“Oh, yes. Well, Timmy’s coming to Mercyville may be a sort of good luck omen for me. In a little while I’m going into Elmhurst to try out for a scholarship to Timothy College. Get it? That’s Timmy’s name. You probably never heard of the school....”
“Timothy College!” Tommy cried. “My sister, Doris, is trying out for a scholarship there, too! She plays the piano.”
“That is a coincidence!” Mr. Henderson said. He stood up. “Bert, why don’t you take Timmy and his friend down to meet George? That’s George Michael, our president-elect. Dr. Benson and Miss Gordon and I can clear up the details while you’re gone.”
Bert nodded, and led the small party out of the office.
Mr. Henderson’s face sobered as the young people left. “Children left alone in the world constitute the worst tragedy I know of,” he sighed. “I’m very glad we have room for Timmy. Every time I have to turn away a boy, my heart breaks again.”
“That’s why I’m so glad you could take him, sir,” Dr. Benson said. “You see, Timmy hasn’t had any sort of break from life yet at all. We checked with the authorities when we finally found out who he was, and his background was ... terrible! His father had been out of work for months. There was a housefull of children, and they all lived in one room. The rest of the family was killed in a tenement fire. Timmy was out on the streets with a gang of hoodlums at the time.”
Mr. Henderson stroked his iron gray hair. “That’s as wretched a tale as I’ve heard yet, and I’ve heard some pretty bad ones.”
Dr. Benson cleared his throat nervously. “I think you may have some problems with Timmy. He doesn’t even seem to be aware that his family is gone. He knows, of course, but he’s all wrapped up in a hard shell which comes from living a life like that. And when he softens up and gets human again, he’s going to feel the tragedy.”
Mr. Henderson nodded. “I understand.”
“I wonder,” Dr. Benson blurted out. “I don’t mean to doubt your word, but I went through it, myself. We lived in a place like Timmy’s old home. My parents died when I was in medical school, and it took months before I even realized what had happened. Even though I had been so much luckier than the other boys I knew, I was still suffering what they call slum-shock years after I had left home.”