Chapter 14: Cesare Mercurio
This morning I awoke to the rising day with a great tempest raging within me, my soul sloshed to and fro as a boat shaken by waves of love and hatred, desire and anger. The air was stiffened by a mordant cold, unusual even for this wintery season, and my skin froze as I opened the window to freshen my room and my mind. All the better, this bitterness of the elements serves me well!, I thought, deciding to take a long walk in the park and freeze the boiling in my blood. When I reached it I slowed my pace, and for the first time since I set foot outside I noticed the poetic flavour of this early morning. The brine had impearled the grass and the tress, which lay with immobile magical beauty, as the dusk lifted giving way to a diaphanous blue sky, cloudless. I lifted my head and for one perfect instant I felt whole, deeply fulfilled to be where I was. Indeed my feelings were feminine! Indeed they were! Do we man perhaps have two souls within us, one of which is active since our birth, while the other one has its manifestation in the woman we seek? Were my feminine feelings nothing but the anticipation, the signal, of the moment to come? Were they the vibrations emanating from the wondrous apparition waiting for me?
And when I lowered my gaze there she was, sitting on a bench, her hair falling on her back in curls of ebullient red. I was seeing only her back, but from her posture, immobile and composed, she seemed immersed in deep thoughts. As I saw Iryssa every organ within me immobilized for an instant, before melting, my joy exploding in all directions, my heart accelerating, my body sizzling with warmth and my mind throbbing with such intense happiness the tension was almost unbearable!
Iryssa, I whispered ever so lightly it was impossible to even the most sensitive ear to detect my voice. And yet Iryssa turned towards me, because of the silent communication between our souls, as I can state with the certainty of a man of science! She smiled, and in that smile I could read that she had been waiting for me, knowing I would come. Iryssa, I said again, this time with an audible voice. She walked towards me and took me by the hand, as if it were natural to do so.
We walked awhile hand in hand with our heartbeats as sole words. I let Iryssa guide me, as a docile infant trusts his mother to lead him and lets his thoughts wander as playful confetti on a festive day. We reached a small lake, where swans sat, their sinuous necks tucked in the white softness of their plumage, and where the flexuous branches of naked willows dipped their tips in the frosty water. Iryssa stopped, embracing the view with a fond gaze. Then she turned to look at me, her eyes locked into mine. And I felt peaceful.
Time stretched endlessly. When a bird sang we awoke, and laughed in unison at our awakening. I approached Iryssa, slowly, not out of hesitation but because of the wish to extend the perfection of this instant beyond its time. Ah, what a delicate perfume Iryssa’a skin emanated! It was the perfume of spring, of gentle flowers and open meadows! And her lips! How marvellous was their sensuous softness, their warmth after the initial freshness, their tender flavour of honey and milk! In this kiss I reached perfection, the unity of my soul with its missing half. Iryssa and I were the Philosopher’s stone, the unsurpassed object of all quests.
Then Iryssa detached herself from me, and I was lost again.
“I shall leave now”, she said, then added, seeing my sadness, “We will always find each other, do not let your heart be anguished at this temporary departure”
She smiled again, taking a small package from her pocket and handing it to me. I took it, my mind numb and my instinctive gests taking the lead where my thoughts failed. Iryssa nodded, as if approving my sensible behaviour, and walked away without turning.
I stood there with the package in my hand, and watched her silhouette turn distant and small, and finally disappear behind a group of trees. I suddenly realized it was bitterly cold, and I shivered in the white loneliness of the sad winter.
I opened the package. There was a flower in it, a pressed forget-me-not, blue even now that it had been dried. I smelled it, and I detected or imagined the notes of Iryssa’s perfume. I held the flower close to me, as tears rolled down my cheeks, shamelessly, as if my virile self was nothing but a ghost who had deserted my body.
A breath of wind spurred the dormant leaves lying on the ground and the branches of the trees, it rippled the surface of the lake and stirred my frozen mind. How could I find myself in such a state? Should I not feel elated at the confirmation of Iryssa’s love for me? And shouldn’t the kiss I received fulfill me for life, even if it were the last one?
I tucked the package in my coat’s pocket. The laboratory, of course! That was the place to go, the trustworthy refuge for my mind and the panacea for my confounding passions! I thus headed there, riveted in an alternation of mirth and melancholy.
But alas! What is more painful than seeing one’s refuge profaned, not once but twice? This time, oh reader, there was no legitimate doubt about what I have seen! When I walked into the laboratory there he was, once again, the scoundrel! Ricco Ermete was holding samples in his hands and had one in his the pocket of his jacket! When he saw me he stopped short, not knowing what to do. This time his intent was as clear as the polar star in the night sky and even his evil tongue was incapable of sugary lies!
“Return what you have taken, you ignorant half-man!”, I shouted, along with other epithets I cannot recall, bloated as I was by uncontrollable anger
Ricco Ermete stood there, still and speechless.
“Have you heard my words or are your auditive organs as malfunctioning as your rotten mind?”, I insisted relentlessly
Ricco Ermete placed the samples he was holding in his hands on the table.
“What do you have in your pocket? Do you believe I am blind?”, I said with vehemence
Ricco Ermete produced the sample from his pocket.
“Do not move!”, I yelled, taking a walk stick that was resting on the table
Ricco Ermes stood there helplessly, what a coward! I ran the stick along his body, moving his jacket away and checking for any samples he might have on him.
“I shall use this stick to avoid soiling my hands by coming in contact with you, infectious waste”, I explained icily
This statement seemed to have some effect on the scoundrel, as he reacted at last and said, “You have grossly misinterpreted my actions”
“Oh! Have I?”, I replied irately
“Sir, I would have informed you about my presence in your laboratory and…”, he began
“Enough! Enough!”, I roared, my voice shaking the walls as an unforgiving thunder
“Leave, leave or I shall not be responsible for my actions!”, I yelled, brandishing the stick in my hands and pushing Ricco Ermete to the door
He backed up sheepishly, but at a moment he glanced at me, as a perfidious viper looks at its victim, immobile and yet ready to deliver its poison.
I know this man will return, and you, oh wise reader, shall carry the memory of who this traitor is! I do not fear for myself, but for my science and for Iryssa. Alas, the thought of my precious creations falling in unworthy hands in unbearable for me! And Iryssa…she is aquatinted with this man and I shall warn her against him.
The apothecary shop was closed today and I roamed the streets in the futile attempt to find a trace of Iryssa. I looked in every corner where I thought she could be. Even though I am not acquainted with her habits in any way, I hoped I might retrieve her, led by the spiritual connection that had manifested itself in the park this morning. And yet my quest had no avail…
I wrote these pages to leave a trace of the facts, but tomorrow I shall find Iryssa without hesitation! If she will ever be beguiled by this man, if she is ever harmed by him…ah, I shall find her tomorrow at all costs!