Date: Thu, 21 Jul 2005 01:49:32 -0400
From: SSch191950@aol.com
Subject: The Lizard, part 4, chapter 9/9

THE LIZARD, part 4: Inverno
by Stefan

Comments are welcome

______________

9
______________


Another Spring. The hibiscus was blooming and the chestnut trees were
showing their red candles. A whiff of sun-heated sage hung in the air.

Luca heard the blackbird at that early morning hour. He rubbed his eyes and
turned his head. Raffaele was slumbering at his side, the bed cover pulled
up under his chin while his back was bare. Furtively he stroked the
violet-black hair from his forehead. Raffaele opened his eyes immediately
and a smile curled his lips. "Ciao, carino", he mumbled and stretched out
his arm to pull Luca closer. "Got to get up?"

Luca nodded. His fingers itched to finish the table top he was working
on. It was his masterpiece and the final thing he would make as an
apprentice. It was almost done and the masters considered it the best work
of his group. Even Tristano couldn't hold a candle to him, although he had
specialised in stone-painting, another Art of working the stones.

"And what are you up to?"

"Don't know", Raffaele yawned. "It's still so early."

"Right." Luca scrambled out of bed and tapped over to the bathroom. A
minute later he felt the glass sliding doors of the shower open and
Raffaele's body pressed itself against his back. He felt his erection
poking his buttocks. Luca pushed back, feeling the penis rubbing over his
cleft while Raffaele's hand slipped around his waist and caressed Luca's
private parts. Luca closed his eyes and enjoyed the familiar feeling of
losing himself.





Luca searched for the thin, white alabaster slice Dante had given him and
mixed the pure colour with crimson - a corneal for this sake. He examined
the bulbs with their long, straight stems at the end; the linear leaves,
light green made from malachite stone. And at last the iris, the symbol of
Florence, a magnificent flower which had a magical significance in all
world cultures from Tibet to ancient Egypt. The strong, blue-violet colour
emphasised the immaculate whiteness of the lily - lapis lazuli and
amethyst, and yellow heliodor for the calyx.

Luca lent back in his chair. The inlay work was finished. It carried
everything that Luca's relationship with Alessandro had contained: the joy
of love and its abandonment. Melancholy followed after death. Innocence
that was ruled by the royal iris and at last borage to find back happiness
in love. Firenze and Alessandro di Gondi-Lucertola, prince of the lilies
and carrier of the iris of Florence. This was Luca's declaration of love.

He hid a small grin. Nobody would ever understand its meaning. Briefly he
regretted that he hadn't inserted an emerald-green lizard, but that would
had been too obvious.

Silently Coppo stepped behind Luca's chair and looked over his
shoulder. "It's finished", he stated. Luca turned and looked into his
teacher's face.

"Yes", he said.

Coppo pulled a chair next to Luca and sat down. He put on his half-moon
spectacles and examined the work. "Outstanding." Coppo smiled. "I want to
keep you at the Opificio. Not for the restoration work but for
creation. Commission work for governments all over the world. What do you
say?"

Luca reciprocated Coppo's smile.

In the afternoon everybody gathered at the Opificio delle Pietre Dure. The
apprentices, the parents and friends. Tristano's parents had come as well
as Vittorio, who had a day off. Luca's parents were present as well as
Dante, Marcello and Rosso. Just Giano had to stay in Pisa, writing an exam.

The final examination works were presented and Luca received the first
prize. Niccolo beamed over his whole face, Clarissa was close to
tears. Rosso whooped and clapped his hands. It could have been the happiest
day in Luca Montori's life so far if Alessandro had been there. Instead of
that Raffaele joined the group when the celebration was almost
over. Uninhibited he kissed Luca in front of all eyes, and yet Luca didn't
feel too embarrassed. Not even when his eyes met Dante's. His brother came
up to him and for a moment the old fear boiled up in his stomach. But
Dante's face was calm, his eyes tried to be friendly.

"Congratulations, piccolino", he said huskily. "Three years apprenticeship
is hard work. I tried it once, but would never be as good as you."

Marcello appeared behind Dante's back. "Congratulations from me too", he
said and Luca saw honesty in his face.

Luca felt he had to say something, but he didn't know what exactly. Instead
a warm feeling was streaming through his body.

"You certainly wish Alessandro was with you, don't you", Dante said
reluctantly, glancing at Raffaele chattering with Tristano and Rosso. "Five
months to go. Are you still waiting or have you decided to stay with him?"
Dante's head nodded to Raffaele.

Luca had a sharp retort on his lips but he restrained himself. He didn't
want to spoil the fragile flower of reconciliation growing between him and
his brothers. "I still wait for him." In his thoughts he clutched the
Gondi-cross around his neck.


                                * * * * *


Alessandro dropped his bag and stood still. He tipped his head back and
watched the sky. Violet blue. Billowing clouds. He stood there and
breathed. Freedom. Slowly he lifted his arms and turned himself
around. Freedom.

Arms folded in front of his chest, Mario stood in the door frame and
watched Alessandro di Gondi-Lucertola leaving the place.

Neither Luca nor any of his friends and family knew that Alessandro had
been released early. Alessandro couldn't quite explain why he never told
anyone, he just had a distinct feeling that this was the right way to do
it. He needed time for himself. Feeling freedom. Leaving all this
behind. Alone. Sort out his feelings. Sort out his ideas. Washing away
dirt, harassment, loneliness. Luca couldn't help. When he returned to him
he had to be another guy. Not the boy who was known in Florence as the
prince of the lilies and not the boy he was known as in jail. He was now a
man.

Taking the bus and train he traveled straight to Pisa, and booked a flight
to New Zealand with his credit card. He knew that uncle Arrigo would know
instantly that money had been withdrawn from his account, but that was all
right. After a stop-over in Bangkok he stepped out forty eight hours later
at the airport of Auckland.

It was close to Spring on the other side of the world.


                                    *


"Luca? You've got post", Clarissa said when Luca came home from a visit to
Rosso's. She gave him a letter that read 'air mail' and had a stamp from
New Zealand showing a kiwi-bird. Luca turned it onto all sides but it
didn't have a sender. He ripped it open and unfolded the thin sheets. Then
he gasped.


"Gioia,

Auckland is heaven. Imagine, they still show the Lord of the Rings-trilogy
that was made here and so I had the pleasure to watch all of it finally. I
missed so much while I was in prison.

Ok. I have to hold my breath and tell you what happened. I've been
released, not fled as you might feared. I'm sorry I didn't tell you. I
couldn't. I need time for myself. I don't want to see Florence and return
to the old life I had. To me the farthest place from home is just far
enough. In this case the other side of the world suited me just fine. I've
found a job with a sheepshearer. This country is all nature - a good place
for a guy who has had prison walls surrounding him with nothing except for
the few patches of vegetable beds I used to care for. Perhaps this will now
be to my fortune.

I have no plan. Life is rural and the people are friendly though a bit -
strange ;-) Rural and everything that means.

I will return, but I can't say when. Raffaele will look after you, I'm
sure. Give me a couple of months please. We'll stay in contact. Please
don't write me back for I travel throughout the country. I carry your ring.

All my love,

Alessandro"


Luca sunk upon his bed. For ten minutes long he felt unbelievable
disappointment. If it wasn't Sandro's utmost wish to return to Luca's arms
what future had their love then? Why did he have to sort it out all alone
by himself? Why wouldn't he seek help from Luca and his friends?

After another ten minutes he felt sadness. Then reason won the upper
hand. Perhaps it was right what Sandro was doing. He needed distance. To
return healed. Getting rid off the prison walls he carried with him.

The next thing Luca received was a parcel with a huge, strange formed sea
shell, wrapped in a sheep's fleece. Other parcels followed with dream
catchers, feathers, sand from the beach filled plastic bags, stones and
shepherd's flutes.

Luca kept all these things at Palazzo Gondi and slowly they filled
Alessandro's old room. He hung the fleece on the wall and the dream catcher
next to the bed. Raffaele eyed them jealously. "You still wait for him?
He'll never return."

"He will", was Luca's answer. Raffaele's nightly absences were
growing. Luca knew he was losing him completely. He didn't mind. Stubbornly
he held on to the dream, even during a long gap where he received neither a
letter nor a parcel.

One day a postcard arrived from Hawaii.



                 "Tuesday, the 12th of February. San Miniato. High noon."







San Miniato

He is back. The prince of the lilies, returned as a man. The king of the
lilies. He unwraps his scarf and pulls out a chain he wears around his
neck. The lapis lazuli blue ring dangles from it. Slowly he opens the clasp
and slips his middle finger through the ring. "It's time to wear it", he
says.

Raffaele slips into my mind. He's gone. I haven't seen him for a while,
except when I have heard from Tristano who met him on the dance floors of
Florence, hunting for the next boy he can bewitch with his smile.

Alessandro is so much more. He has grown up without losing his
charm. Without losing the enigmatic wildness, shimmering in his eyes. He
has seen so many things. And we have gone through so many things.

He stretches out his hand and I take it.

Palazzo Gondi has changed. Sandro walks from wall to wall, looking at the
stuff gathered here, his shells, the furs, the flutes, the stones, the
dried and pressed flowers while I remove the ashes in the fire and stir the
embers. "Tomorrow I want to go to the Opificio to look at your work,
maestro", he says with a mocking tone in his voice. His smile enchants me
like it did the first day we met.

"I'm far from being a maestro."

Alessandro pulls off his jacket. The sun sinks into a rosy-orange bed. The
bells of the cathedral announce the sixth hour.

"You're the maestro of my heart."

"Principe del mio cuore", I say.

I watch him dropping his boots, socks, pullover. His body has filled out
with muscles and sinews and shimmers with a bronze tone.

I almost sob and feel my heart beat in my throat. But there's nothing to
fear. The familiar scent is back. A scent of milk shortly before it would
boil over, oozing innocence. It makes me feel at home. My body learns back
the familiar feel of his skin, pressing against him when he gently pushes
me upon the bed. His lips are there where they belong , following my
body. I suppress the questions about what he had done in New Zealand. How
many one-night-stands he had. If any. I feel, this is more. In
synchronicity our bodies react and pour and there it is: my all too
seriousness vanishes like haze in the mid-morning and all that is left is
the seventeen year old boy.

Here, at the end of all, I sense we have done the right thing. He needed to
find himself back. And it was worth the wait.






EPILOGUE

Blackbirds announced the dawn. Alessandro opened his eyes and for a brief
moment didn't know where he was. Jet lag pinned him to the bed. It was a
long ride from the other side of the world. Then he heard breathing beside
him and stirred. Propping his elbow he looked into Luca's face. He had
grown up. Become a man. The blond hair was a shade darker than he
remembered, but the skin was soft and clean. A very slight shade of a
morning beard surrounded his chin. His shoulders were broader and lithe
muscles stood out beneath the skin.

Alessandro traced a finger down the chest and encircled his navel. Moist
peach. Luca's skin reacted in his sleep. He was still ticklish, Alessandro
thought. A grin appeared on his face. He vanished under the bed cover and
did what he had dreamt of for so many years. Hearing Luca's familiar,
pearly laughter he was sent back into the time when their relationship was
at the beginning. Luca disheveled Alessandro's hair as he pulled back the
cover, and gave a disappointed moan when Alessandro stopped, slid up over
Luca's body and looked straight into his face. It was easy. Alessandro felt
as light as a bird, enjoying the warmth of Luca's body. "Principe del mio
cuore", he said again.

Luca blinked. Alessandro played with his erection. Had he ever been away?
Had he feared Sandro's return could lead to more disaster and sadness? To
loneliness and abandonment? His fears were all wrong. Alessandro wasn't the
same, but he was a new man to him, yet familiar in the core. The angle had
shifted a tiny, but significant bit.

Something loosened up within Luca's being. He pulled Alessandro's head
closer, embraced his lips with his mouth, knocked him over on to his back
and lay between Alessandro's widely spread legs. "I never allowed Mario to
enter me", Alessandro whispered huskily.

Luca smiled sardonically.





"Hungry?" Alessandro asked. "I'm starving. Let's celebrate later. For years
you made my mouth water with Tristano's cooking skills. What about a
meeting with the Naked Chef junior, eh?"

Luca laughed and pushed Alessandro from his body. Tristano, he thought
lovingly. He couldn't imagine him being happier with Vito than Luca was
right now. He would bring them all together: Rosso, still happy with
Carolina, and Giano, working at his doctorate and waiting for Tino to
return from the Sudan. Franco of course and Claudio who had both finished
their study in Pisa. Franco had returned to Venice and had become engaged
straight away in one of the museums where he sorted broken
mosaic-stones. Surely he had to start from the bottom to make a career. He
could even invite Sergio and Alfredo, the ex-callboys; the contact with
them had never been broken off, Tris felt too obliged. It would be a party
that would shake the old walls of Palazzo Gondi.

Luca sensed Sandro's waiting eyes. With a little sigh he fell into his
arms, resting his head upon Alessandro's collarbone, feeling his hands
stroking over his arms and back. He was amazed that these familiar feelings
returned as if the distance of almost four years had never happened. Or was
there a slight unease? A little, unknown spot on Sandro's soul, waiting for
Luca to explore? Of course they never could go on from where they had left
off.

Luca rose and looked straight and seriously into Alessandro's blue
eyes. The expression in there had changed. Deepened. A focus of the
events. "You're a challenge, you know", Luca said. "Tonight it was as if
you'd never been away. Despite your different look", he winked.

"Different?" Alessandro laughed. "Even better than before I hope!"

Luca grinned. "Sure you do." It wasn't easy to meet as men when you had
parted as boys. "But there's something special for me to explore."
Cautiously he tapped on Alessandro's chest. His eyes followed his hand. The
chest had broadened and the waist was smaller; Luca sensed muscles below
the deep tanned skin. It felt so right, so exciting, so new.

"You've grown up as well, carino", he heard Alessandro whispering into his
ear and felt his hand roaming over his body, stroking his butt cheeks,
touching his penis lightly, cupping his balls. "I dreamt every night of you
down under, but I had to clear up something with myself."

Luca nodded and gave himself to Alessandro's hands. Then he decided to skip
his day at work. Coppo would be all too understanding. Luca hesitated to
move; he didn't want to break the magic of their closeness. Alessandro was
a new man, that was for sure. Gone was the all too cocky, willful, noble
boy who looked down on others. Gone was the wildness in his eyes, but Luca
couldn't be sure if he was just a tamed lion sitting behind the bars of his
cage. In slow motion Luca lifted his arm and stroked over Alessandro's
face, felt the unfamiliar, light stubble on his cheeks, down his neckline
to his shoulder, gripping the upper arm. Alessandro seemed to enjoy the
touch. "You aren't curious what I had to clear with myself?" he asked,
lifting Luca's chin, locking eyes with his.

"I can imagine what you had to clear up. To get rid off the prison walls."
A mocking glance into Alessandro's face. "And probably count the
one-night-stands you had." Surprisingly Luca felt no pain when he said
this. This was Sandro's private matter and had nothing to do with himself.
Alessandro laughed relieved. "I'm happy you aren't cross with me." He
lowered his voice conspiratorially. "There was this extraordinarily sexy
shepherd's boy, you know..." He winked.

Luca conjured up pictures of a hay stable in his inner eye, a coupling pair
in the prickling hay, watched by a flock of sheep. He had to grin. "The
shepherd's flute there, is that from him?"

Alessandro nodded, eyeing the exhibits hanging on the wall. "A Farewell
gift."

"And then?" Slowly Luca had fun listening to Sandro's tale of conquests,
and surprisingly it made him horny. "How many lovers did you have,
traveling on the other side of the world?" he asked grinning.

"And you?" Alessandro objected playfully. "What was Raffaele like? And were
there others too? Come on! I know the guys are crazy for you." Unexpectedly
he pulled at Luca's arm and scrambled with him out of the bed, dragging him
into the bathroom where he placed himself and Luca in front of the large
mirror. Luca saw his own half hard-on swaying and laughed out
loud. Alessandro joined in his laughter. "You don't know how much I missed
your laughter, amore", he whispered into Luca's ear. His voice made Luca's
cock spring upright; he wriggled in Alessandro's arms until he faced
him. "I feel seventeen again", he said.

"While you look like eighteen already!" Alessandro smirked, slapping Luca's
butt cheeks. "You've grown." His palm embraced Luca's penis. "There."

Luca looked down at Alessandro's expanding length. "I bet your shepherd's
boy was more than satisfied", he said. "Why not satisfy me too..?" He
wriggled his eyebrows suggestively.

Alessandro pushed him out of the bathroom into bed again.





At nine the first tourist's groups gathered in front of the Battistero,
looking at Ghiberti's bronze and gilt entrance doors. The guides pretended
cheerfulness they never felt. Too often they had repeated the same
words. Alessandro valued them no look. He would become better. Not on the
streets though. Alessandro had watched tourists too often, to not feel,
with the knowledge he had, that this was just the proverbial throwing
pearls in front of swines.

He took Luca's hand and passed the people speaking with so many
languages. "Do you remember when Masolino visited Donatello's workshop,
creating the "Habakkuk"?" Alessandro asked.

"Of course. Lorenzo Ghiberti was busy with these bronze doors at the same
time." Luca pointed to the doors, protected with an iron grate.

"And do you remember the original plates of them swimming through the town
because of the high water in 1966? These are only copies, albeit gilt as
well."

Luca raised his brows. "Indeed? I didn't know that. Where are the original
plates then?" He looked at the tourists, partly solemnly, partly bored
looking at the masterpiece of art.

"In a vault of the cathedral's museum."

"Well." Luca's fingers caressed Alessandro's and he leaned his body at his
boyfriends, "you won't tell this your tourist groups, will you."

"Don't think so. I'd like to offer my service to a specialized
audience. People who know what I'm talking about." He winked. Alessandro
had passed his exam as a certificated guide with an outstandingly good
result. Florence simply couldn't afford to ignore Alessandro di
Gondi-Lucertola, and a guide with a noble, ancient name was always an
advantage.


A wind was blowing in their faces as they passed the unfriendly, brick
stone facade of San Lorenzo, still unfinished since it had been began. Only
Michelangelo's designs and wooden models had survived, but the pope never
had time nor money left to fulfill his promise. Nonetheless it carried one
of Florence's biggest treasures: the graves of the Medici-family and the
glorious chapel of the princes, Luca's grandfather had worked on. Luca
stopped his steps and Alessandro waited as well. "Coppo kept me at the
Opificio", Luca said. "Together with Tris I work on a commission work for
Ciampi's palazzo at Roma's Quirinale. Inlay works for the guest rooms." His
gentle brown eyes radiated.

Alessandro took his hands and pressed them. "I'm so happy for you. We have
to celebrate by all means. And we have to think what to do first with my
money. Holiday at the sea side?"

"Sea side? I thought you'd have had enough of beaches and sun."

"Well, it's February, the air will be great. Forte dei Marmi? And then to
Rome. I need to see Masaccio's new tomb."

Luca stood and watched him. "Forte dei Marmi. All right. And then Rome. We
have to catch up on so many things."

"Right. You still haven't told me all of your conquests", Alessandro said
playfully.

"Eh!" Luca nudged him. "There was only one, Raffaele!"

"Right. He's unique. Does he still dye his hair violet?"

Luca eyed him warily. "Don't tell me you've had him."

"Sure I've had him. He was fifteen or something when he came to Villa
Kazar. I was his first. No, he was my first. Anyway..."

"Why have you never told me before!?"

Alessandro placed a kiss on Luca's nose. "Do you know how many Raffaele's
live in Florence? And actually I was at ease to know you were in good hands
with him. Sshht!, no objections, please", he said, stretching out his hand
when Luca went to say something.

Luca shook his head. "You're something", he mumbled.

Alessandro looked ponderously. Briefly the blue sparkle in his eyes were
overshadowed with heaps of burdens he had hoped to destroy. He succeeded in
many things, but not in every one. He had experienced humiliation for what
he was. They had made him feel dirty about the things he loved, because he
was different to the mass of humans. He had needed months to feel free and
feel good about who he was: a young man who loved the things he did, the
things he saw, and the human he was. It took him more than the love of a
shepherd's boy to regain his very being. But it had worked out. In one
point he'd succeeded: he loved to love. He loved to have sex and he
couldn't hold on any longer without Luca.

Slowly he said, "About Leoni and the kid, I'd like to get a divorce, but
little Matteo will still be officially my son and the heir of the
Gondi-wealth in the end. Nonetheless I thought about the money and
reasonable things to spend it on."

"You want to spend it?"

Alessandro stepped closer. "Gioia, what would I do with twenty million
Euros for heaven's sake?"

"I thought it was the Gondi-money you don't want to lose."

"Ha. Once I was convinced about that. I've got so many projects in my
mind."

"Have you?"

Alessandro nodded vehemently. Arrigo wouldn't see a cent of it. He had
money enough himself. But Alessandro could spent it for important
things. He could even make peace with Dante and Marcello. Perhaps they
would play a role in his plans, giving AIDS patients a home. Two docs were
in the family already.

A dove had taken its place upon the head of the monument for Giovanni delle
Bande Nere - mercenary leader and family member of the Medici's. Merchants
set up their market stands and were filling them with their display of
handbags, girdles, shoes, t-shirts and caps. Chattering welled up. Tourist
groups tried not to lose their members and gathered in front of the
entrance to the Medici graves and chapels. On this junction Luca and
Alessandro stood, washed around by starting traffic and rushing people. Old
women swinging their black handbags, doing a detour to the early morning
Mass. Later they would look for a cheap piece of meat at Florence' market
hall.

"Do you feel the Spring within Winter?" Alessandro asked. Then he embraced
Luca. His blue eyes were close to Luca's and Alessandro hoped Luca could
see the love he felt. When over four years couldn't change what he felt for
Luca, why shouldn't it be enough for more years to come?

Their lips met in a furtive kiss, becoming passionate and tongue consuming
and both lay all of their hearts in there until Luca struggled for breath
and with embarrassment.

"Let them stare", Alessandro whispered into Luca's ear. "Who cares about
two queers?"

Luca's pearly laughter fluttered high into the sky.

				 -- END --