by Mr.
Jack scanned the scene quickly and walked over to where the square intersected with a narrow street. “We can see the entire square from here,” he said.
With their backs against the wall they gazed out over the square for a while in silence, impressed by the everyday – but for them unusual – comings and goings. Dusk rapidly turned into night. There wasn’t a single lamppost or streetlight to shed the slightest bit of light on anything. Two men riding horses came galloping around the corner, their horses’ hooves clattering over the stones. Sophie instinctively covered her ears against the noise. When she looked back up again she saw several groups of men gathering here and there and engaging in conversation.
Jack also saw what Sophie had just seen. He urged the others to get a move on. “When we arrived on the square a few minutes ago there were still a few women about, now they’ve suddenly all disappeared. This doesn’t feel right. We should get out of here, and fast.” After turning into the dark side street, Jack quickened his pace.
Sophie grew extremely anxious when they found themselves walking in complete darkness.
“I want to go home...” Lisa whispered to her sister.
“There, at the end of the street, if we turn left we’ll be back at Leonardo’s studio.” Jack did his best to sound as self-confident as possible to reassure the others, but he kept looking over his shoulder anyway to make sure everything was okay.
They continued to walk quickly down the side street until they heard a bubbling noise coming out of the wall of one of the houses. They traced the noised to a stone gutter jutting out about three feet above the ground. Curious to know what it was, they had stopped to look when all of a sudden a blob of nasty guck splashed down onto the street next to their feet. The vile muck was followed by a stream of steamy urine.
“Yuuuckkk, someone’s on the crapper!” Sophie screamed.
Startled and giggling nervously, they all ran to the end of the street.
“We’re almost there!” Jack yelled as he rounded the corner first.
He took a deep breath and tried to remember which of the doors on the street was theirs. Huddled closely together, they slowly walked along looking for the studio.
All of a sudden a door flew open and a dark figure emerged, cursing and raging as he approached them.
Jack’s heart was in his mouth, but he did his best to hide it from the others. It was obvious to everyone that the dark figure was heading straight for him. Jack clenched his fists and braced himself.
Tom saw his brother’s tensed-up fists in silhouette and quickly planted his feet firmly on the ground.
Lisa heard the approaching footsteps and slowly slipped her hand into one of her pockets. She had heeded Hans’ advice and had secretly brought his ghastly present with her. She grasped the handle and felt the blade’s cold edge against her thigh. She’d use it if she had to.
The figure stopped in front of Jack and, gasping, lifted up his hood.
“Idioti!” Leonardo glared furiously at Jack and his friends. He shook his head and indicated for them to follow. He slammed the door behind him and began screaming at them. He spoke so quickly that the telephone wasn’t able to translate his words into proper sentences. “Stupid…. You think that… evening… arrested… or worse… happens…”
“It’s my fault,” Lisa said, stepping forward. “I wanted to go outside. I convinced them to come with me. Sorry...” She hoped the sincerity of her apology would alter the mood.
Leonardo grabbed the bloody head that was lying in the corner of the room. “And this?” he roared. “Have you no respect! What’s this doing here?”
“I was going to ask you the exact same thing,” Sophie said firmly. “Why do you have a severed head in here? Whose head is it anyway?”
“I already told you. Its’ the same as with the horse. I want to understand how a body is put together, including the human body. If that means I have to steal a corpse from time to time, then so be it.”
“Steal a corpse?” Sophie was genuinely surprised. “How do you steal a dead body?”
“Death. Cemetery. Dig. Drag. Chop.” Leonardo saw that the group wasn’t entirely convinced by his explanation, but it was also obvious he didn’t want to say any more.
“Your turn,” he said to Lisa, “that head, what happened…”
“It was a joke,” Lisa said. She explained what had happened, re-enacting the performance in which she staggered into the room making gurgling noises.
Still angry at them for having ignored him, Leonardo did his best to keep a straight face. After acting out the final scene in which the head fell dramatically to the ground, Lisa gave him a remorseful smile.
Leonardo appeared to be enchanted by her smile and burst into laughter, causing the others to laugh as well. Confounded, he threw his arms into the air. “I can’t stay mad at you, but please don’t do that again.”
“Even though I think it’s gross beyond belief,” Sophie said, “would you mind telling us more about the corpses.”
“I appreciate your interest, Sophie. More tomorrow, but for now… Come, my friends, it’s starting to get cold.” Leonardo ushered them towards a table in the corner of the room.
Steam rose from a beautifully decorated bowl filled with tomato soup. Herbs floated on top. Chunks of bread and a plate with a selection of cheeses had been placed on the table next to the soup. Two carafes sat on a smaller table lower down. The large crystal carafe seemed to be filled with milk, but Leonardo couldn’t help but notice them staring at the other carafe.
“That’s wine, but diluted with water because you are all still young.”
“Wine?” Lisa reacted enthusiastically, raising her eyebrows.
“Lisa, we can’t be drinking alcohol here,” Sophie said. “We don’t drink it at home either. Besides, I’m on antibiotics. Remember what Hans said?”
“They’ve long since worn off, you can drink the wine if you want. You’re just looking for a way out,” Lisa said with a twinkle in her eye.
“I’ve always wondered what it tasted like,” said Tom.
“Me too,” said Jack.
Leonardo looked at them, waiting to see what they would do.
“We’re not allowed to drink alcohol yet, not until we’re twenty-one,” Sophie said.
Leonardo looked a little dumbstruck. “It’s allowed here, every child above the age of five drinks wine, in diluted form of course. What do you usually drink?”
“Water,” said Sophie.
“Water? Water is too dangerous to drink, it can make you sick! Only when it comes directly from a spring is it safe.” He shook his head. “If you don’t want to get sick, you should drink wine, not water.”
Lisa took a glass from the table, poured in some wine, and drank it down in one go. “So, that’s broken the ice.” She looked around the table with an enormous smile on her face.
Tom filled his glass to the brim and quickly followed Lisa’s example.
After emptying his glass he put his hands on his head and closed his eyes. “Phew, it’s rushing to my head… a kind of… warm feeling... whoa...” he said, giggling.
Leonardo looked on as Jack and Sophie finished their glasses as well. Pleased that his guests had enjoyed the wine, he gave each of them a bowl of soup and a few chunks of bread, and then walked outside. A few minutes later he returned carrying a bale of hay under his arms.
Completely shocked by what he saw when he came back in, he let the hay fall to the floor. Sophie was strolling around the room lighting candles.
She turned around when she noticed her friends had suddenly gone silent. Leonardo was staring at her hands. Sophie didn’t understand what was going on and quickly blew out the last candle she had lit. “What?” she said to Leonardo, who looked shell-shocked. “I thought I’d light a few candles, make it a bit cozier in here, that’s all. Sorry!”
Struggling to find the right words, Leonardo asked her “What? What is… that?” His eyes were focused on her fist. She followed his
gaze and opened her hand. Between her fingers was her father’s gold-plated lighter. The catacombs and skulls shone in the dim light.
“Mama mia! You have fire in your hands!” Leonardo kissed his clenched fists as if in triumph.
Sophie walked over to him and proudly showed him the lighter. While the others carried on eating the cheese and helped themselves to a second glass of wine, Leonardo and Sophie crouched down in front of the stove. Leonardo tossed the lighter from one hand to the other as if it were a nugget of gold. To his great delight, he then used it to light the stove and started spreading out straw on the floor.
“It could get pretty cold tonight. Summer may have just begun, but the nights are still very cold. Lying on the straw in front of the stove should keep you warm.”
When everyone was sitting at the table again, Leonardo took the carafe and topped up their glasses. “This will keep you warm, too,” he laughed. “And eat more food.”
“My days are mostly spent painting and drawing. Or doing research,” Leonardo said.
“Like chopping off a head and drawing it?”
Lisa couldn’t keep herself from laughing at her sister’s remark, although she didn’t really know why she found it funny.
“To make the best painting possible, I first need to know exactly what the horse looks like. And if I am drawing a person, then I have to know exactly what the human body looks like, too, how it’s built. I found the horse in a meadow, already dead. The head, well, I dug it up,” Leonardo said, somewhat reluctantly revealing his methods.
“Do you actually go digging in graveyards?” asked Sophie.
“At night?” asked Lisa, her face wrinkling in horror. The only thing she was afraid of was the dark.
“Anything that will help me learn,” said Leonardo. “Verrocchio has no idea. No one knows. I had to hide that head. Andrea’s okay with horses and other creatures, but if he knew I had a skull…”
“Here in the studio I slice away one layer at a time – the skin, the flesh, the fat, the tendons, blood vessels, and the muscles, all the way to the bone. I sketch each layer, that way I can remember everything and understand exactly how the body is built.”
“The wine is already working, I see,” Leonardo grinned and pointed to Tom who had fallen asleep on his side.
“One last glass and then we’ll call it a day.”
After draining her third glass, Sophie began to giggle.
“Waddabout all those dwalings and tests,” Jack hiccupped.
“You’re drunk!” Sophie cried. Lisa leaned against her sister and grinned.
Jack had to laugh, too. He took a deep breath and pulled himself together.
“Your drawings and texts, do you keep them?”
“Yes, I’ve got hundreds of pages on which I’ve carefully recorded everything.”
“I know,” Sophie said hazily. “We found them, that’s why we’re here.”
“I know a good one,” said Lisa. “We’re here in Florence with a horse that’s dead. It reeks of corpse and it’s time for bed. Hey, that rhymes!”
They all burst out laughing.
“Oh, I’ve got one, too.” Sophie stuck her finger in the air. “We’re here in Florence and it’s very smelly... It stinks of bodies, poop and pee.”
Leonardo blew out the candles laughing. “We’ll talk again tomorrow when you’ve sobered up.”
Tuesday, June 24th, morning
Like a stealthy tiger, Ms. Prattle’s ermine snuck its way around the studio unnoticed. With her pricked-up ears and beady eyes, she probed the hay as she honed in on the soft rustling sound being made by her soon-to-be breakfast.
Leonardo deftly opened the shutters without making any noise. He stretched elaborately and took a deep breath, puffing out his chest. The early morning sunshine flooded into the studio.
Sophie was still asleep. She was lying on her stomach, one arm behind her head. Without her noticing, the ermine darted quickly up along her leg and back.
The loud rustling in the hay next to her head soon woke her up. In a split second she saw the ermine leap over her head, its tail brushing softly against her cheek. Unnerved, she looked to see what the creature was up to. The ermine peered at her with a look of sly content on its face. Clasped between her jaws was a bloodied field mouse.
“Shoooo….” Sophie hissed loudly and vigorously waved her hands, forcing the ermine to run off towards the wall. Falling asleep with a dead horse no more than thirty feet away and waking up with a dead mouse next to your head – she wondered what other horrors awaited her today.
In the meantime, all the commotion had woken Lisa, too. She lay on her back with her hands on her stomach, staring silently at the ceiling. It always took her a few minutes in the morning to prepare herself mentally for the day. She had decided long ago that she was a night owl. Later, when she was older and in college, and sharing a place with her sister, she would probably stay up all night hanging out and partying. Her sister, on the other hand, was a morning person. So their paths would probably cross every morning in the kitchen. Lisa heading to bed after partying all night and Sophie up early for a morning run and a healthy start to the day.
More accustomed to the screeching of saws at the mill in the morning, Jack and Tom weren’t likely to be woken by the sound of rustling hay. At home their alarm clock went off like a siren on schooldays, but even then their father had to wake them up at least once a week by banging loudly on their door.
Sophie was engaged in animated conversation with Leonardo at the window, the telephone in her hand translating her sentences in rapid succession.
“What’s for breakfast?” Lisa asked without receiving a response. “I wouldn’t mind a chunk of bread smothered in peanut butter.”
Ravenous with hunger, Lisa walked over to inspect the cheese and bread crusts on the table. She stuffed a handful of each into her mouth and started pacing impatiently back and forth. She wanted to go outside, to find some excitement. She stepped over the sleeping boys, purposely kicking Tom’s shin with the point of her shoe. Tom sat up grumpily, woken by the pain in his leg.
“Jack! You lazy bum! Time to get up, everyone else is already awake!” Lisa shouted into his ear.
“I picked up some dried fruit and fresh milk this morning,” said Leonardo. “Over there on the table, help yourselves.”
“What are we going to do today?” Lisa asked.
“Dig up a dead body!” Sophie’s eyes sparkled at the sound of the words.
“Fine with me, as long as it’s not at night.” Lisa looked at her sister eagerly.
“Leonardo and I just agreed that we’d go with him to dig up a body this afternoon! He’s going to show us how he does it.”
“Seriously?” Tom asked. “Can’t we just go out for a walk?”
Jack elbowed his brother in the side. “Do you realize how cool this is?” he said excitedly. “If we dig up and dissect a dead body with Leonardo da Vinci, we’ll be making history. Even if it gives me nightmares for the rest of my life, it’ll be totally worth it!”
“Not just yet, my friends,” Leonardo tried to calm everyone down. “Before that I want to show you my studio and my work. Eat something, please. And the orrery, we have to talk about that as well!”
“The toilet is over there!” Leonardo pointed to his ‘laboratory’ where the dead horse was lying.
Jack and Tom headed in the direction Leonardo had indicated, but not before covering their noses with their hands. “Oh my God!” Tom quickly retreated. “The smell is terrible and there’s no door!”
“A door?” Leonardo said, surprised.
Tom nodded. “A door, you know, for the toilet?”
“We don’t have doors, why would we? No one has them. The body is a gift from God, you shouldn’t be ashamed by it. Not even when you’re pooping or peeing.”
Jack came back into the room laughing. “Sure, okay,” he said. “But I’m only going to go if no one’s looking.”
Tom ran towards the toil
et. “Stay there until I’m done!” he shouted.
“It’s different where we come from,” Sophie explained. She glanced sideways at her sister and instantly recognized the mischievous grin on her face. “Don’t, Lisa!” said Sophie, stepping in front of her sister. “You’re going to want to pee in peace later, too, right?”
Lisa realized that she could just as easily become the target of the prank she had in mind. So, for once in her life, she decided to restrain herself.
“What are you rubbing on your hands?” Leonardo spotted the transparent plastic bottle that was being passed around.
“Disinfectant,” Sophie said. “It kills the bacteria that can make you sick. Here,” she handed the bottle to Leonardo.
He carefully inspected the bottle, pressed down the pump, and rubbed the gel between his hands. “And then?”
“I have some pills in my bag, too. I’ll leave them here. One box contains painkillers and the other one antibiotics. They’ll come in handy with all these dead animals and poop.”
“Antibiotics?” Leonardo leaned in closer. “What is ‘antibiotics’?”
Sophie took a moment before answering. “I think they were invented about a hundred years ago. One hundred for us, that is, so around 1900. They contain something that kills bacteria, which helps you recover from diseases. If I’m not mistaken, it’s one of humankind’s most important discoveries.”
Leonardo’s eyes glistened. The lighter, the bottle with disinfectant gel, the pills – all these things were now swirling around in his head. He couldn’t wait to hear more about the future.
“You said yesterday that the water here could make you sick?”
Leonardo nodded.
“That’s because there are bacteria in it. There are bacteria in all the trash lying on the street, and in those decomposing animals, too. When you get really sick, you swallow those pills for a couple of days and they make you better.”