good of the whole. They assured him that they did
not mind if he continued to ask the universe questions on the future
or morality or the proper course of action, what was important was
that from then on it was kept private. They asked him if they
understood what they were saying, whereupon he nodded and they all
embraced. His father returned to the shop and his mother went out to
purchase a few last minute gifts and supplies, both proud of themselves for
having gotten though to him. So when Mrs. Horner came home to find
the entrails of the Christmas goose strewn across the floor with Jack
in the middle rooting through them, she decided that was quite
enough. Ignoring his protests and explanations, she dragged him
upstairs to wash up and confined him to his room while she set about
cleaning up the mess. After a discussion with Mr Horner it was
decided that Jack would for the coming days, be confined to his room
except to attend the church service and to see the family and attend
the morrows dinner, where he was to remain seated at the small table
in the corner nook of the kitchen. The supper was a rather big to-do
for the family, several aunts, uncles and cousins came from nearby
towns and a several course meal was prepared. As Jack sat in the corner and watched his cousins play games by the
hearth he was not jealous nor angry, in fact he was as happy here by
himself as he would have been over with them. The feeling that filled
him was confusion. Although the punishment itself was inconsequential
to him, it caused him for the first time to doubt himself and he
questioned his beliefs and the means by which he obtained them.
Perhaps he was a charlatan devil worshiping dunce and so far mislead
that he was not even aware of it. His head, normally full of so many
questions, was now filled to the brim with only a single one, was he right or wrong? He wished deeply for some way to know and no sooner had
he made the wish than his mother walked over to deliver a savory
Christmas pie filled with meat and fruit. He asked that he be sent a
sign through the pie, that if there was a plum to be found within his
pie then he was not crazy or odd but a prophet, filled with a
misunderstood wisdom and justified in his behaviors, if there was
none then his parents and teachers were right and he had been a
misguided fool. Ignoring his fork, he dug his fingers into the pie
and oblivious to the heat began to delve through it until trembling
he removed a plum and, standing upon his chair, held it aloft as
he proclaimed to the whole room his saintliness.
