by Mr.
Leonardo seemed upset by his apparent lack of manners and he looked quickly around the room in search of a solution.
“No big deal,” Lisa said, “I didn’t mean it that way.” She rubbed her stomach. “I’m hungry and just fancy something tasty, like pizza maybe. We’re in Italy, right?”
“Pisa?” Leonardo repeated. He shrugged his shoulders. “Why do you want to go to Pisa? Do you have any idea how far that is? It’s half a day by horse, and I don’t have five horses! You may have time machines in your age, but we can’t just head off to Pisa for a bite to eat.”
“Pisa!” Sophie said when she understood the confusion. “Pisa! Lisa, he’s talking about Pisa, the city, as in the leaning tower of Pisa.”
“Well, then it’s your phone that’s not translating it right. I meant pizza the food.” Lisa looked at Leonardo. Holding her hands out in a flat circle, she tried to mimic a pizza. “A pizza, you know, flat bread with cheese, tomatoes, and herbs.”
“Ah, bread.” Relieved, Leonardo quickly grabbed his coat. “Come, follow me. Let’s go get some food, but be careful out there!” He looked them over. “People will want to know who you are. Try to avoid their questions, and under no circumstances let anyone see or hear your talking black box! We’ll think of something for that later. And we will have to come up with a really good story about who you are and where you came from.” Leonardo quietly sank into thought as he paced the room. “Milan… Pisa… Venice…” Leonardo shook his head. “Rome… all too well known,” he mumbled to himself.
“Anghiari!” Leonardo suddenly yelled. “Everybody knows Anghiari, but nobody knows anyone from Anghiari. That’s a good start…” Leonardo continued to pace back and forth.
“We’ll tell them you’re from Anghiari… that you’re on your way to Pisa, to your uncle. Yes, that’s good. Florence is right in between. You were looking for a place to rest and ran into me.”
“Okay,” Sophie nodded enthusiastically. “But you ran into us and then? Why are you helping us?”
Leonardo hadn’t expected this question, but immediately replied, “I saw you on the outskirts of the city… this morning… when I was walking there… you were on horses… and you were being attacked!” said Leonardo, clearly impressed by his own ingenuity.
“You and a bunch of thieves were fighting, I saw it, and I managed to chase them off. Now you’re staying the night here. Tomorrow you’ll continue your journey.” Leonardo looked expectantly at the four of them.
“Great story,” Jack smiled affirmatively, while looking at his friends.
“But the horses,” Sophie said, “where are they? What do we say if they ask about those?”
“Ehm…” Leonardo was silent for a moment as he looked at Sophie admiringly. It didn’t happen very often that he came across someone who forced him to think on his feet.
“I’ll make something up. I’ll say that they’re at home, at my father’s house, that we brought them there.
“Your father’s house?” Sophie asked surprised. “So you don’t live here?”
Leonardo answered her question: “I’m twenty-three. I live at home with my father and the rest of the family. This studio belongs to Andrea.” He spread his arms wide in anticipation of their applause. They would surely know how great an achievement it was for a young man like him to be working as an apprentice at one of the city’s most important studios.
Leonardo looked at them with a proud expression, but then quickly realized he hadn’t impressed them in the slightest. “Verrocchio?” Leonardo attempted. “You don’t know him?” He put his hands on his head in disbelief. “Verrocchio is the best mentor in all of Florence! He teaches me everything – drawing, painting, working with metal and leather, sculpting, etching…”
They all looked sheepishly at Leonardo.
He dismissed their sympathetic gaze, irritated that they didn’t know who his mentor was. “This, where we are standing now, is his studio. I work here all day and sometimes all night. Verrochio is away at the moment, so you can sleep here tonight.”
“Will he be back soon?” Sophie asked, obviously not prepared to take everything Leonardo said at face value.
“He left yesterday in a furious mood and won’t be back for a while, so you don’t have to worry about that.”
“Furious?” Tom asked.
“Yes, and you know why? Because I helped him!” Leonardo looked livid.
“Why was he angry that you tried to help him?” asked Tom.
“Andrea is working on a commission for the church of San Salvi,” Leonardo pointed at one of the pictures hanging on the wall. “He’s been working on it for three years already and asked me to help him. I painted the scene on the bottom left.”
Tom approached the painting to get a closer look.
“I can see from here that it looks just fine, right?” Lisa shot a quizzical glance at Leonardo.
Leonardo looked crestfallen and bowed his head. “That’s precisely the problem. When I finished it yesterday Verrocchio became extremely angry… not at me, but at the situation… at himself. He screamed that I was a better painter than he was. Do you see that paint on the wall in the corner?
They saw the splashes of paint and nodded silently.
“Andrea threw a handful of brushes against the wall and yelled that he would never paint again. Then he ran off and I haven’t seen him since. He’ll come back, I know he will, but it might not be for a while.”
“So,” he continued, “you can sleep here tonight. There will be no one dropping by unannounced.”
“Okay, so you’re a better painter, but can he still teach you things?” Sophie asked, anxious to know more. Before he could answer, however, she fired another question at him, one that she’d been dying to ask for the past hour. “That horse over there, or what’s left of it, did Andrea also teach you how to dissect it?” Sophie was clearly struggling with the idea that Leonardo might have killed the horse for nothing.
“Sophie! What are you playing at?” Lisa hissed, poking her in the ribs at the same time.
“No…” Leonardo raised his hands to silence Lisa. He seemed fascinated by Sophie’s questions.
The Baptism of Christ by Andrea del Verrocchio was completed in 1475 by his pupil Leonardo da Vinci who painted and finished the details of some parts of the painting, particularly the angel on the left.
“It’s good that you ask. It shows you use your intelligence wisely. You contemplate things and you display empathy. You could teach my contemporaries a thing or two. The horse was dead when I found it, so it didn’t suffer. I’m studying the creature so I can better understand its anatomy. This way its death will also serve a purpose.“
Sophie felt ashamed at having doubted him.
“You shouldn’t be embarrassed by your questions, making assumptions is usually worse. I like it that you ask so many questions.”
Sophie was thankful that Leonardo wanted to make her feel at ease.
“I have great respect for nature,” said Leonardo. “To most people, a horse is nothing more than food or an instrument of labor. I believe that we ourselves are part of nature. I don’t eat meat or fish. Isn’t it absurd to cook a fish in the same water it swam in?” He shuddered visibly and walked to the door.
“But let’s get some food first…” he said before turning around again wearing a face full of doubt. “On the other hand, you should stay here. It’s too dangerous.”
“What!?” Lisa looked like she was ready to explode.
“Look,” Leonardo opened the door a few inches. “It’ll be dark soon, it’s far too dangerous. You don’t know your way around, you never know what might happen. I can’t risk it. Make yourselves at home, look around, I have nothing to hide from my friends from the future. I’ll be back soon.”
Before Lisa could react, Leonardo had slammed the door shut behind him. She stood in the middle of the room feeling upset. “Did I really dress up in all this garb for nothing?” Disappointed, Lisa looked around hoping s
omeone would agree. “Look at us,” she cried, “just look at what we’re wearing!”
Tom and Jack looked at each other. Back home, people would laugh at them for wearing these clothes, but there was nothing wrong with them here. They were both wearing black leggings and knee-high brown leather boots, just like Leonardo. Jack wore a white shirt with puffy sleeves and a sort of dark velvet gown that matched his black and blue hat.
Tom looked like a young prince. He was wearing a dark gray shirt with long sleeves under a tight sleeveless velvet tunic that came down almost to his knees. A wide belt the same color as his boots was wrapped tightly around his waist. When they looked at each other they burst out laughing.
“Okay, okay, maybe it is a little bit weird,” said Tom.
“A little bit?!” Lisa cried indignantly. “Look at us! Sophie looks like a bumblebee in that dress and I… I feel like I’m being strangled! And look at this bonnet on my head with these stupid ribbons hanging down the side of my face! They’re driving me crazy!” Lisa shouted, glaring at her friends.
When Sophie saw her sister’s face she couldn’t help but laugh. Lisa wasn’t angry very often. The contrast with the ladylike dark green dress she was wearing couldn’t have been any greater.
“Tom?” Lisa pleaded, looking for support.
Tom shook his head. “I’d like to go outside, too, and you know I’ve always got your back, but I believe Leonardo when he says it’s too dangerous for us to go out.”
Lisa rolled her eyes and looked at him with bitter disappointment.
“I’ll go out with you tomorrow,” Tom said. “When it’s light. We can spend the whole day looking around…”
“We’ll go with you too,” said Sophie.
Lisa stomped off into the adjacent room to cool down. Tom wanted to follow his friend, but Sophie held him back.
“Give her five minutes. As soon as she spots something weird there, like a gigantic knife or something, she’ll be back here all smiles again. Trust me.”
Jack, who had long since accepted the situation, began exploring the studio instead.
Sophie attempted to ease the tension. “That painting they’re working on… he and, ehm... Verrocchio? Leonardo really is a gifted painter.”
Sophie stood in the middle of the studio, turning slowly around in circles. “I think this is where they always draw and paint.” She pointed at things as she spoke. “It’s big, has high ceilings, and there’s natural light. Look over there, when the shutters are open I bet they have excellent light. A perfect space for painting.”
“There are a few pages here that look like the ones in our book,” said Tom. “When Leonardo gets back we should ask him what they say.”
All of a sudden, a chilling scream was heard coming from the room Lisa was in. The others were instantly rooted to the floor with fear. It was followed by another terrible scream that chilled them to the bone. Then came a rhythmic gasping sound, as if something was being dragged across the floor of the adjacent room. Whatever it was, it was drawing nearer, making a sinister gurgling sound accompanied by heavy thumps.
“DO SOMETHING!” Sophie screamed at the boys.
Jack was the first to swallow his fear. He grabbed the nearest heavy implement he could find. Candlestick in hand, he ran towards the other room.
“Lisa!” shouted Tom, who was running behind his brother brandishing a piece of wood he had snatched up from the floor.
Running at full speed, Jack looked into the adjacent room and what he saw took his breath away. “What the… what’s…” he stammered, suddenly shaking. Frightened, he took a step back and banged into his brother. They tumbled over each other and fell to the floor. Startled, they crawled backwards until they saw a figure stumbling into the room. It was Lisa.
Lisa shuffled forward… minus her head. Her legs strained to drag her battered body forward. A gurgling noise sounded from under her collar where her head should have been. The body teetered further into the room. Lisa’s outstretched arms were shaking. Her severed head lay in her hands. Long strands of wet hair stuck to the skull. Sticky crimson blood dripped onto the floor.
“Noooo!!” Sophie fell to her knees. She thought of her parents and began to shiver uncontrollably.
The boys lay in a heap on the ground. They held on to each other tightly out of sheer terror.
Lisa’s mutilated body stopped in the middle of the room and her hands fell lifelessly to her hips, causing the head to drop to the floor in a messy splash. “All I wanted was to go outside… outside…” sounded the gurgle from underneath the top of Lisa’s dress.
Tom’s face fell. He lifted his leg and purposely slammed it down on the toes of Lisa’s foot.
“Ow! My toe… Tom!” Lisa spat out.
“I knew it! You ratbag!” Tom picked himself up and shoved her over.
Lisa quickly poked her head through her collar to catch her bearings. She stuck out her hand and managed to stay on her feet by leaning against the wall.
Her face turned red with laughter. “You should’ve seen the look on your faces. Really, I thought I was going to wet myself!”
Laughing too, now, Tom crawled towards Lisa. “When your head fell, all messy and bloody... on the floor, splat!”
Lisa was bent over double. “Ow, my stomach hurts from laughing so much.”
Jack went over to Sophie, who was still rattled by what she had seen. “Promise me – no, swear that we’ll get her back some day,” she whispered into his ear.
“Deal!” said Jack. He was sick and tired of Lisa’s jokes.
“Come on sis, it was a joke, don’t take it so seriously. And it took you guys forever to react to my first scream! You would sooner run away than come to my rescue.”
Lisa grabbed her sister’s arm and looked at her pleadingly. “It was just a joke...” She hoped that Sophie would forgive her.
Sophie did her best to look angry, but she couldn’t hold back her laughter any longer. “Just remember, I’m going to get you back big time for this!”
Lisa sighed in relief. “As long as you can appreciate the humor of it, Sophie dear. I’m really sorry I freaked you out like that.”
“Oh, that’s nice! So what you mean is that you didn’t mean to scare us at all?” Jack said sarcastically.
“Come on, I was just having some fun. What else are we going to do? It’s as boring here as it is back home! Can’t we go outside, just for a little bit, what could possibly go wrong?” Lisa said softly.
“Boring? A studio with a severed head, a rotting horse, and an Italian painter who just happens to be world-famous and the subject of every art book worth its salt?” Tom stared at Lisa in disbelief.
“Just a quick peek?” Lisa looked around eagerly. “Aren’t you even curious?”
“Five minutes,” said Sophie, knowing how impossible Lisa could be if she didn’t get her way. “Five minutes, no more. We’ll go outside together and stay together. Don’t talk to anyone. We’ll walk across the street and back again. Okay?” Sophie looked around at everyone.
“I’ll lead the way,” Jack said, taking charge. He opened the door and carefully peeked through the crack. “It’s already dusk, we’ll have to be quick if we want to be able to see where we’re going.” Jack turned around and beckoned to everyone to follow.
“Yuck!” Sophie wrinkled her nose as soon they walked out onto the street. “The smell outside isn’t much better than inside. How can they stand it? You could hide a corpse in your house and no one would notice.” She shook her head in disgust.
“Watch your step,” said Jack, herding everyone over to the right-hand side of the street. “That smell must be poop. I’m pretty sure they just dump it straight out onto the street.”
Huddled closely together, the four of them walked about thirty yards down the street and stopped at a T-junction.
Without consulting anyone, Jack turned left into a dodgy-looking alleyway. He looked around to make sure the coast was clear. Catching sight of a raggedy man slow
ly approaching them, he made himself look bigger by widening his stance. As the person got closer, Jack saw that it was in fact a woman. She was of stocky build with a filthy, moon-shaped face, and her stringy hair was plastered against the sides of her head. Jack attempted to greet her cordially, but the woman looked away and passed them by without the slightest acknowledgement.
Sophie got a fright when the woman brushed past her. She was so focused on avoiding the excrement on the street that she hadn’t seen anyone coming. The pungent stench that came trailing in the woman’s wake sent shivers down her spine.
“Keep your eyes ahead!” Jack commanded.
“Don’t think about the poop… don’t think about the poop...” Sophie repeated the words in her head until she was able to focus on what was going on around her instead. “Don’t think about…” she said over and over again, “the worst that can happen is that you step on a turd.” The thought alone sent another shiver down her spine, but eventually she got over it. She straightened her back and looked ahead so that she could take in everything around her.
It was a narrow, unpaved street littered with the kind of stuff you’d normally find in a sewer. She heard a baby crying and people yelling behind a door, and the clatter of hooves galloping off in the distance. The stench on the street was, of course, atrocious, but compared to the smell of rotting horse flesh it didn’t seem too bad.
“Let’s turn left here,” Jack pointed into a wide street, “then left again followed by another left. That’ll take us around the block.”
Unlike the cramped, dirty alley they’d just left, this street was paved with rough cobblestones. They were now walking in single file, with Jack up front and Lisa at the rear.
Unusually for Lisa, she hadn’t uttered a word since walking out the door. She just looked all around her with a big smile on her face.
The wide street they were walking down eventually brought them onto a square. They stopped and, huddling together, watched the people passing by. The square was extraordinarily busy despite the late evening hour. There was a group of men talking, one of whom quickly looked them over while another began gesticulating furiously and berating the other men loudly for some reason or other. Most of the people were wearing the same clothes as they were, though they did see a man pass by dressed in nothing but dirty gray rags.