DAVID COPPERFIELD AND ME
The bell rang and I joined throngs of my fellow classmates shuffling through the halls like zombies, lurching to their next class.
It was almost mid-June and we only had a few more days of school left before we embarked on a life of summer fun and frolic. Final exams were over, marks were in and we were all just marking time, much like the inmates of the Lehigh County Jail down the street.
Obviously, in these last few days, there wasn’t much to do to keep us occupied. Regular classes were pretty much over.
However, never underestimate the sheer resourcefulness of a bunch of nuns who need to keep well over 1000 students busy. Because those enterprising ladies managed to find various tasks to keep us all working – and fairly quiet.
This morning, our desks already had stacks of Biology 101 books waiting for us. Our task, simple and boring as it was, was to clean up the books with soap erasers for the incoming fall freshmen. I had already spiffed up a bunch of theology books at my last class and was bored stiff.
Then I was rescued from my mind-numbing, soul-destroying task, by a heaven-sent angel. Sister Regina appeared at the door. After a little confab with Sister Bartholomew, she beckoned me to follow.
“Dear, I need a little help with the English literature book closet. Would you mind?”
First of all, you never say no to a nun. Second of all, well, there is no second of all.
I followed her to a closet right off Rockne Hall. She pulled out a ring of keys, fiddled around until she found the right one and unlocked the closet door.
The two of us surveyed the inside of the book closet. Books were tossed on shelves in a haphazard way, some barely clinging to the edges.
“Oh no. This worse than I thought,” Sister Regina said. “We’ll have to clear everything off the shelves and start from scratch. I’m sorry dear, that I got you into this.”
“I don’t know, Sister. It’s not so bad,” I said. I always liked Sister Regina.
Given the alternative, I was happy as a clam to help her with the mess before us.
“Well, once more into the breach,” I said and began pulling books from the shelf and sorting them into piles on the floor.
Sister Regina laughed at my Shakespeare quote, while I handed her more copies of Silas Marner. We started on the second shelf when I noticed something beige and red wedged into the corner on the very back of the first shelf.
“There’s something else back here, Sister.” Reaching back, I took hold and pulled out a huge dusty book. Just under two inches thick, it weighed a ton. Okay, not a ton, but at least a pound or two. I blew the dust off and noticed it had deckled edges and a tight stitched binding with strong sturdy boards front and back. A pretty pricey tome for a high school book closet.
I opened it to find the high school stamp inside and the library book pocket and card on the inside page. Dickens, David Copperfield, was written in fine nun’s penmanship on the card. And that was it.
“What a shame, Sister. It’s never been taken out.”
“Of course,” she sighed. “That’s because it’s the unabridged version, unlike all the abridged versions the students read. Perhaps someone donated it and Sister Irene thought she should have at least one good copy for her shelves.”
I began paging through to the first page.
Chapter one. I Am Born. Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show.
Well, I thought, I’m liking David Copperfield way more than Silas Marner. Truth to tell I didn’t appreciate Silas when I read him. But it seems like David’s already a much more interesting, fun fellow.
“Janice,” Sister Regina said, jolting me out of my reading.
“Oh, sorry Sister. Better get back to work before you fire me,” I said handing her David.
“No, I just wondered. Would you like to have that book?”
My hands closed around the book again, with its deckled edge pages, all 850 plus of them, its sturdy boards and tight binding and I realized David and I were going to become good friends.
And we did.
