As he laughed, making fun of me, all my remaining feelings of gratitude disappeared in an instant. “I see, you are calling me, an innocent eight-year-old, a liar without any proof?”
“I don’t need any proof. Learning how to read in a month is just impossible; out of question! I mean, you were only able to read the first sentence, and even then, only because I taught you!”
It looked like he wasn’t going to listen to me. In that case, I had no other option. If I was not able to talk to him like a civilized person, there was only one way left: I had to go to war. And not just any war—a holy war, unquestionably justified in the face of a clergyperson who was inclined to doubt someone’s intentions before believing them. I was going to pull the carpet from under the feet of this sad priest who didn’t believe people and make him trip over.
“What would you be willing to do if I can prove you wrong?” I challenged him.
“There is no way!”
“Well, then I will ask you for the right to borrow any book under your supervision if I can prove to you that I can read.”
“You’re on. If you can prove me wrong, I will let you borrow as many books as you want.” Folke was challenging me with a condescending sneer.
“Let’s see...” The quickest method would have been to just read another book from his collection, but they were all handwritten. If I happened to choose a book with peculiar handwriting, I could run into a problem. Of course the opposite—Folke’s handwriting being the peculiar one—was also a possibility. “I thought of a good way to prove it! Could you please lend me a pen and paper?”
“What are you trying to do?”
“I will write up a contract, stating that you are going to let me borrow your books as a punishment for calling me a liar, killing two birds with one stone.”
Since I used Folke’s letters as an example in my studies, it was unlikely that he wouldn’t be able to read my writing. If by any chance I made a mistake, the contract would be void, but if I managed to write everything down correctly, I could get him to sign it.
As expected, Folke was getting nervous after hearing my plan. Although he thought it was impossible, it looked like he started having doubts at the mention of a binding force such as a contract.
“How are we going to proceed? We don’t have to do any of this, but in that case, I would like you to apologize. I was deeply hurt when you called me, a pure child, a liar. I am so sad I cannot stop crying.”
I tried to look as sad and pretended to cry as unnaturally as possible. I wanted to provoke him. It would be much more fun to get him to a point where he absolutely refused to apologize to a feisty brat like me. And it looked like it worked.
“What are you saying, you stupid brat, you’re not even hurt in the slightest. I’ll tear through that demon-like, thick skin and show you who’s right.” Father Folke squared his shoulders before going to look for pen and paper. I won.
By the way, those demons that adults always mention... Do they really exist in this world? I always thought they were just a bogeyman to scare children into staying away from danger. However, having gone through the spiritual experience of having apparent past-life memories, I can no longer easily laugh off other mysterious phenomena.
“There you go. Show me what you got, stupid brat.”
“Yes, sir.” You are crossing your arms and looking tough, but I can see the wavering in your eyes.
I dipped the quill pen into the ink and slowly started writing. It didn’t go very smoothly, since I wasn’t used to writing or using a quill pen.
“I’m sorry for my bad writing, but can you read it?” After finishing, I wiped my forehead, even though I hadn’t sweat at all. When I saw Father Folke’s face turn pale, I knew he could read it. “Would you be so kind as to read it out loud?”
“I can’t believe it. You really went and learned how to read and write in one month.”
He was too surprised to read out my sentence, but this was what I had written:
‘As punishment for baselessly calling him a liar, the priest Folke will grant Ash permission to borrow without restriction any book under his supervision.’
Luckily, I was dealing with phonograms. If those were ideograms, there was no way I could have learned them within a month. Ideograms were usually more complex and numerous than phonograms, which were easy to write in their colloquial forms once you remembered their pronunciation and the corresponding letters. In that regard, the latter were much more convenient.
“You little... I mean, Ash! How did you remember the letters? You weren’t even able to read at all!”
He cross-examined me while firmly grabbing my shoulder. I was scared. Having the so-called zombie priest draw closer to my face felt like I was about to be bitten.
“Well, all I really did was remember the letters from the first sentence that you taught me, apply them to the other sentences, and then guess from context the letters that I didn’t know.”
It was like cracking a code. Using the many sentences that I had heard over the past eight years as a starting point for my decipherment, I was able to fill in a lot of gaps. However, there were probably still some letters that I didn’t know, as well as words that I could read but whose meaning eluded me. It felt more like I was still studying rather than reading the book.
Father Folke let himself fall into his chair. There was no need to be overly dramatic. Although considering that I was an eight-year-old in a village with a literacy rate close to zero, maybe he wasn’t exaggerating.
Anyways, with this, the contract was set up. I had him sign it and thus was ready to borrow the next book.
“If possible, I would like to read another religious book, or an easy story with similar vocabulary.”
I was thinking about something along the lines of a story about a saint, or maybe a textbook. Those usually didn’t have many difficult words and were fun to read. As I watched Father Folke choose a book, a bright smile came over my face.
I left the church with a spring in my step, cherishing a new hope called books. All that was on my mind was books. In my hand, I was unmistakably holding a book with a story inside. This human work of art, filled to the brim with hope which was igniting my will to live, raised my mood through the roof. I was riding on such a high that I felt I might get blasted up in the sky to join a star constellation.
I thought I was flying in the air with no ground underneath my feet when I heard someone call out to me. “Hey, Ash! Can you come over here for a moment?”
Certainly, I could. In high spirits, I returned to the ground with a broad grin and greeted the girl who had called me. “Hello, Maika. Today the weather is the best that it has ever been in my entire life!”
It was Lady Maika, who was the same age as me. She was the most popular girl among all the boys our age, since she always had a bright smile on her face and was very sociable. As usual, her ponytail was flying in the wind and her smile felt like a ray of sunshine in this gloomy village.
“Yeah, today the weather is... not that great? Did you not see all the clouds?” Her face suddenly clouded, just like the sky above us. That was a rare sight.
While thinking about the possibility that the weather was actually linked to her mood, I nodded. “Yeah, both the clouds and the temperatures are low. It looks like winter has finally arrived.” I added with a smile that she should take care not to catch a cold in this weather.
More and more clouds of doubt passed across her face. They looked like they were about to burst into hail. “I feel like you aren’t making much sense... Could it be that you are in a good mood?”
“Yes, a very good mood indeed.”
I answered with a sunlike smile, trying to counter Lady Maika, who looked like she was brewing up a winter storm. In winter, the sun was usually weak, but due to my atmosphere-breaking, high-energy mood, my smile was shining brighter than any ozone-layer-filtered summer sun.