Chapter 4: Pax Pandominia 3

The next day, thankfully, I forgot about the dog.

 

“JOHN!” I had fallen asleep at the table. “John! Are you awake?” I nodded.

“What time is it?” I asked.

“It’s around eight thirty.” I heard Suzie’s voice. Martha’s face came into view.

“Did you sleep at all last night?” She asked. I looked around for Aime but she was nowhere to be seen. Neither Pesky nor Teresa could be seen either. What happened to the talk about dogs?

“Very little,” I said. “Where’s the rest? I thought we were going to leave around… now,” I said looking at my watch.

“We are. They went to get some stuff. Fred is outside. I think he saw something. He said that he’d wait outside for us across the street. Are you ready?” asked Suzie.

I nodded and told them that I would meet them outside.

Slowly I rounded the corner somewhere near our room. The slow motion movie was starting again. I thought I saw the back of Aime’s shirt, and I swore it was she. Someone’s arm was wrapped around her and caressing her back. Then, I hit my glasses against the wall and my knees against a table. Before I knew it, Aime was helping me to sit down on the ground.

“Hey, John. Are you all right?” she asked.

“Yeah.”  I felt really stupid. “I was just wondering where you were. Have you seen Teresa? Everyone’s waiting outside.”

“Yeah... She just needed to go to the bathroom. She’ll be out in a second.” She was speaking very fast.

“Aime, is everything all right? You’re talking very fast.”

“Of course, they’re fine,” and she hugged me and helped me to get up. “How are you, you dreamer? What were you thinking when you came around the corner?”

“Dogs.”

“Oh.” Teresa rounded the corner, in normal speed.

“Are you two ready?” she said, all smiles. She winked at me.

When we got outside, Pesky was nowhere to be seen. Suzie and Martha, who had been talking sitting on the benches across the street, came to us.

“We came out,” said Martha, “and he wasn’t here. Didn’t he say that he was going to look at something across the street?” Suzie and Teresa nodded their heads. Aime was looking intently across the street.

“There he is.” Without any more words, she crossed the street and disappeared through the trees. We turned in that direction. Aime had Pesky by his arm and was leading him out of the woods. A very pretty woman came out behind them. She said something to Pesky and walked uphill, away from La Alhambra. Pesky waved. Aime said something in Pesky’s ear, which made him throw his arms up in the air and laugh. Then they came to us arm in arm.

“I’m sorry. I thought I recognized her from somewhere. As it turns out, that couldn’t be the furthest from the truth. She’s French, and I don’t think I’ve ever met a French person.”

“Yeah, right,” said Aime.

Pesky laughed and started heading down toward La Alhambra with Aime and Teresa trailing after him. Suzie and Martha followed close behind. And I was last, smoking a cigarette and walking very slowly. I was tired and that short nap hadn’t refreshed me. I saw transparent-worm like things glide across my eyes and I thought that I might have been dehydrating. I finished an entire bottle of water. Even then, though my stomach couldn’t take any more liquid, my throat felt dry.

Pesky was waiting for everyone at the entrance. Or, I should say that everyone was waiting for me. I killed my cigarette and paid for the ticket and walked in behind the rest. It seemed that the three of them were getting along now.

Martha slowly fell behind the others and my stomach churned in fright. She was doing that purposely. I didn’t want the Inquisition. My pace slowed even more… maybe that would give the wrong impression? So, I sped up my pace.

“Look at that. What is that?” she said pointing to a tower.

“I think it’s a minaret. It’s supposed to be with a mosque, I think… oh, there it is.” We rounded a corner and there was a small mosque. I was trying very hard to catch up with the rest before the barrage of questions came.

“I’ve always liked Arabic Architecture. It looks so beautiful. Especially here, mixed in with the surrounding it looks like paradise,” she said.

Yes, this was paradise, before the invasion from the North. Little Ferdinand and Isabel storming into a foreign land to take it back from the Heathens.

“It was paradise. Al-andaluz was the Arabic name for this region. Did you know that?” I must have sounded stupid, why wouldn’t she know that.

“Yes, I learned that during the summer. Did you know that to say La Alhambra is redundant, because al in Arabic is the same as el or la in Spanish? So, La Alhambra would translate into English as The The Hambra. Isn’t that interesting?” She chuckled.

“Yes… Do you speak Arabic?” I was curious. I’ve always wanted to learn Arabic.

“A little. My parents went to Morocco for a year to work. They’re into collecting antique furniture. Anyway, I went to the local school for that year. But that was a long time ago and I don’t really remember much.”

“But that’s interesting. One year in Morocco. Are you planning on going there sometime during the year?”

“I don’t know. I liked it but, not that much. Anyway, I’m not that interested in Arabic culture. I’m more interested in Chinese and Mongolian cultures,” and she looked at me out of the corner of her eyes. “You’re interested in Arabic?”

“A little. I’d like to learn it sooner or later. Probably later. It’s in my list of things to do.”

“You must have a lot of things on your list,” she said coming closer to me.

“Well, it’s no big deal. It’s just a list of things that interest me.” I sped up my pace.

“It would be interesting to see it, that list of yours. I’m curious as to what other people really want to do. Does it make you curious why other people do what they do?” She was keeping pace with me.

“No, I just do what I want to do,” and we had caught up with the group. “I don’t like to interfere in other people’s plans.” I saw that a little forest awaited us ahead. I saw Pesky turn around and stop before it.

“Nel mezzo del cammino di nostra vita, mi ritrovai per una selva oscura… uh… lash… how? Lashia… te… no… wait…” we all stood dumbfounded as we tried to understand what he was trying to say. “… I think I got it. Laschiate ogni speranza… voi chi entrate. Wait, no… uh Laschiate ogni speranza voi ch’entrate. Yes, that’s it.”

“What the fuck are you trying to say?” I uttered out loud. It sounded familiar. Martha hit my arm. “Ow! Why did you do that?” I asked. I felt no pain.

“Sorry, I just don’t like it when people use profanity around me. I just lost myself and forgot where I was. I’m sorry. I really didn’t mean to hit you.”  She started rubbing my arm.

“That’s OK. I forgive you. I won’t use profanity around you,” you prude, I thought, and took myself away from her. “Hey, Fred. That sounds familiar. What was it?”

“That’s from The Inferno. I tried memorizing the first ten Cantos. I guess that showed how much of it I really retained. Those were the first line from Canto I and the writing on the Gates of Hell.”

“Why quote the writing from the gates of hell?” Teresa asked strangely.

“Because, we are entering the dark woods…” and he walked backwards slowly and slowly turned around and started up the path. He was walking like a hunchback.

Aime dropped back, and when the group moved along with Pesky at the head, we were last in line. She put her arm through mine. Then, at that moment, as I saw three men turn around and look at Aime lasciviously then smile at me, I realized that… no, I thought to myself. People could be really stupid sometimes.

“So, how did your little conversation go with Martha?”  Oh no, I thought, not her.

“What do you mean? It was just a conversation.” I looked at her, but she was looking ahead and was only listening to me. “What do you want to know, my Holy Cardinal?” I asked sarcastically. She looked down at the path with a smile on her face.

“You take people too seriously. I’m just joking around. But last night, before we fell asleep… well, she was talking a lot about you. I just thought that maybe… I know that you think she’s cute, you’ve said that before…”

“No.” That got her to look at me quickly.

“What do you mean… John, that’s so childish… why do you do that to people?”  She got really flustered and walked away. I pulled out my pack of cigarettes and saw that I had only three left. Well, I could always leave ahead of them. I was slow going anyway.

 

The serpent slithered down to Eve sitting innocently looking into a small pool of water. She was sitting under the Tree of Power. He pondered her beautiful hair, her long nose, the bushy eyebrows, her naked body… and wanted to corrupt her. Of all the trees in this garden, their Master had said to them, you shall not eat from the Tree of Power. What did the Master know about control? He was blind.

The serpent slithered further down the tree trunk using his small hands. He had a message and his Master would not know. The tree was in full bloom and the time was perfect. He called out to Eve.

“Ssssssh. Hey, Eve.”

Eve looked up and saw the serpent and was afraid. The serpent could feel her fear for he knew what power he had over these humans. “Ye… yes? What do you want?” she asked afraid.

“Do you like what you see in the pool?” She nodded. “How about Adam? Does he like what he sees in the pool?” She shrugged her shoulders. “Well, do you want him to look at you?” She thought about it then nodded her head slowly. The Snake looked around and saw his Master’s cloud in the distance, throwing thunder and lightning here and there and everywhere. “I can make you very attractive to him.” The snake looked over at the cloud again and saw that it was keeping its distance. “All you have to do is eat this pear.”

“No. That’s the fruit from the Tree of Power. We are not allowed to eat from that tree. You are a bad Snake.”