Risk: The Lord Mayor’s Coach

So I know my last post discussed how I want to be keeping up with this journal more regularly but then I had several days of headaches and fatigue and couldn’t concentrate enough to write anything coherent. Fatigue is an ongoing part of my life and I have years of experience of managing it. ButI still struggle to know when it would be a good idea to push myself a bit and when I really don’t just need to rest – it’s something that complicates the ideas of rigour and repitition for me
Anyway I’m writing again today (actually partly writing and partly dictating to my tablet because typing is not agreeing with my achy fingers and then having to correct all the times though the dictation software really struggles with my accent and intonation) even though I’m not 100% so I hope what I say makes sense.

As ever I’ll start with a nine sentence recap of what happens in this quite exciting chapter:
Gobbolino walks away from the orphanage
He hears a fast approaching coach
It’s the Lord Mayor’s coach and horses are out of control
Gobbolino hears and then sees that the Brothers are trying to drive it
They tried to swerve and drive upside down into a ditch.
The coach is smashed but fortunately the brothers the baby and the horses are all fine
Gobbolino walks the brothers back to the orphanage fearing the mayor will reject them
Everyone is so relieved that the brothers are safe no one really minds about the coach
The Brothers and Gobbolino are taken to live at the Lord Mayor’s house even though the Lady Mayoress doesn’t like cats

And the three sentence version:
The Brothers steal the Lord Mayor’s coach to chase after Gobbolino
Unsurprisingly they crash it but fortunately are unhurt
The Lord Mayor sends for his second best coach to take them all to their new home

Obviously the biggest example of risk in this chapter is the brother is trying to drive the coach. They are far too small and inexperienced to do it safely. They must know that Driving and keeping the horses under control is a potentially dangerous job but only for an experience grown-up but they try anyway. Even though they obviously know that taking a risk it’s not clear if they realise quite how dangerous their behaviour is – does their inexperience mean they underestimate the skill involved in driving a coach? They are coming from a place of “unconscious incompetence“ and haven’t yet developed enough understanding and skill to be conscious of their incompetence. Children often, understandably, chafe at the many restrictions on their behaviour and choices and coming to understand the reasons for those restrictions is part of the process of maturing sufficiently to be able to do whatever the forbidden thing is. I think if the older brothers had had a more mature and realistic understanding of the risk they were taking in stealing the carriage then they wouldn’t have brought their little baby brother with them. As an adult reading about the Baby swinging in a basket slung from the axle terrifies me but it seems that for the Brother’s being staying together and going off to go Baleno is far more important than their physical safety. And they don’t seem to give any thought for the well-being of the horses.
Another risk that the Brother’s are taking is the risk of being rejected by the Lord Mayor and family because of their bad behaviour and the destruction of a valuable piece of property. It’s not obvious whether that’s something they haven’t thought of at all or if being with Gobbolino is such a priority for them that they’re prepared to give up their chance of a new family.
A definite example of unaware risk-taking is the baby eating dandelions when he lands in the field after the crash. He is too young to have any sense of which plants are safe to eat and which aren’t. Dandelion petals are edible but the latex-y sap In the stems can make you sick. The Baby has no idea about that and the older Brothers don’t seem to have noticed in all the drama and tending to their own bones bruises so it’s just as well that Gobbolino is there to take the dandelions out of the Baby’s mouth.
I think that we see the Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress that this reckless escapade of the brothers is a one-off and they aren’t taking delinquent and destructive people into their home and family. They stick by the choice they made to adopt the Brothers, which is admirable. Caring for anybody and inviting them into your life is always a bit of a risk but it’s a risk that is essential for our humanity that we keep on taking it. The Lord Mayor in particular responds well to this risk risky behaviour from the brothers making the effort to reconnect with them and then using it a teachable moment - he’s the first person to hug them when they return and then he explains to them a whole list of the terrible things that could have happened and insists that
When you become my sons you should never, never run into such danger again!”
Which is a much more constructive response than Gobbolino’s anger (although he manages to suppress his anger long enough to check them for injuries and only ”cuffs their ears” when he’s sure they are OK).
Another response to the risk that the brothers took which is interesting is that even the seemingly heartless Cook has been worried about them and has joined the party of concerned adults and children peering anxiously down the road for them. She also responds with anger and harshness after she knows that they are safe and seems much more like her unpleasant self that we met in the previous chapter going to the extreme of suggesting meeting as a punishment. (Which was probably seen as a less unreasonable idea at the time that the book was written than it does now). I can definitely relate to an adult who feels feeling angry when children in their care have done something dangerous (though I obviously wouldn’t threaten them with violence). I do find it heartening that even someone as seemingly uncaring and unpleasant is showing some care and concern for the children who have been in her charge (though I do still feel relieved that she has been dismissed for her previous bad behaviour).
The final risk I see in this chapter is the Lady Mayoresses brave act of generosity in taking in Gobbolino as well as the Brothers even though she ”detested cats. She’s already been generous in opening her home and heart to a family of four children when she originally intended to adopt only one. She doesn’t want to take in a cat and seems to have some kind of phobia or really extreme aversion. But when she sees just how much it matters to the children she is taking responsibility for and particularly to the Baby she is the one that opens the carriage door to let Gobbolino in. She knows that it’s going to be hard for her and she does it anyway. I think that’s an admirable example of risk-taking even though we’ll see in the next chapter just how difficult it is for her and for Gobbolino.

So what examples of risk have I missed? And what other thoughts do you have about this chapter?

I’m really quite tired now and also a bit bemused at how often the dictation software has thought I was saying cabbage instead of carriage! I’ll try to do the Florilegium and Blessings for this chapter soon. And then next time I’ll be looK at Chapter 8: The Lady Mayoress Doesn’t Like Cats through the theme of Self-Awareness