Bembi had had a hard winter living in a derelict house by the railway tracks when Daniel told him about the priest at the San Rocco church.
After the service the priest took him into his office and questioned Bembi about his faith. Bembi did not make any bones about it; he could not pretend to be religious. “I am planning to get religion, one day,” he said. “At the moment I don’t get it.”
The priest laughed. “Well,” he said, “let me help you try and get it. Why don’t you come next Sunday?”
Bembi went back the following Sunday. The priest gave him some odd jobs to do around the Church.
The priest had a number of helpers, but Bembi had always been good at fixing things, especially cars. The Priest’s car was a perennial choker. After a bit of tinkering with the carburettor, Bembi managed to get it going.
“All it needed was a bit of patience.”
“I will remember that,” said the priest, “and put it in my sermon.”
One day, Bembi had borrowed the priest’s car. When Bembi did not show up at the Church, the priest grew worried. Later, he learnt Bembi had been picked up by the police without his permessso di soggiorno[1] and had been taken to the camp out by the military airport.
The priest got in his brother’s car and went out to speak to the Colonel who ran the camp, but it was too late. Bembi had been shunted off to a camp further south.
Six months later, the priest was coming out of church when he saw Bembi. He had the bonnet of the car up with the engine ticking over sweetly. “All it needs is a little patience,” he said.
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