“It has words on it.”
The teacher bent over to see what he was seeing. “It does,” she said. “But it’s hard to see what they are.”
David stared at the piece. “It says ‘everything leads me to thee’.”
The teacher looked at him with surprise. “How can you tell?”
“I just can.”
By this time, Peter saw the dawdlers and was waving them over, but the teacher motioned to him instead. Leaving the wild animals lingering by the sword case, Peter scurried over.
“Yes, ma’am?” he asked quickly. “Did you have a question?”
The teacher pointed at the case. “He says that there are words on that piece of fabric.”
Peter nodded. “There are, indeed.”
“Do you know what it says?”
“It says ‘everything leads me to thee’.”
The teacher looked at young David with shock. “That’s what he said,” she exclaimed softly. “David, how did you know that?”
David gazed up at the teacher and the docent with his dark blue eyes and shrugged. “I just do,” he replied. “He carried it with him all the time, didn’t he?”
Peter was impressed with the young man’s apparent knowledge of the Irish rebel. “He did,” he confirmed. “Do you know much about Devlin de Bermingham?”
David shook his head as he looked at the cases with all of the items that seemed oddly familiar to him. He had no idea why and, being nine years old, didn’t give it much thought. But he had an odd sense of déjà vu. Still, it wasn’t particularly concerning. He wanted to go see the Medieval weapons.
The boy wandered off, leaving the teacher and docent standing at the case, looking rather perplexed. Peter wriggled his eyebrows.
“How on earth could he see what that cloth says?” he wondered. “You can’t tell that just by looking at it. It’s very faded and torn.”
The teacher shook her head, a lingering gaze on the case. “Who knows?” she said. “He’s always been a bit of an odd duck. He’s had violent outbreaks at times and when we’ve met with the mother to discuss them, she says he has violent dreams as well. Battle, death, destruction, and a particular hatred for England.”
Peter shrugged and they began heading back over to the Medieval weapons case. “Perhaps he’s just a good Irish rebel,” he said.
The teacher grinned as they came upon the children, who were very excited by the Medieval swords and weaponry. “I suppose that’s true,” she said. “Maybe there’s a little Black Sword in every Irish boy.”
*THE END*
