Page 151 of The Chase
“Most of them. Many of their parents didn’t make it. The system got overrun and we had to make special concessions to house all of them. If we send them back...” He gave a shrug.
“You own a charity?”
“Yes.”
I was too speechless to answer.
He gave my arm a nudge. “Want a closer look at what we’re working on?”
I shook my head as though coming out of a dream. “Yes.”
When the teenagers recognized him, they dropped what they were doing, rose to their feet and ran to him. All of them reached out to wrap their arms around him. Their smiles hid the pain of what they’d gone through.
I stepped aside to give them more room and watched Tobias interact with them with such kindness and patience that I had to squeeze back tears. He knew each of their names and turned around to include everyone. Their teachers came over to shake Tobias’s hand and they chatted about their current progress.
He introduced me to everyone, and I knew I was witnessing a unique glimpse into his world. I understood why he kept it out of the headlines. That was his way of protecting these vulnerable children.
One of the male teenagers grabbed Tobias’s hand and led him across the dirt floor to the back of the room. He wanted to show him what he’d accomplished and pointed to where he’d dusted away a Roman wall painting.
Standing back a little, I took it the magnificence of the ancient mural running along the entire wall. The painting depicting an ancient coliseum.
This was a peek into the profoundness that was London’s history, a rich and never-ending insight into its past, stretching back all the way to 47 AD, when the Roman Empire owned the city and eventually turned it into the golden age of trade.
This priceless mural of Roman soldiers fighting in a coliseum, with its faded earth colors, was to be saved in a last-ditch effort to honor one of history’s greatest times.
Tobias accepted the dry brush he was handed by the boy and set about joining him to dust away more debris. They chatted away about this and that and I overheard Tobias playfully arguing about football, and telling him that Liverpool was going to kick Manchester United’s butt this weekend in Saturday’s game.
Tobias glanced back at me and threw a wide grin.
This felt like the most precious of all the moments I’d ever spent with him. There were no flashy gadgets for him to hide behind, no alpha drama to protect him, this was the most authentic I’d ever seen him.
And he looked so happy.
Looking down at my arms there was already a fine layer of dust covering my skin and yet I didn’t care.
“This is where I’d come from.” Tobias peered up at me. “The night I met you at The Otillie.”
It made sense now why he’d showered and changed in the staff room that evening and why he’d not wanted to tell me this before.
I now knew the privilege of him trusting me with this.
He patted the teen on his hard hat and rose to stand beside me again. “We’re going to keep this wall intact and transport it to The Otillie. This is what the new wing is for. It will go on display in the early year.”
“This is incredible.”
And he’d just gone from mystery man to superhero status.
He leaned into me and whispered, “The sacrifice their parents made to get them to safety and ensure them a better life, it won’t be wasted.”
“I understand why you keep this so private.”
He gestured to the others. “Their safety is my priority.”
“That’s why you keep out of the press too?”
“This, this is what’s important.” He raised his brush for me to take it. “Art is about chipping away until we get to the truth. When the truth protects others it should never be squandered.”
“I’m wowed.”
