As the water follows the moon

5 (English version)

There was a little boy out in the country...

In the very first days at the monastery Teddy understood that he has done the right choice. His disarrayed soul needed exactly this silence, peace, solitude, concentration over praying and contemplation of God. Teddy began his healing from the first seconds of being there. Now he had no doubts about his decision.

However Teddy had no time for the outside thoughts because the monastery schedule was strict. His brain was always involved with something. If he wasn't praying – alone or together with his brothers - he was studying theology and reading religious books. Now if he ever thought about what he has left behind it was with a light sadness. He didn't regret what he no longer had, he was happy to ever have it at all.

...Lately they've been living outside the city in a big and fancy-looking castle. There were so many rooms that it was easy to get lost and in the roof there was a helicopter ground. The family bought this house especially for gathering together but this never has really happened although Teddy was living there all the time just like two of his un-married sisters and their father. The castle was too huge and Teddy was feeling very lonely there but he was too lazy to seek an apartment. Besides, in the city he couldn't make a quiet living but here he lived like in a Medieval fortress.

And there were times when they lived in a double-decker bus! They were like vagrant musicians constantly moving from place to place and in the evenings presenting their simple performances to the respectful audience. Teddy liked thinking about his family in this way and paying no attention to difficulties of such a life but only getting pleasures from the work they loved so much and that endless freedom they used to have then.

Teddy enjoyed remembering his parents and his happy childhood they have given to him. He wished he could come back to those careless days! To become again that light-hearted boy who pierced his ears and wrote his first love songs not knowing this very love but only longing for it and dreaming about it with his whole soul...

He remembered his first performances with his mum. He was very small and barely realized himself or the world around but these impressions were so strong that stayed with him for all his life. Mum danced with baby Martha in her arms. She laughed and her laugh gave Teddy shivers and everything looked beautiful. For the first time he felt happy being on the stage and deeply fell in love with it. He adored even nervousness that he felt before performances.

During the concerts Teddy liked not only singing but going crazy and making people laugh. He wore kilt and jumped on the stage as possessed making different acrobatic tricks and showing his legs to spectators but this was not enough for his insatiable soul. Step by step he provided himself with the whole armory that he used on each performance invariably making his fans fall into wild delight. Teddy drove on his older brother Timmy's neck, poured water from a bottle over playing drums Gabe, turned somersaults, sang and played guitar lying on stage, improvised a lot and always stayed the center of everyone's attention and attraction. Teddy's each appearance was accompanied with especially load screams and applause and his brothers and sisters soon got used to it. So he has found his vocation.

First, he understood that nothing made him as happy as performance in front of audience whatever it may be. Second, he saw that he could make other people happy with his music. And third, Teddy realized that he was special. He wildly loved his family but even close to his siblings he felt like a stranger. And he preferred to imagine that he was an alien from another planet only looking like one of Reily brothers. He made himself a legend according to which he was sent to Earth with a special mission and Teddy was going to complete it at any cost.

Mum's death was the first shock in still unclouded Teddy's life. He was only five when it happened and he didn't realized many things but he cried a lot. Mum meant light, warmth and love for him. He remembered her like this.

But since their mother had to leave her kids so early, their father has lived long and fulfilled life. Teddy understood that all their success belonged to their father with his endless love to music. He has cultivated this love in the hearts of all his children since their first days. Besides he gave them a very good upbringing and education.

Like the rest of the Reilys Teddy never came to school. From their mother they have learned to sing and dance and their father has taught them foreign languages, playing different musical instruments and other sciences. Thus Teddy from his early age could freely speak six languages and played guitar, piano, accordion, drums and God knows what else. All brothers and sisters turned out to be very talented – especially in everything concerning music. Probably usual school would never have given them what they got studying by themselves.

And also their father taught them to love other people, helped to develop their natural kindness and compassion. The Reily kids grew up into remarkable young people and each of them dreamed of having in the future a big and harmonious family as their parents used to have.

Teddy liked remembering his childhood a lot but more often the thoughts about those fatal days that have changed his life for good came to him...