A Visit With The Pope II

“Who gets the Mickey’s?” he laughed and stumbled spilling some of the drinks on the tray and the floor. The long haired man helped a now feeble Pope John to his chair and cleaned up the spillage. Pope John reached for the green bottle and smiled as he chug-a-lugged about half of it. The long haired man motioned to Darjeeling. It was apparent he was leaving but first he told Darjeeling, “Sit next to Mary.” Then he turned and left. Darjeeling followed him to the door, wanting to say something to him but didn’t come up with anything. He turned back around and fell back against the closed door. In front of him was another man. A man whose face was closely covered with white cloth and whose hands were gloved in white. His face was turned toward him but he had no eyes to see and no mouth or ears to talk or hear. The man just stood there “staring” at Darjeeling who looked at him imploringly. The man raised his right hand palm up and pointed at it with his left. In his gloved hand were several bent nails of different sizes. He offered them to Darjeeling but then pulled them back and pointed to the door. In the door frame were other similar nails which had been hammered into the wood. Where each entered the wood, a small drop of blood emerged. Darjeeling looked back at him and was shocked to see that his hands, both now palm up, had splotches of fresh blood in the palms. Tears came to Stephen’s eyes and he heard the door behind him open. The long haired man took the hands of the cloth covered man and turned him around, leading him to a chair beside the Pope. He motioned for Stephen to sit next to Mary.
Now above them another man appeared, playing a curious stringed instrument that looked like a triangular violin with three strings. He was in the balcony and tied the instrument to a rope, letting it down toward the floor. Then he grabbed hold of another rope and began to rappel down the crossbeam that supported the balcony. He looked menacing to Stephen who was now afraid for the Pope’s safety. The man looked at him and reassured him. “I don’t like to play at heights.” He had his bow tucked under his arm so it appeared that it was stuck in his side.
Darjeeling now noticed that the Pope’s feet had huge scars on them from the tops of the feet to well past the ankles. The Pope appeared debilitated and old and had to be helped to his feet by Mary and the man with the long hair. As they escorted him away, the cloth covered man and the musician followed. The Pope waved backwards with his right hand. “The audience is over Stephen.” And they went out the door. Stephen followed them and went through the door, stepping out into the warm Italian sunshine. There was no one to be seen in any direction and he was alone.