The clocks struck 7, and the city awakes to the bells of the Church of Our Lady of Vilnius. The bakers call out, “Duona! Duona!” and the grocers yell “Vynuoges! Vynuoges! Skanios vynuoges!” The children head to the schoolyard, all except one. “Adomas! You’re going to be late for school!” Maria called out. “Coming, Mom!” he shouted back. He stumbled out the front door, his black backpack hanging off one of his shoulders. His rusty blond hair was uncombed, he had put on his uniform in a hurry, and he hadn’t taken a shower. He was a wreck.
“Adomas, you left us thinking you were sick!” a voice said from the other side of the gate. Adomas saw his best friends Antanas and Paulina already outside, looking rather impatient.
“Sorry, I slept in again.” Adomas sighed.
“Save it, Ace. That’s the second time you’ve slept in this week, and it’s Thursday.” Paulina said. “I don’t know if it’s my alarm clock or if it’s the church bells! One of them is off by a few minutes.” he replied.
“You know, I’ve always wondered who rings the bells.” Antanas said, puzzled.. “It’s not like it’s a hunchback like Notre-Dame.”
They just so happened to be walking past the church, the copper brown spires watching over the town like a general inspecting his troops. In the center of the church was a massive tower, at least 13 meters tall. A massive mosaic of the Virgin Mary loomed over the gigantic wooden doors.
“Who’s that?” Paulina suddenly called. Sure enough, a figure, who appeared to be slightly hunched over, crept up the stairs leading to the tower.
“Come on guys, we’re going to be late.” Antanas beckoned. “He can’t ring the bells yet! It won’t be 7:30 for another 6 minutes!” Paulina said.
Suddenly, Adomas bursted through the church doors, and the others followed suit. But when Adomas was about to run to the bell tower, he hit the wall face first and collapsed.
“Hmm, a dead end. There’s got to be some form of passage.” Paulina observed. Adomas got up and leaned on the wall, and then the wall turned on them. They were suddenly in a dark stairwell.
“Found it! Come on, before the bells-” Antanas was interrupted by the sound of a clang. The first bell had chimed.
“We only have five minutes! Hurry!” Adomas shouted. They bursted up the stairs, but then stopped midway when they saw a hooded figure with red eyes blocking the path.
“Who dares venture into the tower?!” he snarled.
“Sir, we demand you stop ringing the bells this instant!” Adomas shouted.
“You are making the entire town late or early for work! And school!”
“Oh, but that’s the point, dear child,” the figure crowed, “now get out! Now!”
“Never!” all three children yelled, before bursting into the bell room and ceasing the ringing. The figure lunged at Adomas, but he dodged it, and instead, the figure went toppling out the stained glass window. They heard a rustle instead of a splat, and they found the bell-ringer in the canopy of a tree. “Hurry, you two! We need to ring the bells!” Paulina said, very alarmed. Adomas and Antanas grabbed hold of the bell’s rope, and once again, the bells of the Church of Our Lady of Vilnius rang again.
(Note: the top two lines are in Lithuanian. The first translates to “Bread! Bread!” and the other means “Grapes! Grapes! Delicious grapes!”)
