The elopement of an inmate could cause problems for the orphanage of a fiscal nature. It meant the government per child subsidy would have to be recalculated unfavourably. Finances were scarce, and in Racine’s case it was concluded the accounts remain unsullied by correction. It was only Lunetta who spared a thought for the boy, and from time to time she wondered what might have become of him.
It could be argued Racine had his subsequent career well mapped out by the surly postulants within the orphanage. Apart from Sister Lunetta and the senile old one, Fortunata, they punished him for being both evil and virtuous, for being nervous and confident, for being silly and serious, for being miserable and euphoric, for being both smart and stupid. It mattered not what the child did as it was met with either calamity or, worse still, indifference and we well know, there can be no more thorough a reproof than indifference.
He had grown into a short, wiry haired teenager with poor manners and unfortunate personal hygiene. At the tender age of thirteen, Racine absconded by leaving the raggedy flock as they crossed the dim lane for their daily lessons at the school. Astonished by the ease with which he made his escape he scampered off towards the great mountain to the east, the singularly enduring presence, his entire life. He travelled by foot, for he left the orphanage without bus money; in fact, he only had a vague notion of what money was, never having had any of it himself. His pilgrimage was interrupted by the vast road-works of what would become the dual-carriage freeway of Napoli – Reggio Calabria and now referred to as the A3. He was awestruck by the magnificent red and yellow earth moving vehicles. He saw one monster with its wheels taller than himself, violently pounding into the bedrock with a giant spike. Men beneath shiny plastic helmets scurried about between the growling behemoths.
Racine reached the outskirts of Portici on the Via della Liberta, but Vesuvius seemed as far away as it did looming over the walls of the orphanage. It was the longest journey he had ever taken. As he gazed at the mighty tower over the treetops, a signal of smoke rose from its broken funnel followed by a red flash spat high into the sky over Naples. Some of the portentous allure of the volcano departing, he turned back for what he thought to be less alarming, albeit homeless adventures in the malodorous alleys of Portici.
At this time in history the Camorra's influence pervaded both the alleys and high streets of Naples and indeed, greater Campania. There was not a pie these vermin weren’t fingering. Prostitution, drugs, protection rackets, illegal gambling and theft were pursued with a ruthlessness not seen since the Fascists reigned. It was not long before Racine managed to meet up with other delinquents in the thrall and employ of these ghastly creatures. Schooled in the rough ways of the street, he was pursuing a career in petty crime, by the time he had reached his fourteenth birthday. It is reasonable to suggest, if it had not been for the intervention of a certain Father Paulo, an early grave would have been his fate.
His small stature had made him eminently suited to insertion into cavities such as cat-flaps, crawlspaces and chimney flues for the purposes of ingress to properties that were not his own, to purloin goods to which he had no right. One night, such an exercise found him firmly wedged in a chimney stack on Via Arenaccia. The blood curdling screams for help from the chimney of the Gallacio family mansion caused, both the departure of his accomplice's and the arrival of the police in short order. It appeared that his girth was beginning to show signs of the corpulence with which he was graced in adult life, and he misjudged the size of the chimney cavity in question.
The following day, news of the incident appeared in the local newspaper ‘Il Inflame’ misconstrued as 'Un focolaio di invasioni di scarico adolescenti' and roughly translated in the Daily Telegraph in Sydney, Australia as ‘Teenage Flu Epidemic in Naples Mooted’. This caused a few flight cancellations. Several things occurred in Racine’s favour as a result of the chimney episode and one not so much in his favour. A block and tackle employed by the police rescue squad for the purposes of chimney extraction was the first favourable event. Near death by this time, the soot encrusted creature had to be first identified as human before certain unsavoury efforts were applied to revive him.
Present was a priest by the name of Paulo, summoned to read the last rights to the flue snipe. Once the Father was aware of his redundancy in one ministration he applied another. He suggested the poor creature had suffered enough and if the policemen were to place him in his care, he would ensure that Racine took a path that did not include activities of a felonious nature. The police were more than happy to forgo the extra paperwork and the bathing entailed in bringing the wretch to justice, and delivered him to the gates of Paulo’s church in Piazza Santa Drogo. Racine arrived at the church a little worse for wear, but among the living.
St. Drogo, Patron of Unattractive People was born in Epinoy, Flanders in the 11th century. He was also an orphan and this would play a significant role in the saint’s future. When he became aware his mother had died giving birth to him, he assumed a terrible responsibility and subsequently performed penances en extremis. At his earliest convenience, he discarded his scant belongings and embarked on a pilgrimage to Rome, so that he might better represent his guilt and receive instruction in the leading of a penitent life. For instance, there was some conjecture as to the efficacy of olive branches as opposed to that of the privet for the purpose of mortification. The stems of the wild rose were considered particularly pleasing to God. Flagellants of the Dark Ages had much to consider.
He eventually made ten pilgrimages to the Holy See and took up a position as a shepherd on the outskirts of what was then the Duchy of Naples. His flock grazed near the Duke’s castle known as Castel Capuana which is, in modern times, situated in the heart of the Metropolitan City of Naples. On one pilgrimage he became sick with a disorder of the body, rendering him horribly deformed. His resulting appearance scared the living daylights out of people in the town but, by now, he was considered a profoundly holy man. A suitable piece of land was procured in Portici and a church was built in his honour. In order to spare the parishioners his unlovely mien, a small cell was provided within the church. In this way he was able to continue attending to his spiritual needs incognito. He lived on water, grains softened in water, other water related products and the holy Eucharist for 40 years. It is said that he could magically be in two places at once. It was suggested by one unkind cynic that given his looks, who would have wanted to see two of him?
Father Paulo was a tall and impressive man. Fifty one years old at the time of his meeting with Racine. He combined a manly vigour with an urbane and cultured demeanour, peculiar to a certain type of Italian man. Steel grey curls fell to his dog collar, seemingly the only sartorial endorsement of his profession. He wore fashionable, blue loose fitting linen shirts and tan Chino's with a belt buckle that described a serpent consuming itself. The symbol of the serpent is a potent one, referring to the notion of cyclicality and it, knowing Paulo as I do, is most apt. His face partially concealed by a trimmed salt and pepper beard and a pair of old fashioned wire-rimmed glasses which he was perpetually adjusting on his not inconsiderable nose. As with a great many Neapolitan men, he smoked cigars, the acridity of which seemed to stain the very atmosphere of Piazza Drogo. He had a propensity for gesticulation that over-reached what we would normally expect, even from a Neapolitan. He thrust and waved about his large hands as if they were in need of wings to escape the confines of his land locked wrists. It was with these generous physical and self-assured attributes, he escorted the boy from the police vehicle to the humble portal of the St. Drogo rectory.
The good father’s first duty to Racine was to provide him with the bathroom where he was not to emerge until his true colour might be observed without the black soot and rags gracing his callow hide