“At least, I think… But because the dishonest people never use an innocent as a scapegoat, he surely would have done something bad”, he said smiling.
“Such as?” I continued with the same style, mixed with curiosity.
“To violate a law, let’s say…”
“A law! Are there laws for the angels?”
“Why not? People have laws, why not angels?”
“I imagine, since they are angels there is no need to conform to a certain law. Their aim is to serve god. Correct?”
He raised his eyebrows forming two arches.
“Lucifer was god’s servant too. According to your views, he did not have to obey to a certain law. Nevertheless, he was banished. So, with mathematical precision we conclude that he violated a certain law- and surely, his sin was not an effort to become equal to God. Why would he want to be equal to him since he was already as outstanding as him?”
“So?” I asked with extra interest due to the turn of the discussion.
“I do not know”, he said and smiled once again.
My curiosity however was not satisfied.
“And the woman? Who is this mysterious woman?”
He leaned forward even more, almost whispering.
“Perhaps, god had created two women. It is more logical, so that the humans’ race can carry on. Otherwise- I imagine your team would have come to the same conclusion- it would have been impossible for you to be here today”.
“Yes. We found ourselves in front of that standstill too. But why create two women when all the rest of his creations were in pairs? Why make three humans?”
“I did not say he created three…”
He winked at me.
“…But it may have happened at different times”.
“Hold on…” I said and pulled the books of Genesis. I read aloud:
“And God made the man to his image and made them male and female. Genesis 1.27”.
I made a small pause, reading the pages quickly, and continued.
“Listen to this one too: “For Adam was found not an assistant similar to him. And God imposed a sleep on Adam and took one of his ribs and filled its place with flesh and God built the rib He received for Adam in a woman and brought her to Adam. And said: Adam this is bone from my bones and flesh from my flesh and she will be called woman because she was taken from her man”. These two quotes are not compatible. It is more likely that he created two different women at two different times. And Michael Angelo knew about it and illustrated it in this way”, I concluded enthusiastically.
“Maybe. However, Adriana, did I cheer you up?” he said in a teasing way and a wide smile lounged on his face.
“Yes”, I admitted smiling.
He looked at me seriously.
“What are you doing Saturday night?” he asked.
“I have not got any plans”.
And I am not going to, I thought, considering my bad mood during the last days.
“I know the best bar in town”.
He remained looking at me, somehow begging, which did not conform to this attractive person.
“I do not know, Eric. I am not in a good mood lately”.
I was not trying to avoid him. He was a good company, although curious in a way. But, I was telling the truth.
“Well then! You need a night out even more. You can invite your friends if you want”, he tempted me.
I remained thinking for a few moments. If I stayed inside, I would apparently sink in sorrow for someone I fell in love with and lost in one day. I did not know if the others had any plans. I had to ask them. Even if no one would come, it was not such a bad idea to go out with him. Unwinding seemed a good idea.
“OK, Eric. How can I refuse?” I responded and saw the triumph in his eyes.
“I will pick you up at seven”.
I agreed and gave him my address. He took his books and disappeared in the library’s aisles. After a while, I left too.
The sky was clear and a light breeze was blowing from the corners of the buildings, sometimes mildly and other times threateningly. I closed my eyes and let myself to its cold touch. It was so relaxing, so reviving. A shiver ran through my body and I hugged myself with my arms walking a little faster. The trees were moving with a rhythm, creating clear and accurate shades in the moonlight. Its silver glare was penetrating the atmosphere, giving a romantic touch to the evening.
A pair of lovers passed by me, they were hugging each other, lost in their romance, blissful from love, witnesses of the strong feelings of the human race. “In his own image” the order of our creator came suddenly to my mind. However, which image exactly, male or female? What is god’s gender? Is it possible for god to have a gender?
If the gender was male then there would be only Adam and if it was female only Eve. But he made them a couple or, better yet, two women and a man. And he said “We create” my mind continued, “a human to my image”, which meant that he was not alone during the time of creation. Either there was a “Goddess”- something unlikely since it is mentioned nowhere- or it was about the angels’ battalions, which were present and apparently “to my image” is with regard to them. Therefore, the angels have the same form as our creator and, consequently, as the man. Yet, all the relative texts presented them bodiless, without substance, just spirits. Genesis proved that this was entirely wrong. Angels are almost like humans.
I went up to my room hastily. The time had passed and tiredness made my body heavy. It was dark. Apparently, Christine was still studying at the library or somewhere else.
I changed clothes in the dark and lay on my bed. The thought of Camen came back to upset me; his hair, his eyes, his skin, all so magnificent, wonderfully created by his creator’s hands. He could have been the perfect creation, the personification of divine beauty. It was my last thought before I fell in deep sleep.
Music. I thought I heard a soft melody. I slowly opened my eyes and saw Christine, holding a cup of tea, browsing out of the window.
“Hmm… it smells nice…”
A dim smell of lavender was scattered all over the room.
“Good morning, Adrian!”
She turned and looked at me with her permanently happy style.
“Good morning. Where is this lavender smell coming from?”
“I do not know. Probably from outside”.
“Is there a lavender flower in the garden?” I asked surprised.
Christine shrugged indifferently. I got up and went towards her. A dove was standing at the window sill and it seemed it was looking inside the room.
“Isn’t it beautiful?” Christine said.
“Very much!” I agreed and bent to look at it carefully.
Suddenly, it flew away and disappeared in the trees.
“It is a pity, it left”, I said disappointed.
“It was here for a long time. Almost since I woke up, I saw it standing at the window sill”.
“It seems like doves like me. I find them in front of me all the time.”
“Oh, yes! Then, why did it leave as soon as it saw you?” Christine said smiling.
“I guess my hair scared it, it is a mess. I better go brush it and get ready.” I said smiling and headed to the bathroom.
Indeed, my look was discouraging even to a dove. I brushed my hair several times, trying to straighten the strands of hair that were mixing up. Finally, I tied it high in a ponytail.
“Adriana!” I heard Sam’s voice.
“Coming! I am almost ready”, I answered.
I remembered, Sam had said she would come around to pick me up and go to the lecture together. That day, we had Philosophy of Religion, my favourite subject. At least for the first day, the day I saw him. “This is ridiculous”, I said to myself. “Get a grip, Adriana. Life goes on even if it is boring without Camen!”
“You are a doll, with your hair up to a ponytail”, Christine said.
I smiled saying a dry “Thank you”.
“You must wear your
hair like this more often”, Sam agreed.
“I will keep that in mind. Well, shall we go?”
“Let’s go. Let’s not make knowledge wait”.
“Hah! Very rhetorical Sam!”
When we arrived at the building, it was already full of students. The corner of my eye caught Tomas and Adam talking at the end of the classroom. Sam pulled me towards them.
“Good morning. It is Friday, at last!” Tomas said and a broad smile brightened his eyes.
“Why, are we going to study less?” I wondered.
“Friday’s sentiment is enough to cheer me up. Maybe we could go for beers tomorrow. What do you think?”
“The truth is that Eric suggested he take me out. The invitation holds for all of you. He knows a very nice bar, he said”.
“Who is Eric?” Adam cut in.
“Camen’s brother”, I explained.
Tomas’ face became startled.
“I thought he was an only child”.
“Apparently not.” I answered as we were ready to sit down.
“Well, what do you say about tomorrow night?” I insisted, thinking I did not want to stay home.
“I am in”, Sam agreed first. “I would like very much to meet Camen’s brother...”
She leaned to my ear and said that phrase again.
“I am in too, as long as we do some work at the library, in the afternoon”, Adam agreed.
I turned to Tomas.
“Well, what do you say?”
“Alright”, he said thoughtful.
At that moment, Professor Scot entered the classroom making us be quiet; at least for a while, since Sam was in a mood to talk, or better yet, to interrogate me about Eric.
The rest of the day rolled quietly, lunch, lessons and in the end, studying at the library. Around six in the afternoon we got together with the rest of them, to compare our information and the assumptions from searching the Genesis’ texts, in order to make a draft of our project.
That afternoon there were not many people around. I guess, due to the day, most of them decided to relax in their rooms or to go home- although I doubted very much about the second.
I spotted Eric at a table, hidden behind a pile of books, absorbed in his studying. I moved towards him, saying to the rest to continue until I came back.
“Good afternoon, Eric. How are you?”
“Hi, Adrian”, he answered calmly.
“I see you are busy. What are you studying?” I said as I was pointing at the books in front of him.
“Dante’s Inferno”.
“Ah, are you making an assignment on the subject?”
“Yes, about the meaning of hell”.
“It sounds very interesting”.
“Not so much, if you live in it”.
“What do you mean? Do you live in a hell?” I asked him with obvious interest.
The discussion with Eric was arousing my imagination.
He looked at me mysteriously.
“Don’t we all, at some point?”
I thought about his words for a moment.
“I imagine we do”, I agreed with him.
“Did you make any progress?”
“Today is our first meeting and I hope we derive some conclusions”.
He looked at the rest of them and pointing at them he realized that Camen had not returned yet.
“It is extremely strange that Camen has not returned yet”.
“I think we have talked about it”, I protested.
“Yes, and I explained to you that it is unheard-of for him, at least the way I know him, not to be here under these circumstances”.
“Which circumstances?”
I asked looking at him with curiosity.
He did not answer but he narrowed it down to say that my friends seemed to be waiting for me and it would be better if I went back to them. I agreed with him, inviting him to meet them when his studying would be over.
“Who was that, Adriana?” Sam asked me excited.
“Eric, Camen’s brother”.
“My God, the one is better than the other”, she whispered smiling.
Tomas seemed annoyed. He probably had heard Sam’s remark. “Well, girls, are we ever going to start?” he said to bring us back to reality.
Sam smiled at him apologetically. I did the same. I started first, to report the results of my research.
“Well, I studied the fresco of the expulsion from Paradise, where the temptation-Lucifer appears as a woman, something that is not compatible with the rest of the angels who are depicted as male figures. A discussion I had with Eric made me think there was a second woman, who sheds light on our standstill about the continuity of the human race”.
“We also concluded to the existence of a second woman, with the differential that Eve is not an image of god, since she was created at a different time and not with the divine breath. Moreover, she is not divine, since she is made from Adam’s rib, and Adam is human”, Tomas continued.
“Therefore, the unknown woman was created first and she is divine, since her creation happened simultaneously to Adam’s”, Samantha concluded.
“However, she is missing from the scenery in which Eve was created. So, something must have happened, which forced god to replenish her absence with Eve”, I automatically reached the next conclusion.
“So far so good. Yet, what actually happened? Here, we will have to leave the Bible and the formal texts, and find the lost translation. Something extremely difficult since- if this is true, if they had hidden the truth about creation- the keeping of the secret would have been of highest priority. Therefore it will be well hidden”, Tomas said distant as if he was thinking loudly.
“But, where?” I asked thinking where and who could have hidden such a secret.
“I think that at those times the monasteries, the libraries and the works of art would have been the best hiding places for that kind of secrets”, Adam answered.
“One part was found at Cappella Sistina through its codification on an illustration of the Bible, by the hand and the talent of Michael Angelo, on a work of art which, to a simple man, only admiration and awe can cause”, Sam continued.
“But, what about those who study him? Surely, this discord in the forms would have caused their interest”, Adam noted.
“This is something more than certain, but the people who study his work maybe reached our conclusion and stopped there, since the subject of their study was his work and not some codifications’”, I answered to Adam’s thoughts.
“So, are we at a standstill?” Sam asked.
“Apparently. Unless someone knew some secret libraries or had an access to the Vatican’s sanctuary”, I added disappointed from the development of the discussion.
“Do you know the Pope, Adriana?” Tomas said smiling.
“Hah! Very funny, Tomas. Do you happen to know Charles, the heir of England?” I replied.
At that moment, Eric was coming towards us smiling, obviously because he had heard our conversation.
“In what way, knowing the Pope or the heir of England would be of any help?” he asked as he was standing by my side. “But, allow me to introduce myself. I am Eric Crown”, he said addressing to the whole group.
Sam was looking at him ecstatic, her eyes were wide open and she had bent a bit towards him. I nudged her to bring her round.
“I did not know Camen had a brother”, Tomas said dourly.
Eric did not seem to mind his style.
“My brother is a man of few words and also a little secretive. You should have known about this, since, I presume from your words, you are friends. Correct?”
Tomas frowned.
“Yes, sure. And because I considered him my friend I should have known the existence of his brother”.
“We do not have the best relations, but I guess that is not any of your business”, he cut the conversation, placing the limits of discretion in a clear way.
The created atmosphere was not the bes
t one. Yet Sam, fascinated by Eric’s presence, made it lighter by saying she was very glad to have met him. And continuing even further she added that she was looking forward to going out for beers since the week, even though it was the first one, was exhausting.
“Very nice, then I will see you tomorrow. I will see you soon”, he said in a classy way as he was getting up, ready to go.
Twinkle Page 8
