CHAPTER XXXII: DIGNITY

   At that time my bedroom was a poem of shed light. Climbing the burning hill I could see that the wind was sleeping in its sarcophagus, although it would wake up at night, and a rebellious sunbeam fell oblique over my tent through the three ash trees which were escorting it from behind, embellishing it with a tunnel of light that announced me that this was the place where I should stay to sleep on. Before going up I had seen that there was then Lucy, who had already returned from the street and was now with her little king in her arms, Olivia, Miguel and my mate, who saw my troubles to go up and came towards me.

− "Today you should not walk, Nike." –he said.

− "Actually I caught the bus to Alder Street. Richard has lent me the money so I could catch it. I have had to choose between two vile acts, Luke. Or I can't go out with you tonight. But we should leave now. At my pace, it will take more than an hour to reach anywhere."

− "Good for Richard. Nobody who loves you should allow you today to walk. You've come to your house, My Mate. Let’s get closer to your tent. Before that, we have to talk."

   With a bit of rebellion, it seemed that Luke was not very willing to my going to the street this afternoon, we approached the threshold of my house, where we would spend a while talking. Lucy and Paul went into their tent. Olivia read something on the outside of hers. It was still blowing west, but gently, and nothing hampered her comfortable reading. Miguel seemed to prefer a stroll near the river, where his twin was then washing.

− "Nike, I'm really curious about you. What has happened this morning?"

− "Luke, we should go now. I can tell you everything in the Basilica or wherever you want to go this afternoon. But remember that I'm back to go again to the street."

− "First we will stop here for your feet to rest, My Mate. And then we'll see −and as I was still rebel, he insisted−. You had better do it."

    I had so much to tell, and so much anxiety that we went that I began by the end.

− "I am still working on the Thuban Star. I've got it, Luke. By the way, Samuel Weissmann wants to invite you to eat on Monday."

− "Tell me everything from the beginning, Nike. Since you woke up this morning."

 That pause was really needed. The main thing was to tell him my many temptations and it seems that I kept reproaching myself.

− "Nike, my friend. I'm already beginning to know that anything about you that you can tell me that does really hurt you, you go and tell me. I hope you will get soon to a day in which you find balance in your dignity. All of us have had temptations. On the street they are inevitable. And if my words are not worth for you, remember which has been the result. You are back here."

− "At the end I got to succeed, My Mate –and I was talking about the antiques shop, the incident with the drunken young man and the bakery. Later I told him how in Vicar’s End I was not the same. How I found Richard there and how I entered the Thuban Star, some of my conversations with him and Anne-Marie later. And I was about to give a summary of my allegation before the raiders−. It was indeed Walter Hope the man who saw me yesterday in that alley among the rats."

− "Now you will speak of him and the raiders. First I must remind you that Anne-Marie I already have the luck to know. I presume, for what I know of her, that she has shown you loyalty this morning. And I am also very curious to know Richard."

−“He will come to the Torn Hand when we least expect him. He will come soon. But if you let me talk to Samuel, perhaps you can drink at the bar with him on Monday."

− "Do you already call him Samuel?" − Luke noticed everything.

− "This morning he has behaved with me as a friend. I don't know if you think that I am naive, Luke."

− 'You know that yesterday I got the impression that he really likes you. And you always categorize people as they are. If you think that he is a friend, it is that he really is. Tell me quietly what you told the raiders."

   I explained as best I could and with certain hurry some of my words and the final vote. Luke looked at me sympathetically when he learned that I had renounced my salary.

− "I do not need any more money, My Mate. And I sensed that only in this way they would allow a beggar to work in the Thuban. And finally I retired to my office where Samuel surprised me by inviting me to a soup. I had to eat, Luke. If I didn't, I couldn’t concentrate on my work and I would be fired."

− "Of course, Nike. And that reminds me... I guess you are still hungry. We have some fish so that you feed. Wait a second. I'm going to my tent."

   His absence would last ten minutes because, as I later learned, he had been playing with his son until he slept again. Miguel had returned a few moments ago and watched Luke and me talking. He respected our dialogue but I knew he wanted to talk with us or me alone. In fact, when my mate went away, he came immediately to my side.

− "Nike, I wanted... before any other thing, to apologize for my doubts. Something told me Luke of your day yesterday, but in my distrust, I went back to thinking that you were not going to return and you see, I'm mistaken again."

− "You don't have to apologize, Miguel. You are usually right. Today I have lived a morning of temptation and I was about to throw it all away. But here I am."

− "But you are still going to your work. Of course that I can understand. What I find incomprehensible is not that you choose a world or another, but that you want to preserve both."

− "You lack information, Miguel. I would tell you, but certainly I should first tell the truth to a certain person –and seeing on his face clearly the doubt that that person was his partner, I had to add−. John and I have nothing. Really. Neither I am in love with him nor he with me. It is not that."

− "My father, Nike, was a war correspondent. His twin brother, my uncle Mark, too. They covered the Spanish civil war information, but at the end they ended up separated each on one side. He used to tell me that the worst of the war was not the fratricidal battles, but the trace there was later: hatred, grudges and revenge. Perhaps you've already lived the battles. By what Luke has told me, you did yesterday with great dignity. But you will have to choose a single side soon, or you'll hate one of them, possibly this, the street. Really, what retains you?"

− "Excuse me, Miguel, if I still hide some information. I really believe that there is someone who should know it first."

− "But you are still in your work."

− "It has not been easy for me to keep it, but yes, I'm still in it. But I assure you that I don't really need it. I'm there in case things go wrong. Seriously, Miguel, I'd like to tell you more, but I can't. Only remember this: nothing holds me. I want to be here."

   I guess he would answer me, but just then Luke returned. Miguel withdrew quietly saying that he was going in search of his partner. My mate sat next to me with three yogurts in his hand, which he offered me.

− "We have several sardines for the night, but I thought that if I give them now we would have to light a fire first. And Olivia has today purchased much yogurt, for you because, believe me, you will probably need them. Have them and we will talk a little longer."

− "We should go already, but really, My Mate, thank you for the food."

   I dreamed that I could soon feed them all with what Luke and I had brought from the street.

− "Miguel’s words are always sensible. But they may err in that they are not suitable for you. You must follow one of your stars and find your own north."

− "I did not know that Miguel’s father had a twin brother."

− "His father and his uncle were born the same day. He has found in Pollux his twin. You and I called each other so and yesterday we were again and to still be, we must now talk."


 

  Luke’s star, Denebola; and that of Nike, Zosma, seen for the first time by untrained eyes can be confused with Castor and Pollux. On that day for Nike all was stained glass, mirrors, images that looked like twins, but with his mate he had already begun to look for his fleece, and wanted to return soon to the street to remain with him an Argonaut. On that necessary rest of his feet, constant twins reflected their brother and this October 5 Nike could finally move to Gemini.


 

− "Nike. You won't come today to the street. Olivia is waiting for you with everything ready to cure your feet. Look –he went on as he could when he saw that my protest was becoming rebellion−, imagine for a second that one day, you and I still mates, I woke up shivering, with clear signs of weakness, of fever. What would you do?"

− "I would go for both, and also for your wife. Because Luke, if I'm still your mate, as I would like to, I should be charged with her part also."

− "Once I have spoken with Lucy, I can tell you that she will leave each morning to find food for two. And now you want us to go out, you and I, to find food for three? It wouldn't be fair, Nike. As it would not be that you searched for food for Paul. Today he only needs that his mother is well nourished. But neither Lucy nor I have clear at this time if once he stops feeding from her, we would allow you to feed him. Last night my wife and I had a conversation that one day you will know. Give us time, My Mate."

− "How has Lucy’s day been today?"

− "It has been very good. She and I have food enough for tonight. Now I will be going to find yours."

− "In any case, Luke, or with pain in my heart I will have to think seriously if I continue with you, if one day you tell me that Lucy’s morning has not been good, you and I will go out to beg for three."

− "Ok, My Mate."

− "And now we are going to leave already, really?"

− "Nike, look at me. Yesterday I could have prevented your hunger, because surely there was food for you in the outskirt, but you were marking the steps, and hunger seemed to me to be beautiful, if I was willing to live it with you. Many nights we suffer from it, and you went to the street to learn and measure your resistance and it was fair that you knew everything before taking any decisions. And also in this sense we have been twins. I did not eat my first night here. But we have not been twins in all. My first day on the street was actually on November 19. Lucy led me to St Mary's Church and there I lived what was yours according to our religion, but you have not lived. There I felt shame for the first time."

− "Luke, I don't know for what reason you are telling me this, if you want to talk about something true or only to tell me a story. I'm sorry, My Mate, but no way I'm going to believe that you felt ashamed of Lucy."

   He again cried with me. I saw he was so excited that he gave me a hug. In such a lachrymose condition it was difficult for him to speak.

− "God bless you, Nike. I have really clear that it is a pleasure to be your mate. No, I didn't feel ashamed of Lucy, but I felt shame. Listen to me. With an outstretched hand, there on the stairs of the Church I was, inexperienced but determined, for the first time, when a neighbor from Jerusalem Street, a friend of my father’s went through the square. And then my cheeks turned a deep red when I noticed that he had recognized me and for a second I thought: where the hell am I? And what am I doing? It didn’t last more than half a minute, until my eyes returned to look at the extraordinary woman who accompanied me and then instead of shame I felt true pride. I greeted with excitement this gentleman and from that moment I don’t remember to have felt it. Being next to Lucy saved me. I have never had shame of being at her side, but I have, the first day, of myself. And my mate reads me again, even the lines of the past that nobody has ever given him to read. Do you understand now?"

− "I do, Luke. And I think it is quite natural to feel shame in the street. It will also reach me or perhaps it has already reached me, you tell me. But I knew that you could not have lived it with Lucy."

− "How extraordinary you are, My Mate. Yesterday you not only did not live it, but at any time a man who was next to you could feel genuine pride to be with you. I noticed it twice; I noticed that as I never was ashamed of Lucy, you would never be ashamed of me. You introduced me with heat both to Samuel Weissmann and Simon Bonner. And everything was so natural in you that you surely didn’t notice your greatness. For this reason, Nike, it is happiness to go to the street for you. Your mate is going to show you the same happiness to be your mate that you showed me yesterday. Today you need to stay here and that Olivia, who is waiting, relieve you those blisters that do not allow you to move around the streets. If you do not remain quiet this afternoon, tomorrow it will be for you impossible to walk no matter you want to continue showing your loyalty to me. I will summarize everything: you're My Mate; you do not feel ashamed of me, you care of my wife and my son's meal with her. I am so proud of you I want to return to the street with you tomorrow. But if you want to do it, it is vital that you stay today here. Remember that you've already said that if I had a fever, you would go for both. I will do that today. Even if you don’t walk next to me, you'll be on the street with me."

− "Luke, I would like to go, but I know that you won't let me. And it's okay. Either way, I will go with you tomorrow. Olivia is watching me. She wants me to go to her side. Just a question then. Are you going on Monday to lunch with Samuel"?

− "If you think it is ok, I will approach Avalon Road at about 12. If you come a second to the avenue, you can tell me whether I may enter the bar to meet Richard and there await the arrival of Mr. Weissmann. Or if not, I will still be doing my job in the urban center until 1. And then tell your boss that at that time I'll be at the door. I guess I'll have no trouble finding it."

− "You will see a window with the Argonauts. There are precisely Castor and Pollux."

− "Good, Nike. And now go with Olivia, who is waiting. Mistress Oakes has been happy to go alone today knowing that her girl was expecting to cure your feet."

   We were still mates, but that evening I could not go to the street. Luke was sensible enough and was very right. When I stood up, I swayed and I would have fallen if it were not because he held me. My conditions were very poor and I was obliged to look at it recognizing that indeed, to continue to be his mate, today I had to suffer to not be able to accompany him.

   Olivia saw me finally come to her, closed the book she was reading and went into her tent, saying "now you must wait for five minutes, while I prepare the ointment." Luke helped me tenderly to sit down and then told me that he was already going. "But although only I can walk, we will go both, because you are with me mentally. See you tonight, My Mate."

   Olivia came out right away, holding a green plastic dish filled with a strange whitish potion, but clearly smelling like vinegar. She also had a book in her hand.

− "As you'll have to spend an afternoon here, maybe you don’t know what to do. And if you liked Alicia, I can lend you the second part. Yes, Nike, Lewis Carroll also wrote Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There. It will please you. This time it's a chess game. But I won’t tell you more. If you finish it, we can talk about it. Now you will notice that your feet are alleviated and that you can walk. But even if you can do it, I do not recommend that you walk. Let your feet rest. Stay here and spend the afternoon reading."

− "You pamper me too much, Olivia, but you are always right. And with you I discovered the pleasure of reading. As I cannot accompany Luke, it will be great to spend the afternoon together with all of you. You already are nearly all."

− "Bruce and my mistress will return soon. Anyway tonight we are well equipped. But it would be desirable to tighten our belt a bit. For years I have always succeeded predicting weather, and tomorrow afternoon it will rain a lot. Let us save something to eat for dinner then."

   I was glad to have eaten only two yogurts. I would eat the other at night and would try, seeing what food was available, to leave the sardines for the following day. They were still feeding me, and although I would like to do something else for them, I still could not. From that 5th of October, my next goal would be to bring food for all, to return part of what they had given me. If life allowed me to be forever with them, I would go at the pace that the street and my fellow mates were indicating me. But I looked back to see with which magic potion the priestess wanted to cure my feet.

− "What exactly is that, Olivia?"

-"This remedy was taught to me by Mistress Lauders, also a beggar. Few days after childbirth, my feet were full of blisters. Four spoonfuls of yogurt and one of vinegar. You mix everything and leave it to stand for five minutes. And when it is ready, like now, it is applied on your feet. Come on, Nike, take off your shoes."

   I did not know in what conditions would be my feet after more than 24 hours without a shower. That shyness, that embarrassment, were also part of our indignities, but Olivia, who should be understanding what I was thinking, looked me in the eyes and spoke:

− "Come on, Nike. Do not blush. I have healed many beggars’ feet. All of the Torn Hand, sooner or later, have passed through my hands."

   I took off my shoes with a smile. Olivia had just included me, I supposed, in the list of the Torn Hand beggars. She then began to anoint my feet with that cream, not entirely whitish. I would be lying if I didn’t say that this mixture gave me immediate relief. I would be able to walk later, but I would still have to try it. But when she went to the right foot, she looked at me with affection, as if she feared to lose me again and asked me:

− "When are you going this time, Nike?"

   I didn't yet have a handkerchief to dry the endless tears that I shed that year, those months, every minute. I replied as I could.

− "I won't go, Olivia. I'm not going anymore. At least that is my intention. I know that on 6 August I also made a promise that I could not fulfill. But this time I will be stronger: I assure you I’m going to stay."

− "It is a pleasure to have seen you again. And whenever I see you I'm going to tell you. I have now finished, Nike. Now it is only necessary that I put these sterile gauze on your feet, one in each foot −said and done. With both feet she wasn't more than one minute−. Now put on your socks and shoes and you'll see how you can not only be upright, but you will walk without problems. Anyway, tonight do not move much and stay here quietly reading or thinking. And in any case, if you find yourself with strength, do not go further than the river."

   I told her that I would go awhile to the river to check how I walked. And also because they were going to the Kilmourne to wash the cutlery, and although I had only messed a spoon, I wanted to get used to doing the work everyone did. Before returning to the threshold of my tent to read, I met John, who was hauling firewood. I told him to explain me a bit what was exactly what they did. He advised me to stay seated, at least today, but I already saw that I could walk without difficulty, and if they had not allowed me to go to the street, I was at least able to do a job where feet were not used. We do during the day several piles of firewood stacked on the index finger, between Lucy and Luke’s tent and Menhir Bridge. Trunks we had enough for two weeks.

− "Okay, Nike –he said−, but not now. If at night you see that your feet are ok, we will come here and carry the firewood to the usual place of campfires and we can even light the bonfire. Now rest."

   Lost a few minutes in walking to "the toilets", my new bathroom, I definitely installed under the shadow of the three ash trees in my new lobby. There I would be several hours reading Through the looking glass, to nearly finish it. I had never learned to play chess, but some time later, a man who you still don't know, Protch, taught me. One hour I had just spent there reading when I saw that Lucy and her son approached.

− "Nike, Paul won’t sleep today. Surely he will if you cradle him awhile."

   And she placed him in my arms again. I begged her to sit, occupying the east side of my stone threshold.

− "Can you see? He was somewhat uncomfortably. He needed to swing a while in your chest."

-"Thanks, mate" I did not dare to give yet the vocative to all, but an unexpected tenderness in Lucy made that that evening it was easy and natural to give her that name. It was strange how my vision of her had been changing to start slowly thinking that without her calm looking at life the Torn Hand would not have had any sense.

− "Luke told me many things last night and you see that a minute ago he came to our tent and told me some more –the little king sought a position and ended up finding one for all the moments when he was in my arms. He liked it more to curl up on the left side, almost on my shoulder. He looked at me tenderly one moment, and seemed to smile, before snoozing safely around a quarter of an hour. When finally I handed him to his mother, he was still deeply asleep -meanwhile Lucy, pointing at him, said−. He was in your mind all afternoon yesterday. And so was I, I'm sure. At least a while ago when you were talking with Luke. And about that I wanted to talk to you."

− "You should find food for both of you, Lucy. And when Luke comes with me, we will seek for three."

− "Nike here we all seek for all. The day will come for you –seeing me crestfallen− when you can bring for others. All of us have been through what you're going now. If you remember August 5, only Mistress Oakes, Bruce and John could be in the street - then I saw back the first two she had mentioned. Mistress Oakes went to talk to her child. Bruce seemed to have stayed at the door of his tent waiting for me. Only Luke was out, although he had just left, supposedly for two−. You know that so that Paul can eat now it is only necessary that I'm well fed. And look, since Luke and I cannot go together, I always thought that my husband would need some company in the streets. And when I met you, I would have suggested, out of all the names, yours. But keep in mind that yesterday was for Luke and me completely unexpected and we could not have things planned. I understand your scruples, which seem to me correct. So he and I have just talked. Look, I'll go out each morning to search for the three. In reality, for eight, Nike. We must never forget the other five. And so, you can leave each evening with Luke, and can take care of myself also because I will have been responsible for the three before. Only thus I would find it a fair settlement. What do you think?"

   I had to agree. I would have liked Lucy and Luke to be always together, but it wasn't possible. In this way, I would go with him and could search for her and her son. I resigned myself: I didn't know if there would be a better chance. I hoped that the next day was better, but I spoke to her of what her mother had said of rain tomorrow afternoon.

− "We should go in the morning. All. Nike, as this will be your first weekend here, you may consider what to do Saturday and Sunday morning. I suggest you to begin in St Mary. There are two morning masses: 9 and 12. I could go to the first while Paul stays here to your care, and upon my return, you can go together."

   Lucy didn't want to distract me more time knowing that Bruce wanted to talk to me and that I had Through the looking glass also as alternative company. I handed her back her son and she went to talk to her mother and Mistress Oakes, in the tent of the latter. Miguel and John liked to spend evenings of good weather with a stroll through the surrounding area. Bruce, as I supposed, then came to my side.

− "I would like to invite you to a coffee, Nike. There are three bars in Millers' Lane. But the closest is called The Last Road."

− "I know it, Bruce. I was there on August 4. But I have no money for a cup of coffee. Leave it for tomorrow. Then I will have one with you happily."

− "According to what Luke has told me, yesterday you won 50 budges. Do you have them yet?"

− "Yes, Bruce."

− "Of the three bars there are in Millers' Lane, The Last Road is the cheapest. The price of a cup of coffee is 40 budges. I suppose that you will not object when you are still going to have 10. And I can also leave you a coffee paid for tomorrow. Come with me, Nike."

− "I would really have no problems in another moment. But so far not only don't I bring anything, but you don’t stop making my life comfortable. I'm a parasite, Bruce."

− "Anyone can have a bad day, and that happened to you yesterday. You will feed us one day. But if you want really to bring for all, you must now permit, for today we are eight, the other seven feed you."

   I was eager to have a coffee with him and I had to nod. I told him that I would if he indicated me temples and mass schedules. Smiling, he promised to write all down on a napkin during the coffee.

  It was a blessing to notice myself again able to walk and it was also to join Bruce for a coffee, but I assumed that he would have beer. I remembered how there in August I had read two horoscopes and in what state of mind I was then. Well, I'm here. I found the newspaper and I started to read my signs, while Bruce, who knew David, the waiter, introduced me.

 − "This young man that I introduce to you, David, is called Nike. At the moment he lives with us. Treat him well. Look, here I leave you money in advance so that he would come to have breakfast in the morning."

   David Fieldman greeted me this time fondly. The beggars of the Outcasts and the Torn Hand were good customers. The more I knew him, the more I realized that he had a pleasant conversation and could talk about everything with ease. This first day we chatted only awhile of how was that October and the probabilities that it would keep on raining.

  As Bruce pointed me out all the temples he knew, including the so far of Downhills and Fairfields, I finished to read Leo and Cancer. They were hardly ever in accordance and they even contradicted. Leo told me that it was still early for love, but Cancer explained that someone was falling in love with me.

   As predictions did not convince me, I began to look at the list of Bruce. He had written the name of more than twenty temples, some far from home. I asked him what were the closest ones, in addition to St Mary, and the Basilica.

− "In Templar Village, close to St Mary, is the small parish of St Mark, in Damascus Road, very near Luke’s former home. You will soon know it. But their mass schedules are mostly holidays in the afternoon. In these days of rainy weather I don't know. But maybe you know something of Riverside –and when I answered I didn’t, he said−. The eastern part, so close to us, is also Catholic. Next to St Alban's Road, on the corner near number 21, you'll see St Stephen. If you go into the core of this new city, you have The Holy Ghost Church. The West is Lutheran, like all the adjacent neighborhood of Evendale. There are more churches and chapels. But only I like to roam so far from home. But while you continue next to Luke, let him show you locations, hours, temples and other habits that we who live in the street have."

   I asked him to tell me something more about nearby churches, and there we were almost half an hour, while I watched every now and then the napkin and made him new questions. It was the first time that I thought, without saying to him anything, that if I continued to be a beggar, one day I would like to go with him.

   But finally we finished our coffees. He had asked for one too. And although I knew that alone he always asked for beer, next to me he never did. Everyone showed me similar tact at the bonfire. For there was a bonfire that night. I spent several hours reading until I saw Luke come back. I went to him and assured him that I could already walk. Also his day had been good. All had returned beautifully provided. I spoke to him of what Lucy had told me about the second mass at St Mary, saying that now I could go with him. When we were all together, I went to look for firewood. My mate came with me and we lit the fire.

   Two exact months had passed from my last campfire, on 5 August, to this October 5. We were all soon sitting together, at that time the little king in his father's arms. But mine were not empty. A few minutes later Ted came to me. Everyone assured me that in two months Ted had not approached the fire, smelling by far that I wasn't. We started to chat. They told me that it was better to heat the sardines now rather than tomorrow. There were 20. I ate two. I couldn't eat more no matter they offered me. Mistress Oakes seemed to understand me.

− "Nike only needs now that someone again tells a story. You, my girl, can do it, something you began to tell me, but we were interrupted and I don't know the end."

   Olivia was going to tell a recreation from her reading, I soon recognized it, of Through the looking glass.

− "Alison was a girl fierce and tenacious −I startled, recalling my love story with Alison Wright. But Alison and Alan, I thought, Olivia invented names that reminded her of Alice− whose parents could not value her qualities. They neither spoiled nor hurt her; they simply neglected her. She used to dream of wild horizons, seeing in her imagination long valleys and high mountains, with extensive clear skies, but not knowing how to plan her future. One day she was walking by the river with her friend Alan, only a year younger than she. They agreed to talk and he told her that he had been hired by the realm of red pieces to play endless games of chess in which were elucidated many affairs of State between both kingdoms, white and red. Alan suggested her to experience a game the following Saturday and Alison went. She was surprised to see a huge battlefield shaped like a board with 64 squares, 32 of them white and the other 32 black. The girl was allowed to enter the game as a pawn. Soon she saw that things were not going well for the Red Kingdom, which soon lost its Queen. Alison was told that if a pawn reached the eighth square it could become any piece, also the Queen. This enticed her and she went resolutely to the opposite point. But she was going northbound, and the wind was blowing from the north and her walking was impossible with the headwind. Whenever she tried to move forward, she realized that she moved a step forward, and two to the east, sometimes to the west; or two steps forward and one to east or west. The White Kingdom then stopped the game asking the Red one if they remembered the rules. Alan approached to explain to Alison that it was the knight that moved that way. Decidedly the white team accepted her as such, once the child arrived, because at last she arrived, to the eighth square. And Alison never became the Queen, but she was admitted as a new piece, although she was a maiden, of a knight. The game lasted longer than expected. The Red Kingdom lost the game, but for the White Kingdom it was difficult to win, because Alison’s movements long protected her King. But she was hired. The girl was in countless games. She had a future now. And this is how many are dreaming to be Queens to at least stop being pawns, and they find in fate an unsuspected sidewalk: neither Queen nor pawn. Time softens its arrows and sometimes makes you a knight."

   When Olivia mentioned the north wind, as if it had been a magical invocation, the west wind of all-day reappeared. We finished hearing her tale quite frozen. I went to my tent for the sheep skin coat. But the others, once they had all eaten, started leaving. I stayed one little longer with Luke to put out the fire and definitely agreed with him that at about 11 o'clock we would go to St Mary, to the 12 o’clock mass.

  Neither Queen nor pawn, I thought the second night in my tent. That October 5 I had not been either fully a raider or fully a beggar. But I had learned to deal with them on the street, although that day I had not walked it. I could already walk and tomorrow I would move around the city even if I had to learn to do the movements of the knight. Thinking about all this, I fell asleep and I don’t even have memories that that night was cold.

   I woke up shortly before 7. I left my tent right away. I wanted to see how I walked that morning. I moved without problems fortunately. And Olivia, my healer, already was in the fire. I spent with her a quarter of an hour and we spoke of Through the looking glass and her tale of last night. But I had not finished the book and we didn’t speak much. I myself made my coffee each morning and she, with bread of sandwich, taught me to do some toasts. She was speaking of some cheap shops in Riverside Avenue and that the bread was bought from Monday to Friday in a bakery of Alder Street. But in the weekend it was better to eat bread of sandwich. It was not enough to bring food to fill a sandwich. We also had to deal with bread. They were several days before I could bring money to go for it. I remembered the place: Alder Street, corner of Damascus Road, a small bakery without name. But there was no bread in the afternoons, and with my schedule, I had to give the money to someone to bring it. But of my part soon took care Lucy.

  As I did not know how to fill my time, that morning I had too much and although briefly, we talked about books, an idea came to me there at the second bonfire with Olivia. I thanked her for helping me regain my ability to walk, and telling her I was going to go for a walk, I got lost soon in a westerly direction. I was five minutes in The Last Road, which was already effectively open, taking a second coffee, the one Bruce had paid for. And after a while I went out. I had conceived the idea of walking towards Deanforest and bring some necessary things. Nothing I had at my feet of the hard day yesterday and it only took me half an hour to return to that house. I had two clear objectives: to find what I needed and have a shower. On Monday morning I would have another prior to attending the Thuban. And when in the afternoon I told Luke, as usual, reproaching myself, he told me that whenever he needed to have one he went to his brother's house, but also in Temple Road there was a place of public showers, where someone could wash for only 30 budges.

  I was pleased to enter hot water again, as clean as the many tears I had rained in that very bathroom. So as not to cry, I began to think of all I needed. But to go back with so many things... That would not be practical. I thought that they could need them. Yes, I would go into the garage. If they lacked so many things, I would also lack them. ... The men sought even clothing in the landfill. I'd go there quite often, I thought, but the street had caught me so suddenly I had not even any blankets.

   So when I got out of the shower, I looked for all the essential things. An alarm clock, an umbrella, something to cover me. I thought to bring also a couple of blankets, but no, not from there. I opened the wardrobes. I knew what I wanted. Another exquisite Siddeley wool sheep skin coat. This was brown. I would not take it to the street, but it would cover me from cold in my tent as long as I did not find blankets in the landfill. And if it did not freeze, I could even return his to Luke. I accumulated all these junk in the kitchen. It still had very little dust. Agnes had cleaned thoroughly. I remembered that in a couple of hours she would be here, as every Saturday. She has her key and will enter, I thought. Well, today she will not find Mr. Siddeley. Next Saturday I might come and explain the situation to her, but she will continue being paid her salary. In terms of food, I certainly wasn't going to take anything, but I got to empty the fridge. Several trips to the garden to throw it all into the containers, and finally I came back. I still had to go to the library.

   How I was moved to see a forsaken country. That cushiony armchairs where I used to sit seemed to beg me to occupy them again, placidly smoking with a cigarette in my hand, recalling its lost image. But no, evoking former cries of loneliness made me cry, but I was already with them in the same country. At least I was going to take something of the best of your fantastic territories, I spoke to it, oh you magic kingdom of words. Without much thought, I took four volumes by Shakespeare, trusting that they liked the reading: Othello, Macbeth, King Lear and the Tempest. If another day I came with more time, I would keep on searching the library.

   I managed with some indecision to leave that land which had so many dream pages. I heaped the books in the kitchen and went to the garage, which if you still remember, Protch, was to the north. And there were my three cars, as a consequence of the unproductive waste of all my life. I selected the Chevrolet. It seemed to me that its white would be less striking in the grey whiteness of Millers' Lane. I went to the kitchen to pick up everything stacked there, I loaded the car and I started it. I knew which way would lead me to the Torn Hand. Due to the travel in August in Anne-Marie’s Plymouth I remembered that Millers' Lane was a one-way street and I had to enter on the south, down the roundabout of Rivers' Meet. There was a perfect place right on the sidewalk of The Last Road. There it was for months: I would go everywhere on foot, but if my fellow mates one day needed a car urgently, there would be my Chevrolet. Since that time I always walked with its key in my pocket. I finally got off. Bruce and Luke were next to the former’s tent. They had seen me. They came to help me. The sky was covered with grey threats everywhere. It was going to be a rainy day.  It was half past eight.

− "Two minutes ago left Lucy −said Luke−. If you had come on foot, you would have seen her."

   Being three, in a single trip, we finished unloading. Bruce moved away to the street, that day only in the morning. So he was not going to get far away. He would go to St Stephen. I was alone with Luke in my threshold. We would now have to wait for his wife to return.

− "I've read the four −he began to say, talking about the books I had brought−, but my favorite one by Shakespeare is The Tempest."

   I told him that I would read it with pleasure and I guess that I regretted I have brought things that belonged to me, but I had not won in the street.

− "You have, from what I see, your own codes; sometimes more strict than ours. Listen to me, My Mate. When John came to the street, he also brought some things for everyone. We have no problems in accepting something of a beggar, and, today you are one −accepting something of a beggar. Again it came to me that fleeting idea that bothered me for a second. I knew that this scintillation of my mind would explain Luke’s dirt if I could join this thought with his latest words−. And he also left his car on Wall Street, next to Wrathfall Bridge. It is true that it was useless when he moved to Knights Hill, where I met them. So don't let certain things alarm you. You are on the street. Not even clothing you have brought because you prefer getting it like us. Anything else that belongs to you, you can use as you please."

   Without a compass, getting right or wrong, it is true that Luke did not reproach me while I myself did. I had a lot to learn and had been with them very little time. He also began to talk to me about his brother.

− "Yesterday I went to the Church of St Mark, and then I went to James’ House. I was talking about you. He wants to see you, but now it is difficult. This year he goes in the afternoon to the University and you are going to work in the morning. There are weekends still, but this one I've recommended him to not get out of his house, for it is not going to stop raining. So I have agreed with him, if you also agree and continue here next Saturday, October 13, to go together to his house and I will also teach you when getting back the whole of the nearby outskirts."

   Shortly after came towards us, or I had better tell you that it came directly towards me, as if we had known each other for life, a gray cat who I had not yet seen. I assumed that it would be Theseus. I didn’t even have to convince him. I grabbed it and put it directly on my arms.

− "Theseus, of course. Well, Nike, you finally know it. Who knows if Telemachus or Ted might have spoken of you? He seems to know very well who you are. It is, as Telemachus is and like was its mother, Tessa, of some neighbors. The woman was here one morning to pick up Telemachus and introduced herself. Shirley Matts she is called. We know little more. It seems that they did not call it Theseus, but Achilles, but she told us that from that night it would have the two names."

   I spent more than half an hour with Theseus-Achilles in my arms. Luke left and as I could, my right arm occupied with the cat, the left one with Through the looking glass, I finished it and at the end I said as I had heard Olivia in summer: it has been a pleasure. I occasionally looked at Luke taking care of his son. In his father’s arms they went for a ride. Paul loved being taken to see the landscape. Lucy arrived at 11. Her short morning had been quite good. That night, whatever day my mate and I had, we would all eat.

   Finally we went back to the street at five past eleven in the morning of Saturday 6 October. We took Calvary Road, which I knew was the best way to reach St Mary. Luke was going behind me, letting me guide, and knowing well that my compass would show where our north was. Yes, all the milestones of the road were as I remembered them. And finally we arrived at the Church twenty minutes before the mass. Now we did sit on its few steps. No other beggars had come yet and we saw the arrival of the believers and our hands were languid dew, not rain, but something was falling. When the mass had already begun, a young beggar approached, not only fairly clean, but with many soft cologne drops, and I noticed he called Luke by his name, not by his surname. My mate turned to me:

− "Nike, I introduce you to Enoch Reed, one of our neighbors."

   He was one of the Outcasts and he began to chat with Luke with enough confidence. And then it struck me that he spoke of Vera Lloyd as if she were his partner. By what she had told me, I remembered her matched to one such Vince, but I said nothing. I would already have the chance to ask Luke.

   And shortly after I wondered if he was sane. For his conversation he seemed to be. But every time an attractive girl came near, he made the same sign. He took his hands to his face, focused women and finally he seemed to press with his finger an imaginary button. I.e. Protch, he took pictures, but without a camera.

   Anyway, I spoke awhile with him, enough to check that when talking he was a very lucid man. But he left soon, without even waiting for the exit of the believers. He said that he was already well stocked for all weekend, and recommending us, if something we needed, to get close to their outskirt to dine with them. It seemed to be that if there was a newcomer to the Outcasts or the Torn Hand, a dinner was held to know one another well, and I was invited, since I was the last acquisition in the two outskirts of the south area of the river.

   When he left, I asked a couple of questions to my mate.

− "But, Luke, Vera Lloyd was not dating such a Vince?"

 −“Do you know her?"

− "I saw Vera twice in August. But I only met her. She spoke to me, let’s see if I remember them all, of four women and two men. The other three women were called Katie, Evelyn and Loraine. The men were Vince and Enoch. And I thought that Vera was dating Vince."

− "And so it was. I don't know the reasons, but Vince ended up dating Katie. I don't know if Vera felt betrayed, but a few days later, she matched Enoch. It seems rather complicated, but maybe it surprises you to know they are still all great friends. But you wanted to ask more about Enoch, right? Dare."

− "Let’s see how I say this. He seems to be a sane man. But those signs he was doing a while ago, as if he was taking photos..."

− "Enoch’s life is quite complicated. I couldn’t summarize it. When he reached the street, they began to call him "deprived" and still their fellow mates, affectionately, do. You can see that when they knew him, he often made a sign indicating that he was without a single dain, "deprived". It is a pleasure to chat with him. And he never loses his lucidity no matter how tormented be his mind which needs some innocent distraction. He has lived taking photos, not only of beautiful girls; he has photographed all the sights of the city. The funny thing is that everything about 'photography' in this way never falls off his memory, and he even has several albums: "The best moments of the Outcasts", "Beautiful girls", "The city" and some more. Sometimes he has shown me. Well, Nike, don't you now question my sanity, but he describes the photos he has taken and kept on his albums with so much detail that one is able to see them."

   I didn't have any comment. If Luke, who knew him, found him sane, I wasn't going to disagree. And in a week, I would confirm this opinion. And yes, Protch, he even showed me the album of "The city", and sitting next to him, I was recognizing each place, even some that I still had not seen. And I don't care what you think of me, but his photos of Hazington are really remarkable.

   The mass ended and the devotees of St Mary were somewhat more generous than those of two days earlier in the Basilica. We collected three dains. I was making progress. On my second day on the street I had managed to gather at least for us. Now it wasn’t difficult for me to convince Luke to give me only the third part, for the other two would be for him and his wife. Still we didn't know if we could return in the afternoon, although looking at the sky it seemed unlikely. Perhaps with an umbrella, I thought, I already had one also. And I wanted to keep trying it for the others, to bring them something, the idea that in my early days really obsessed me.  

   We stopped at a shop along the way, somewhere that opens on Saturday morning, as we had to invest well the three dains, even Lucy’s. We finally spend them in donuts. The way back took us a little more by the time that we spend in the shop, but we were already back before 2. And for very little. Just going up to the camp, it began to rain. It fell softly, but determinedly. And the sky seemed another photograph by Enoch, where you could see that the dark tone of that compact mass would not stop. I couldn't but stay in my tent and read, with hopes that at any moment the rain would stop and Luke decided to leave again. Meanwhile I started The Tempest.

   Prospero, Duke of Milan, a shipwreck which must have happened a day like today (I heard from my tent the dense rain that turned the distressed skies into an ocean), the spirit of Ariel... Sometime later they told me that Ariel means Lion of God. Another lion. And no doubt its roars were clearly perceived in the whipping that the storm was giving to my defenseless country. The few times that I dared to look outside I saw it all full of puddles, but so there would be watered again the wheat ears from which soft spring would sprout one day.

   At a time when the flood God wanted to be fair with His creatures, someone knocked at my door. It was Luke. I had not even had lunch and he realized that a first time beggar as I was would be thinking of when he would eat. He brought me three yogurts, and encouraged me to eat them all.

− "Today it will not be possible to light a bonfire. Within a few hours, I will bring you a couple of donuts and then you had better go to bed."

   I was enjoying The Tempest, I mean the literary one. It was better to stay all afternoon inside the tent accompanying Prospero between spells, magic and witchcraft. Only an enchantment could achieve that we could get out tomorrow, I thought. Sounds of footsteps made me with some frequency take my head out from the inside of my canvas. Soon they all arrived: Mistress Oakes and Olivia first; Miguel and John later. I greeted them lovingly, with enough time for them, equipped with umbrellas, to tell me that it would be better to spend the night in the 'house'. But it wasn't that October 6 when I knew it.

   At the end, and also, although short the path from his tent to mine, provided with a good umbrella, came Luke to bring me the dinner. And he left again. I don't know if you know, Protch, that pleasure to not stop reading a book even while you eat. They say that surely it was his will, but since then (now I think I have read all), for me the best by Shakespeare is The Tempest. I followed, after eating, with resolution, until the end of a dialogue that was catching me. I didn’t finish it that evening. I finally had to surrender to the evidence. The deluge not only would make impossible the bonfire, but may God’s will be different, it would continue the next day. So, already defeated, I lied down, I curled up among blankets and two sheep skins, and in a short time I was already asleep, dreaming of lions, whose photos I saw in an album, taken without a camera, somewhat blurry, but where I could perceive even the undulations of the savannah, longing for tomorrow that blonde sun that glinted it.

   My first Sunday in the street, if it weren't for the so different night, seemed twin to the previous day. I looked at the aspect of the sky. It was still raining and it seemed impossible to light a bonfire, despite the gentle rain. I would have to start it without a cup of coffee, and I was not sure I could earn it on the street. I didn't know what Luke would tell me, but I hoped to go. I retained Bruce’s napkin, a very useful guide for my first days. There was a mass in St Stephen at 11 o'clock and at St Mary at 12. It was 8 when Luke came to my tent. He preferred to wet to bringing an umbrella for so short a walk and so insignificant rain.

− "Good morning, My Mate. Come, Bruce is going to invite us to a coffee in The Last Road."

   They kept on inviting me. I could do nothing but shrug my shoulders and accept the situation. I hoped that soon would come the day I could return them something of all the treasure they had already given me.

  You could well see that David Fieldman was accustomed to Bruce and Luke talks and probably all of them. When my mate introduced me as such, David granted me with a new smile, and we were chatting about the animals he saw on the neighbourhood. He did not know the names and we told him how we called the cats. But it was a short conversation. Luke and I had to decide what we were going to do. It would have been better, perhaps, to go to St Stephen, but Bruce told me that that morning Mistress Oakes and Olivia would try there and surely also Miguel and John. He would get wet but he was going to go to other places in Riverside. I wanted to know St Stephen, but if I went there would be the circumstance that there all of us would be. Except Lucy, who was going to risk going to the Basilica. There was a mass at 9. In the end I convinced Luke to take the umbrella, and whatever the weather was, to go to St Mary at 12.

  While we waited for the return of his wife, Luke was inside his tent with his son and I was on mine ending The Tempest. When I came back from the street, I did what I had never done before, for you know that I had never liked to read. I went back to starting the same book at the beginning. Rereading since then is for me as exciting as reading. Prospero, Miranda, Ariel and all others had squatted for a few hours my soul and I wanted them to search well and to find me a room where to lie down comfortably.

  We knew that Lucy’s day had not been good and equipped with two umbrellas Luke and I went to St Mary. But on rainy days people sometimes desert churches. Better than Thursday, but worse than yesterday. Something we could buy even if I do not remember what. Luke told me that in the outskirt there would be something to eat, mainly a lot of bread, and this is how I also started to get used to the delight of eating bread and bread.

   At 3 o'clock it began to rain so strong that no longer within my tent I felt safe, and it was almost a flood at 7. It was then that Mistress Oakes came to talk to me.

− "We had better spend the night in the "house", Nike. We are all going to go there."

− "But I have no key, Mistress Oakes".

− "Come with us. I've already told Luke to give you one as soon as possible. We are going now. If you don't come, you'll spend the night in an abandoned camp."

  The next day I had to work, and fortunately I remembered to take the alarm clock before leaving. I also took blankets and sheep skins. It was a new commotion to see the eight under umbrellas, tiresome and in procession, going up the stairs leading to the "house", some with the little we still had, mainly lots of bread.

   In the end, with all of them, I went up the same stairs that I had referred to you that night out of Baphomet. The disco no longer existed, but the back of Alder Street did. The stairs had more than one hole, but if you walked looking at the steps, there was no real danger. Lucy was the one who inserted her key in the lock and finally we all entered.

   The former home of Henry Shaw was small, but soon I saw the two things that made it charming and comfortable. It was filled with light, and it had lots of windows and a balcony, to which immediately led me Mistress Oakes, so that I could see it. Also it could be noted, that even without anything in, it was a surprisingly warm place, a gift for the beggars in the cold winter nights. There was no bathroom, but Miguel took me to see a part of the "house" which I will not describe, Protch, which was good as such.

   When I went to the balcony, I had to wear a coat. My first fellow mate took me there so I could look at what was seen around. When we arrived we were only eight, and Paul, who was then in his father's arms, but the "house" was filled as we talked on the balcony. That night we slept there 19 people, all on the ground and wrapped in blankets. There were no beds.

   From that torch open to the universe, I could see our six tents and the whole camp. And I even believed to see Ted roaming there in fruitless search of human company. I sighed and I turned to Mistress Oakes.

− "This House..." -I doubtfully began.

− "It is the home of Henry Shaw, a beggar at the end, but you're wondering who it belongs to, isn’t it? −and my face gave her an affirmative answer−. There are three beggars who are now their owners: Sheila Grant, from Blood Cattle Route; our neighbor Vincent McFarlane, from the Outcasts; and one such Madeleine Oakes –and when I looked at her with astonishment, she said−. Yes, Nike, I am one of the three legal owners of this house. When Henry died, in his will he left three names, of three beggars that he supposed would always live on the street. And indeed all three of us are still alive and we have not turned away from here. I believe that I am now the most veteran of the city, once a year ago my great friend Shannon died. Our neighbor Vince is tireless. He was chosen for the Outcasts, who when Henry died also were six, but six others. Only Vince has resisted. Sheila Grant was chosen from the beggars of the outskirt further to the north, which you may not know, Blood Cattle Route. And I was chosen from the beggars of Umbra Terrae Boulevard. Yes, Nike, I then lived only with Olivia and Lucy, in that shady place. Bruce had not come yet and we had not moved to Wrathfall Bridge. And what else do you want to know?"

− "How was it that Henry Shaw came to the street?"

− "In this city there are several houses like this. But this is the only one that legally belongs to the beggars. And of course its three co-owners, if you want to call us thus, we have made a copy of the key to everyone in the city. Now you must have one, but Luke will make you one tomorrow."

− "But Henry Shaw?" –I insisted.

− "Don't be impatient, Nike. I was coming to him. In this story, it is vital to tell you another name: Gary Blake. He was Henry’s brother-in-arms in I don't remember which war, one of the many in which this country has been involved; and a cousin of Cynthia’s, who became Cynthia Shaw, Henry’s wife. He was a great friend of both and often frequented the house in which we are now. Gary was mainly an alcoholic, but he had a singular personality. Look, he had many brothers and sisters, five or six, I do not remember well. And when alcohol led him to ruin, and to the street, his brothers took care of him. They all collected money to buy him a comfortable and dignified home in Evendale. Gary could not live more than one month under this roof. He felt as many of us feel sometimes: the friends made on the street are friends forever. Only I can explain it saying that our freedom, not having to be accountable to anyone, is emancipation, or rather a bohemian way of life, which you no longer want to lose. Gary then did something extraordinary that it is often talked among the beggars. He sold the house they had given him, and with that money he was feeding, as well as spending it on alcohol, until his death. But he got angry with his brothers and never again went to Evendale, even though he used to sleep there, under the bridges of the railroad. And now I make an end. Cynthia died in a traffic accident. Her husband loved her with what I call a dangerous love; He had put his wife in the center of his world. And when she died, without a clear center, he felt completely abandoned. He just seemed to come to life during the hours in which his friend Gary visited him. One night he slept with him, here, Nike, in the Torn Hand, which before he came was abandoned. He also began drinking alcohol, which would end up leading him to death. But he achieved freedom and finally, when he was dead inside, before death he had a second life. The house belonged to him, although he never slept inside. He began by spending a night there with Gary. He then invited Vince and the primitive Outcasts. All of them he lent a key and well, so it all started. Now all the beggars of the city have a copy. And Sheila, Vince and I are as proprietary as Vera, Luke or you."

   We went back inside, two or three more slices of bread for each one and finally I wrapped myself in blankets and I tried to get to sleep. It was not easy to spend the night among so many people, especially because when you were already asleep, someone suddenly reached the "house" and you woke up. But in the end all around me, I was able. Paul, however, had a night without crying and slept well, as warm as in his cradle, but knowing that all the hearts he loved were there.

   The alarm clock rang, as it was planned, at a quarter to five. Without much confusion, I got up and I said goodbye to my fellow mates who were then awake: Olivia, Lucy and Luke. I agreed with the latter to see each other before noon in Vicar’s End. I told him how to locate it and added I would take my head out of the window of my office and when I saw him I would come down. When I was leaving, I discovered that the "house" of Henry Shaw was rickety, but fairly clean. That very afternoon Mistress Oakes would tell me that once a week the Outcasts and those of the Torn Hand came up and cleaned it, especially in these cold months. So soon I was also taking care of this important room of my new house.

  The weather had improved and Olivia, who had time to tell me, did not predict any more rain all week, perhaps some isolated short downpours. It was no longer difficult for me to walk to Deanforest, and I counted the time: half an hour, sometimes a little more. I looked at the garden wanting to detach from all its opulence, because I sensed that it would soon come a day when I would never again inhabit it. It was a joy to enter knowing you're only going to have a shower, find some clothes and return to the world that you have chosen. I had a thorough shower, knowing that I was going to work; I changed clothes and lost some more time, but not too much, in selecting the clothes that I was going to bring to the Thuban. Walking up there was easy and short, but I caught the Daimler, to carry all the clothes. Avalon Road had a laundry where I could take it when it was dirty, and for that I was willing to use my money Siddeley. They had installed in my office recently a new file cabinet, still almost empty, that would be good for me to store clothes. I parked the Daimler on the very façade of the company, so now I had the Chevrolet in Millers' Lane, the Mercedes in Deanforest and the Daimler parked at Avalon Road.

   Just when I went down I met Samuel Weissmann, who was waiting for me. He wanted us to speak about various topics, he said, and would later come up to my office to bring me up to date. "Just a minute," I said, "I'm going to carry all the clothes". He helped me to leave it well stored in the file cabinet. And then we went down and he invited me to have breakfast. I greeted Richard who seemed unmoved at seeing me arrive with Samuel, but anyway he dared not speak much. My boss wanted to say that, given the undeniable hostility shown to me by Walter and Harold, he had decided that my next business will be primarily on the hands of Anne-Marie and Thaddeus. "All you three together can be a good team. You shall count with me in any case. And under the supervision of Norman, in case you need him." In his conversations on Friday, he had appeased the latter and convinced Thaddeus that now he should cooperate more than ever with me, if he wanted to continue profiting. This conversation reminded me of the game of chess in Olivia’s story. Pieces were moving and I found out which pawns were willing to form the red team with me. I had already reached the eighth square, transforming myself into a beggar; they had not yet arrived and had time to choose which piece they would be when they reached it.

  And he finally asked me if I had already transmitted his invitation to Luke and what he had answered. I told him that he would be here at noon and that if he did not object he would wait for him at the bar, talking with Richard. The latter then made the undeniable gesture to say: "at last I will meet him, Nike." Samuel replied that it seemed to him a good idea and told me to tell Prancitt that he would come down at about half-past 12.

  Once coffee was finished, he accompanied me to my office where he was more than one hour talking to me about projects I would be involved now. I won’t mention them to you, Protch, I will just tell you in passing that as Thaddeus was the head of the industrial section, in the industrial I should move in later. Seeing me showered and clean, he told me that the next day I would again meet customers. Finally he left and I managed with well-oriented mind to concentrate on the work. Up to half past 11. From that moment it was all making constant trips to the window to see if Luke had reached Vicar’s End. It was too early, but I was already impatient. I started smoking a cigarette and before ending it, at ten to twelve, I saw his silhouette along the alley and looking up. I called him shouting: "Luke, wait, now I shall go down."

   In three minutes I was already beside him. When I saw him in Vicar’s End I couldn't help but give him a big hug. So long looking out of that window dreaming to see him one day and now he was there, in the alley. I was going to say something, but he spoke first:

− "Take this copy of the keys of the "house", Nike. It wasn't fair that there still was something that we could live and my mate could not. Now enter the house whenever you want. It is yours also."

− "Luke –I was moved and changed the subject−, through this door you can enter the bar, but behind the counter. And I want you to know the main entrance. Come with me."

   I took him proudly to Avalon Road. I showed him the window of the façade and taught him to recognize Castor and Pollux, on the left.

− "Miguel and John have long been here. And now we are going in the other twins."

  Sean, our doorman, was lectured to by Samuel to let in any beggar today. I led Luke to the bar and I remember he told me that it seemed to him a palace. I took him to the bar before Richard, who looked at us with curiosity and his best smile. I made presentations and immediately they spoke to each other, as if they had known all life.

− "Welcome, Luke. It is two months that your mate does not speak to me of something else that it is not the seven of you. I think that I know everyone already. Let me see: this morning you have entered together the seventh and the eighth. And now you are going to allow me to invite you two to a cup of coffee. And don't tell me, Nike, that that comes into your salary. These coffees I will pay."

   I nodded, and though all my life I had felt a parasite, I had to get used to the fact that now, though I continued to be, the constant invitations emerged from the clear source of friendship. They began to converse amicably, mainly about me. It is not always pleasant to stay to hear compliments on one's own, and they were getting that I did not know where to look. But Richard began to make me a clear gesture to leave them alone, and at the same time he told me to trust him. I don't know if it was credible the excuse that I had a lot of work, but I finally left, but not before appointing to meet Luke on the Torn Hand at about 4.

  I don’t remember at all what else happened that morning. But back in our outskirt, I wanted to see my mate’s face and I wanted him to tell me about his interviews with Richard and Samuel. And when we finally met, I couldn't help but ask him inconsistently, stammering.

− "How has it gone? I mean... what... what did you think?"

− "I think I can tell you Richard and I have become good friends. I didn't know that he was almost a neighbour. He has promised that soon he will come here, that he’s dying to get to know us all. And Samuel is better still than what I thought. He has taken me to The Golden Eagle. When he asked where I preferred to go, I told him that anywhere but The Silversmith. There was where we did not eat, and I would only return there with you, one day that we are willing to eat it all. We have had Sunday Roast. But I can tell you something more this afternoon. Today it is sunny and at 5 o'clock there is a mass in St. Stephen. It is time that you know it. Are we going, My Mate?"

  We walked this time heading south. In St Alban's Road I was looking at the numbers, looking forward to seeing the hallway of Richard’s house, but we soon reached number 21 and actually there we turned right and soon we were at St Stephen’s square.

   The true heart of Riverside, as you surely know, Protch, is the square of The Holy Ghost Church, but the tiny twin towers of St. Stephen gave me in the face by surprise when I did not expect to find them. The temple is an ochre roundness that timidly opens to the sun of the east with face rejuvenated, as young as this quarter or second city by where Hazington has expanded in the last two centuries. But the sun was a fantasy. I didn’t like the grey lead of these clouds. It seemed that people were crowding, but little by little everyone left. A passerby dropped us something in our hands. But then came a woman beggar that Luke also introduced me.

− "She is another neighbor, Nike. Katie Chamberlain."

− "So you are Nike. We are waiting for dinner all together. But Vince has thought that it would be better on Sunday, which is his birthday. And I know my surname if familiar to you. I am one of the famous Chamberlains of the city. I even have a street. But as you can see, some of us, the last Chamberlains, are down here, almost in the mud"

   Katie Chamberlain had a difficult to describe beauty. It was in her dimples. At times her face seemed that of smallpox and however that, strange as it may seem, combined with the charm of her green eyes and her strong personality, made her extremely attractive. So sarcastic, so accurate in her words, it was always expected something more behind the curtains, which in the end were unfurled and showed you that the only point that you had not wanted to look at was the only valuable point.

  But suddenly clouds wanted to be noticed. It was only ten minutes, enough for the square to be deserted. Katie ran to Riverside Avenue where she said she was to meet Vince. There were three minutes of fierce hail and Luke and I, while we were looking for a place to be sheltered, were, as the saint of the Church, bloodthirstily stoned. But it did not last long and we went back out of the interior of the temple, as it was here where we took refuge. The crowd looked at us a second with disdain, and with some shock, because their ears could not help but hear the bullets that hit the ochre of the towers.

   We were there for half an hour more and when the alms givers left we had the same fortune of earlier days: we could buy food for us, but we got nothing for the others. Anyway, already I had grown accustomed to not eating until we saw the luck that had corresponded to all. With sun again we were walking back while I asked Luke to tell me more of his conversation with Samuel.

   This was the first time those days that I began to find him strange. The rarity is that his eyes did not seem to be where his mind was. I sometimes believed that Luke was not there. I feared that he was angry with me for something, but when at last he answered a question that I had to ask him several times, the same smiling mate answered with unsuspected warmth and a tenderness which was unknown.

− "You ask me about my interview with Samuel. You see, My Mate. These days your life moves in two worlds. My interest to know Richard and eat with Samuel was based on knowing on what kind of hands you are on that side. And the same reason, my friend, had your boss in knowing me. He knows that I am your mate and that for you I'm very important. Both of us love you, Nike, and now we are calmer. I've also started a friendship with Samuel, and for that, I had to undress myself thoroughly in a few words that one day I may tell you. He is a surprising man, difficult to get shocked. A man of integrity that is completely on your side. Have no fear, Nike; treat him as a real friend."

  And he said little more. We were already reaching the outskirt, too early, but soon we saw that hail had made everyone's feet return frightened to our camp. And we soon lit a fire. We were eating, and what was already usual for me, each of us telling how he had had the day, when we felt a few steps climbing the hill. Luke, looking in that direction, was the first to be aware of his presence.

− "It is Richard, Nike."

  I got up to greet him and welcome him to the place that was my home now.

− "What a pleasure to see you here, Richard, my friend. Give me a big hug."

  After the intense greeting, he was a couple of minutes looking at the terrain, as giving his assessment. He then devoted himself to look, first only at me; then to me in the environment.

− "Now that I see you here, Nike, you seem to belong to this place. And everything around you is yours. Also you will see I've been watching everything with your eyes for two months and this place has the exact air of what you've told me. I'll come here one evening you have more free time so that you show me those bridges, the river, the lake, the alder grove, everything you have described to me. But let’s see what they think of me now your fellow mates. They are all looking at me; Luke, who fortunate I already know, with true affection. But I will recognize them all. You won't need to introduce them."

− "Now I will take you to the bonfire. There is not much food, but we have something. Would you like to eat with us?"

− "I come from my house where I have just had dinner, Nike. Do not worry about that."

− "Ok. But look a minute –it was the time and within a few days it would no longer be visible− towards the northeast –and not knowing where it was, I showed him−. That's your star: Deneb –and I also showed him Vega and Altair, all the recognizable summer triangle− and that is the Swan, your constellation." –and my fingers were pointing out the whole cross; or Swan flying carefree south of the Milky Way.

− "It really moves you. The Swan startles, but it shakes more to have a friend who has given it to me."

  And we went to the bonfire. Richard greeted them one by one by their names and I didn’t have to introduce them. And he also did so in chronological order. It was simpler than you think. He had met Luke that morning; he had worked with John. Only one day he met Miguel, but he had retained his face. Therefore the only man he didn’t know was Bruce. And the three women he knew by their different ages. When he said hello to Olivia and Lucy nothing in his gesture indicated that he had reasons to hate the surname Rivers. And John spoke before him.

− "Not Mr. Richmonds, Richard. Now only John, please. But it is a pleasure to see you again."

   We told him to sit among us. He sat next to me, this time facing north. My fellow mates asked him questions about his life. He doubted whether to tell something about his dark past out of respect to the Rivers and in the end he only talked about how what I had told him had made him able to recognize them all and know the order in which we all were.

  It struck me how tightly that night Lucy and Richard looked at each other, as if both shared a piece of information with the eyes and they were talking with looks, giving themselves mutual support on any initiatory secret that both shared and for the others it was hidden. It was the first time that they had seen each other and I found it strange. But later in a loud voice, he asked Lucy and Luke about Paul, and he spoke to them of his two children, Armand and Crystelle, only a month younger than the little king.

   Finally, with the excuse to know my tent, Richard stood up and finally I could ask him the question that I needed to ask. I pointed out the six tents, indicating him where each of us slept, and I begged him to enter mine and only there he answered.

− 'Do not be afraid about Luke, Nike. He likes you more than what you think. Soon you'll see it. This morning I've confirmed everything I already thought. He has not stopped to tell me about you and in all his words, I've been able to deduce that your mate is the best friend you can have. I would advise you to stop your fears and to keep giving him that friendship that so far has overwhelmed him."

  I kept having the impression that Richard did not tell me everything, but it was enough to know that he and Luke had liked each other. I walked with him back to the bonfire. He was going to stay a little longer.

   The night shone in flickering flames and a black shadow came near the heat of the fire. Richard stroked it a few seconds, but it ended up in my arms.

− "Ted." He said.

− "Is there something or someone you don't know, Richard? −asked John with real cordiality.

− "If Nike knows it, surely me too, John."

  The conversation followed half an hour more. I believe that after Richard’s visit the seven looked at me in another way, as a fellow mate who could describe his world with pride. All of them spent that time hearing the anecdotes that he began to tell of his adolescence. They often spoke, but little Olivia, who looked thoughtful, as if she suspected somehow the link that connected her brother with Richard. Anyway, when he finally left, she said goodbye with her best smile. From the night of the 8th of October, your cousin Rich, Protch, has not stopped coming to visit us.

   Of the morning of the next day, I have little to tell you. My constant machinations with Anne-Marie and Thaddeus began and we started to know with what skein we had to handle and in which threads we had to move. In the future we were a good team.

  But I also must say that Samuel told me that one Mr. Dewes, a lawyer I should have an interview with due to some fields expropriated for the benefit of our company, could not hold with me the interview which we had appointed, but he could come on Friday at 5 in the afternoon.

− "I know that it is not your business hours, Nike. But it would be very important for the company that you speak with him the day and time that suits him. And for what I already know of Luke, I know he would not mind going to the street on Friday for both and you can see each other later anywhere you say."

   It was a setback for me, sincerely, not to go the street with my mate early in Friday afternoon. But being a shark was for me still necessary and I could not offend the company, so I accepted. And then I asked him the question I needed to ask, what he had thought about Luke.

− "When you introduced him to me on Thursday, he seemed an intelligent and affectionate man. After eating with him I know that he was really sincere. I'd like to be his friend as I'd like to be your friend. I will not go for the time being to the Torn Hand to see you. The little free time I have, now that I know that you won't relieve me, it will be dedicated now to my family, but both Luke and you are going to count on me when you need it. Moreover, he is an extraordinary man. He can find the essence of what really matters even if there weren’t any prior words that tell us that, and nothing else, was the substantial thing. And he appreciates you, Nike. If something you value my opinion, I would not have fear of Luke. Quite the opposite. He likes you more than you think. And for now, forgive me, Nike, I am not going to say more. We were eating and talking two men who appreciate you. But what we were talking about is private. One day you may know it."

  Those words by Samuel made me think much, but I couldn’t decipher them. But nothing else happened that morning that I need to tell you. I returned to the outskirt after work and I told Luke, who was waiting for me, that I couldn't go with him on Friday and we decided to leave.

   The sun was a medal which adorned the neck of that October afternoon; my mate suggested we could try our fortune again in the Basilica, which being such an important temple, had a mass each evening. Today also at 7. As it was very early we first sat on a square of Templar Village, the first place where I was that was not a church. The day began well. And long before the hour, we were again on the steps of St Paul. On this occasion we were the first to arrive. The position you have, like everything else, is relative. Being on top is optimal for when people leave; for the time they enter you had better sit below.

  A lady of greyish hair and with enough wrinkles, looking miserable but smiling and optimistic, sat on the next lower step. Luke introduced her as Sheila Grant. He could not know Mistress Oakes had already mentioned her. I knew instantly that she was the power of Blood Cattle Route. I still had to know Vince, but there was another of the three owners of the 'house'.

− "In the Blood we already have heard of you, Nike. Your story would surprise us if it wasn't because we already know Miguel’s, John’s and Luke’s; not to mention many of the Outcasts; or in my outskirt, for example, those of the Spence brothers."

− "Nathan and Joey Spence?"

− "Do you know them?"

− "I do not know with what fortune they went from this same place five days ago, on Thursday. It was my first day on the street."

− "Their story is unfortunately something very frequent. Circumstances that we cannot govern which make us lose everything. Something similar happened to me. But those two will stand, while there is enough soul in Nathan, who is supposed to be strongest of the two. You could say that Joey relies on his brother, but he has something. I think it is the power of his imagination, stories that he invents. I told him that one day he should write."

   Everything was different from Thursday. The hat today was filling up, and not just of tobacco. Those who came up the stairs were especially generous. It was a day of few alms givers, but those who contributed were especially lavish in two-dain coins. I looked at our harvest not believing we had so much. Meanwhile the conversation with Mrs. Grant went on, but most of all she was interested in each of the Torn Hands, as she called us. And she did not forget Paul, but she couldn’t hide a silent reproach. That woman knew Olivia very well, had seen Lucy grow on the street, but did not fully understand that she now had a son. That was our fate, Protch; no one who wasn't of the Torn Hands fully respected that family, for me sacred. The mass ended and there came the big time for the beggars above. Variable fortune, but fortune after all. There was no need to go elsewhere later. When I picked up the money from the hat, it had been 10 dains, a primula, although in coins; we never changed them for the yellow note.

  Unexpected flow with which my cheeks were opened and all the features of my face made me laugh, blessed happiness and blissful my hand that was inserted into the hat and took out a capital. I, who had had so much, was the happiest man in the world with 10 dains. Today I could bring something to my fellow mates. Luke looked at me with an excited face. He knew what that meant to me. October 9, first day that being eight, the eighth could feed them. And not only that. My mate suggested that even we could have a coffee. I nodded. I felt indebted to King Alfred, where they had let me in and I had not asked for anything. There were Luke and me talking about the day we had had. He also asked me about Sheila Grant. I didn't want to judge someone I had just known for half an hour, but I told him that I had found her resistant. Luke looked at me and smiled, confirming me that as usual our opinions were twins.

   In the very Castle Road there were some open bakeries. Luke told me more about his own story.

− "The first day I got food for the others Lucy and I entered here and bought an apple pie. And with what you've got today yet you will still have three dains. One for each, counting for Lucy too. Tomorrow you already start with one dain to have two coffees or whatever you want."

  Dinner that night looked like a birthday party, or maybe it was the happiness that I brought. The candles were my smile; cake we had, and the little king seemed to participate in my rejoicing and didn't sleep. My fellow mates fired friendship lights and looked at me as if to say: "can you see, Nike? You've succeeded." But I returned them the look as if answering: "this is only a small part of what you have given me. But patience: I start paying off my debt. To pay you all that I owe you I must be here for weeks, months, years." Not even the fog that appeared that night was stronger than the sun that shone that night inside me. They were used to eating with fog and that phantom never put out their bonfires. When at last I walked in my tent, I slept soundly, tired but ultimately satisfied.

  Wednesday 10 seems like any day, but the night was different. On the Thuban even the most hostile were getting accustomed to my double condition. I guess Walter began to understand they wouldn't fire me and that would make him think, with Samuel on my part, he had better speak to me naturally. And so, I could converse at the end with my chief accountant. And Harold came to my office to tell me that as long as I did not speak of his nephew, he would be able to have necessary discussions and work with me. Waters were calming and in that calm tide each day I watched Richard, Samuel and Anne-Marie swimming with the wind in my favor.

   The afternoon with Luke in the street was moderately favorable for us. The fact is that I was getting used to recognize the food shops that remained open to evening hours and to always buy cheaper. We brought something for the others and we had already sat at the bonfire when we suddenly had an unexpected visit. It was a well-dressed man who was obviously looking for something in our outskirt. We saw him climbing the slope, and just at that moment Miguel rose as with shock and called him by his name.

− "Mr. Vinuesa." -he greeted him restless.

− “Do you know him?" −asked John, who was uncertain.

− "He is an attorney, a friend of my father’s. But he should be in Cádiz."−but he was already beside him. Mr. Matías Vinuesa was around 50 years old, and despite what he came to tell, you could see he was laconic, reserved, and phlegmatic.

 − "It has been difficult for me to find you, Miguel. In Aubrey, Fielding & McDawn they gave me the address of one such Miss Beaulière. A few hours ago I managed to locate her and she told me that no letter had come to her"−Miguel had left his signs in the home of Anne-Marie. His former law firm had sent the letter to her address in Evendale. Several days later I found out that they had missed the number. Mr. Aubrey had written a 14 so illegible that they had sent it to number 17, and Anne-Marie did not know of its existence.

− "But what has brought you here, Mr. Vinuesa? How are my parents?"

− "Your mother is ok. But on October 1 my friend Matthew had a heart attack. He is still in hospital. It seems that he will recover from this. But your father, Miguel, is already very old and wonders whether he will be able to see you again. He asked me strongly to find you."

− "And how is my uncle?"

− "I don't know if it is truth the parallel life that they tend to have the twin brothers. But it was the next day when Mark McDawn also had a heart attack. Your mother and your cousin Brenda Dolores deal with the two. They are in the same hospital. I would like you, Miguel, to come with me to Cádiz in a flight that departs tomorrow."

− "You can see my circumstances, Mr. Vinuesa. I have been six years in the street. I could not afford a flight."

− "Your father must be suspecting something when for so long he doesn’t know of you. And he has given me money enough to pay the flight."

− "There is something else −and unexpectedly he gave a kiss to his twin−. This is John Richmonds, my partner. We have been together for three years. He should come with me."

  If Matías Vinuesa was surprised he did not show, in his phlegm, any feeling.

− "I do not find it right to introduce him now to a man who has had a heart attack, Miguel."

 − "Only you must go −said John−. This is not the time to meet my in-laws. Let's walk a while and talk about it. Now, more than ever, I'm going to show you all my love and my tenderness."

    And both walked for half an hour. Mr. Vinuesa stayed with us and it was very difficult to know what to say. It was hard for him to know that Matthew’s son was in the street and it was not the time for us to talk about the stories of the others. So it was a tense time in which we could not find any topics of conversation.

   The twins returned with faces like mirrors that showed they had cried a lot, and comfort and safety has been given, promised Miguel to John, he would return soon. Meanwhile he would frequently write to Anne-Marie’s house. She undoubtedly would bring the letters to the Torn Hand when she received them. Ensured that Miguel would go to the airport at 10 in the morning of the next day, October 11, Mr. Vinuesa said goodbye to us and there we were seven people who didn't know how to look at Miguel or what to tell him. Until we finally asked him to tell us some things about his parents or his country.

− "Although I've been there for just a few years, that is my homeland; and there are my parents, my uncle, my cousin. They have told me since the dictator died nobody can recognize it. These are better times. But I have been several years without seeing it and am not going to return to live happy events. I would have liked to take John to walk by the sea of Cádiz. Some other day; in this I trust −and turning to his twin soul−. I don't know how I can cope without you. Not even one day we have been separated yet."

− "Your father is the only one important now, Miguel. And in the distance, I will continue with you. I hope you come back soon and that you bring some good news."

   His six fellow mates started to leave them diplomatically alone, so they lived their last bonfire together in some time.

   I had hardly slept when in the morning I got up and found Miguel at the bonfire with Olivia. He was mentally preparing to say goodbye to John and take a bus to the airport. Mr. Vinuesa was waiting for him at half past 8.

− "I hope to see you again upon my return, Nike.  If it is not, let me repeat to you that it has been a pleasure to meet you and have lived with you the best of these seven days you have been with us."

− "You shall see me again, Miguel, I promise you. Whatever it is, on your return you will find me here. And meanwhile I hope to know by John that everything goes well in your country."

   In the end I had to stand up. That day I walked well, but I wanted to live my penultimate hours at the bonfire with him, and I could not go with time, like every morning, to Deanforest. So when I reached the Thuban, I had for the first time the feeling of opening with my key the wide area of the showers, and have there the first of many. Then I went up to my office and I changed clothes. It was something new that was soon going to be also a routine.

  Of day 11 I don't have much to tell. In the afternoon we returned to the Basilica, as I prayed to my mate that now that I had been a week in the street, we went back there. The evening, with bright sun, was also favourable. Upon my return to the outskirt it was strange to feel everyone arrive slowly and not seeing Miguel. His hole at the bonfire was too noticeable, but the shoulders where he used to lean on were there. I didn't know how to look at him. John had gone to the street alone many times, but he always met Miguel when he returned. He should now get used to a time of painful solitude. I was going to say goodbye when we saw someone climb the slope in that week of so many visits. It was Anne-Marie. She knew for me that her friend John would need more than ever her company. Her arrival was strange to me, although I had seen her here, because she now also came to visit me.

− "Soon I will be with you, Nike. And with all of you –she said with heat−. But soon I hope that John takes me awhile to walk and talk" –she was a minute looking around the camp, but mainly the latest acquisition: my tent. She still had not seen it there. She said that on her return she hoped I showed her.

  John was renewed, as the year with its spring, whenever he talked with his beloved Anne-Marie. I do not know which shoulder had lent him his great friend, but he returned with another appearance, calmer and with a light he had borrowed, like a planet which continues to know around which sun to turn although it momentarily finds it in an eclipse. For many days I wasn't capable of approaching John and ask him about Miguel and hoped that my gaze of encouragement was enough. But it was then Anne-Marie’s turn to walk again, now by my side, with the second friend who had gone to the street.

   I took her to see my tent. She entered expecting to find I don’t know which miseries, but when we left she gave a deep sigh and said:

− "I think that though there are many things I could tell you, from here you will not move. Now I will have to come more often, also for you. Nike, that sadness which John has... I had not seen him like that before. He will need you as much as he needs me. As I will not be able to convince you to get out of the street, I will ask you something very different. Do not get away from here if both of you have clear that this is already your place. At least, I want you to follow where you want to be until Miguel returns, and for John to be a warm home. The coals he needs he can find them in your fireplace. I love you so much –I was startled by her sincere weeping− that I promise that because of you two I'm going to love the others. Yes, also Luke."

   We talked facing east. Her last words made me see all the efforts that in recent months Anne-Marie had done and how, even if her friends could disappoint her, she had a source of affection toward us that flowed rivers of renewed respect, murky as the flow might be. I had spent several days wanting to give her a star. But I had not seen how easy it was. Richard had Deneb; Samuel was the owner of Altair. And with three beloved hearts on the Thuban I could make a summer triangle. I looked at the northeast again and noted it, white, bright, majestic, the second brightest star in the northern hemisphere.

− "Anne-Marie, wait a second: would you like a star?"

− "Every day you resemble John more. But all the time that I have known him, he has never thought about that. And from you I have had to accept more bitter things lately. But I like this gift: which one do you want to give me?"

− "Look over there. Soon it will not be visible this year, but it will reappear when the spring becomes summer. That one so brilliant is Vega. Its constellation is the Lyra. But you will identify it more easily if you distinguish well the summer triangle. John told me that one day it will once again be the pole star."


 

  And around 12,000 BC it was also. Vega, always in the Zenith, its inexhaustible lighthouse illuminates the skies many nights in the year, on its way from east to west. It seems to mean "falling" or "landing", but it has also been called "life of the skies", "messenger of light", and most beautiful names. It is officially Alpha Lyrae: the Lyra is not easily distinguished, but Vega tells you where to find it. Nike had already proposed to Samuel Weissmann that Anne-Marie directed the Thuban and, as her star, perhaps one day she relieved Nike as polar light in the same building that bore the name of another former sky guide. Vega for Anne-Marie: in a week, Nike had been the star giver, but once completed the summer triangle, he stopped.


 

   She was sitting with us for more than one hour and in her conversation with the seven now we clearly saw that she knew inside out each stone of our roads. It was good in her that light of sympathy that she shared with everyone. She even accompanied Mistress Oakes to her tent when she withdrew. And finally she left when she saw our usual night shade, Ted. Anne-Marie didn’t like cats very much.

   Friday 12 I lived almost entirely in a bad mood. It began, I knew, my second weekend in the street, but it seemed that I could not easily get out of work. With what little I had saved those days, I ate for the first time in the dining room, more to earn time than out of hunger. Then I returned to my office, where I learned some business and did some backlog waiting for Mr. Dewes. He finally came, but a quarter of an hour late. He was one of those men who are not satisfied with saying a thing just once. We had to repeatedly return to the same points, with constant comments about the benefits that steel had brought to the world. He was an insufferable customer but I already had years of experience in the dissimulation and at 6 o'clock I managed to finally say goodbye to him, both satisfied at last in the affairs that were interesting to the company.

   I had agreed with Luke to see each other in the Basilica. But I couldn't find him, so late I arrived. One more Friday that I had not been able to go to the street with him. Then I knew he had also had a good day, and a month later I knew he had withdrawn soon, his mind an apparent darkness. That October 12 he had found William Rage.

   In the Torn Hand I found him in a scene that I still had not ever lived. Luke was next to Mistress Oakes’ tent. On the outside, she had placed a carpet, small and green, which she kept carefully and used from time to time. It stood for a rug. Mistress Oakes was reading Luke the Tarot cards.

− "Come close, My Mate. I've spent several months with so much fear to the prophecy that I have never dared she read me the cards. But finally I asked her to do it and to look at that."

− "But on that I cannot see anything, Luke. But all the cards are telling me the same thing. I don't think that with them I can see if the prophecy will come true. But I do see however much you live, you'll be very happy. I can see you have a new reason for happiness and you should not fear: you'll be able to keep it."

   Luke had enough with this omen. It was clear that he had new reasons to be blessed and our mistress confirmed that whatever they were, they were solid. So happy I saw my mate that when then she asked me if I wanted to see what the cards could tell me, I took courage and said I would.

   She advised me to concentrate on something intensely, while she shuffled. I did not know this ritual, but since then I have experienced it on numerous occasions. She made me the one which is known as Three Cards Only: one card was for the past, another one for the present and one last card for the future. With the first two she was so right that I thought it was intuition and her personal knowledge of parts of my story. But with the third, representing my future, I was surprised.

− "You have the Empress, Nike."

   She was a young woman, in her childbearing age, sitting on her throne. But I couldn't help that the mention of the Empress evoked me the name that Lucy and Luke would have been calling their daughter, if girl it had been. My mate looked at me with clear gestures of not understanding anything, of an enormous bewilderment. She explained to me that the Empress was active femininity and that it was a card of good omen if it was not upside down. She recommended me to try now with the minor arcana. There are 56. But I kept seeing Mistress Oakes confused.

− "The minor arcana are not clarifying me anything. Maybe because I look at them according to their usual symbolic meaning. Clearly you are the ace of gold and if you look at all the cards all number five accompany it. I know that somehow this has to do also with the Empress. I remain somewhat unclear, because there is a part that I am not able to read, since I find an impenetrable mind that has to do with everything that I tell you. All I can say as a conclusion is this: “one will turn into five”. I don't know what it means, but every time I see it clearer. So it is, Nike, but it will only be possible with you."

   One will turn into five. You have to wait, Protch, but Mistress Oakes, even when she did not understand, was always right.

− "All this labyrinth has to do –she concluded− with Dignity. That of your first nine days here, which will now be a constant thing in your life. It may not have been easy for you to react to everything you've seen and find a way to give the true measure to things. But finally Dignity has given you a few feathers and is inviting you to take flight."

  And Luke, who was there, said:

− "Perhaps Dignity can be found in flying. Or perhaps, due to having had my parachute one day, finally I jumped off the indignity of my life, as you are doing now, My Mate, and in the streets that we walk, I found my wings."