The Boy and the Bricks

This story explores the mystical presence of a Holy Fool who lived in St. Petersburg in the 18th century.

Pavel’s friend picked up a handful of pebbles and sneered at the ragged old woman sitting on the side of the street. “Hey, fool!”

As the pebbles and dust rained down on her, she curled on her side and covered her head.

The boys around them joined the mockery:

“Why are you wearing a man’s clothes?”

“Why do say your name is Andrei?”

“Take a bath, you smelly old fool!”

They laughed and wagged their heads at her, but she remained quiet.

Pavel hesitated, then yelled, “Get out of St. Petersburg!”

After kicking more dust in her direction, he elbowed his friends and motioned for them to move on.

At the end of the block, Pavel looked back. “Andrei-the-weird-old-woman” was still on the ground, but she had raised herself to a sitting position and looked calmly at him. Straight at him.

He shivered.

She kept his gaze.

Looking away, he called after his friends to wait up.

If only he could spend the rest of the evening with his friends, instead of going home.

Pavel was an apprentice brick mason with his papa, Pyotr. They had both been coming home cranky, ever since starting on the new cathedral.

Pyotr growled at his wife as he kicked his dirty shoes by the door, “The foreman threatened to beat us again today.” He slammed his weight into a chair at the kitchen table. Laying his head on his hands, he mumbled something that Pavel couldn’t hear. His mother must have heard, because she brought him a steamy cup and silently rubbed his shoulders.

As his papa’s stiff back melted under her touch, Pavel’s own shoulders relaxed. With a knowing look his mother nodded to the samovar, and Pavel poured himself a cup of tea and sat down in silence.

After several minutes, his papa straightened his back, took a sip of tea, and sighed. “Forgive my grumpiness, family.” He shook his head slowly. “The foreman is demanding we finish the upper level by the end of the week. It’s impossible. The bricks are on the ground. It would take a whole day to haul just the first batch of bricks up, then we’d still have to work them into place.” He looked up at his wife. “We won’t get our wages if it’s not complete by Friday.”

Pavel wondered if they would have to work through the night, every night for the rest of the week. After hauling heavy bricks all day, no samovar to come home to. No bed even. No sleep. Just more work in the darkness of the night. He sat staring at his tea.

His mama offered in her soft voice. “We can pray.”

“Sure.” His papa’s voice sounded tired. “But if God doesn’t work a miracle, we won't finish by Friday.”

***

The next morning, Pavel and his papa walked to the cathedral site. All he could imagine was the huge pile of bricks - taller than his papa. It was one thing to carry heavy bricks across the work yard, but it would be miserable to lug them all to the upper level.

He glanced at his papa. Usually, the proud laborer held his stout frame high, shoulders back. Not this morning. Those shoulders sagged.

When the cathedral site came into view, something looked wrong. A few of the other brick-masons were already there, walking around, searching for something. Some men shouted in concern. Pavel and his papa picked up their pace. Something was missing – the mound of bricks was not on the ground! They ran towards the site.

By the time they arrived, one of the workers was shielding his eyes and pointing up to the scaffolding. The huge mound of bricks had already been moved to the upper level.

The foreman shouted at a man nearby. “You! Get down to the brickyard and order another round to be delivered.” He looked at the stunned workers. “The rest of you! Get to work!”

That night, his papa smiled when he walked through the door.

After two more days of the miraculous moving up of the bricks, the workers took turns telling stories of how it might have happened. But no one could come up with a logical solution. They decided to set a watch that night and voted on Pyotr.

Pavel almost jumped with excitement. “Oh, Papa! Please let me come with you!”

His papa shrugged. “I guess you are small enough to squeeze in next to me.”

Pavel mixed the mortar and carried the buckets to the men as fast as he could for the whole day. He could hardly wait until night!

***

Tucked behind a stack of shovels in the shadow of the wall, Pavel waited and watched with his papa. When he saw the truth, he was dumbstruck. He blinked. He couldn’t believe it. His papa shook his head slowly back and forth.

The crazy old lady with the man’s name and the military jacket hauled up the bricks, load by load in the light of the moon. Her body may have bent over, but she was strong. For ten hours she worked non-stop, as they watched in the shadows.

After she climbed down the ladder from delivering the last load, she walked over to where they hid behind the shovels. The light before dawn threatened to reveal them.

Pavel held his breath.

The woman smiled in his direction. “Good morning, Pavel Petrovich.”

His father turned to him, eyebrows all bunched together. Then he looked back at the miraculous lady.

“Crazy Andrei?” Pavel’s voice sounded raspy.

“You know each other?” Papa whispered.

“We do know each other, Pyotr Ivanovich.” The crazy lady smiled at Pavel. “You can call me Xenia.” She held her finger up to her lips and whispered. “But shhhhhhh!” Then she turned to go.

His papa nudged him, and Pavel remembered himself. He called after her. “Thank you, Xenia. Forgive me, please! And thank you for helping us!”

She paused and turned just enough to bow her head to him. Then she slipped down a side street and was gone.

Pyotr put his arm around his son’s shoulders. Pavel mouthed the words again with tears on his face. “Thank you.”

***

That evening, when Pavel was walking home with his friends, they saw Crazy Andrei on the side of the street. The other boys started to elbow each other and bend down to scoop up handfuls of dirt. Pavel stopped them. “Leave her alone.” He jerked his head in the other direction, “I heard the blacksmith around the corner has a bear skull in his shop. Let’s go see.” That sounded good enough for his friends. He let them pass and then turned towards Xenia with a shy smile and waved.

She nodded to him.

And it felt like heaven.