Spoiler! :
It’s funny how Wellington changed in a matter of months, when a stout little man gave a brochure to a woman beside me. It was about a new muffin store in Cuba Street that was once a bookstore. The woman made a sharp turn to the left to Manners Street, chucking the brochure at the nearest bin. The man would have been hardened losing a possible customer but he didn’t notice. Instead, he continued handing out brochures to other people. His guardian angel, resting on his shoulder, greeted me and the other wandering souls around him.
A few paces past Burger King, another man was giving away brochures. He wore a long sleeved woollen jacket with the words, “Jesus is coming”. He warned people that the end was near citing the recent earthquakes in Japan and Christchurch. He condemned- more likely- urged a group of teen boys with their hoodies and torn jeans to repent. They told him to shut up; one gave him the finger. I pity the guy but I don’t agree with the whole idea that the end of the world was near. I wasn’t alone since his angel was sighing while his personal demon was chuckling to itself.
I used to live in a cheap flat in Newtown with Nello for a year, after his brother, Ghino, found him a job position as a kiwi exporter in New Zealand. It was weird living in a two bedroom house with the living room, dining room and kitchen mashed together. I knew limited English so I took a course in Wellington High School for most of the day, after which I attend mass at the nearest parish before watching Nello’s soccer practice at Kilbirnie. I missed living in a villa at the town of Castiglione della Pescaia near Grosetto, so it’s nice to meet up with other Italians especially within the Tuscan region of Maremma where I grew up. Wellington was somehow like Castiglione or Grosetto except that the place was always cold and windy, and that the people call themselves from a fruit.
I decided to go to Civic Centre because of the huge globe to often seem to mind since they were used to it already. I wonder how they would react if the globe disappeared one day and then pop back again after a few days. I bet they would just stare at it, checking if it’s fake or not. It was like the time I first saw the globe on the first week I came here to Wellington. It reminded me of the stain glass at the cathedral of San Lorenzo in Grosetto.
“How about we steal it, go back to Grosetto, smash the church’s glass and replace it with this?” Nello pointed at it.
“I can imagine monsignor Giovanni approving it. So can you pose for me? I need to take a photo?”
“He’s your uncle. I’m sure old Vanni can take a joke, and the stain glass has been there for a century. It needs to be modernized and we can always buy him a Pinot Grigio to cheer the fellow up.”
“True, not only will he scold us just like when you stole one of the pews but he’ll force us to pay for the whole damage!”
“No excommunication?”
“You think my uncle would excommunicate me?”
“Yes,”
“Now could you hold still for a moment? I need to take a picture.”
It wasn’t that Nello was against the church but just my uncle worried that I would stay away from his perspective of a ‘good niece’. Back in Grosetto, Nello often visited my uncle after masses critiquing his homilies. This hasn’t change when we arrive in New Zealand but instead of judging the local priest’s parishes, he goes to other churches and bluntly point out the differences. But after I fell down a ravine during a tramp and died, he stayed in his brother’s flat under continuing police investigation.
“So you heard Katy Perry came here a few days ago.”
“Went to the concert, it was terrible music! What's with these people these days? I miss the Beatles. You think, there doing the purge?”
“Well two of them are dead, and Lennon died before us so I think he's in the purge but Ol' Peter doesn’t want to share the details.”
“But you know what terrace, Lennon might be.”
“Hi Pia, I'm guessing the fifth terrace.”
“Or the first, hi Pia....”
Being dead wasn't so bad. The folks here were friendly enough to greet you and then go back to their conversation. Things to do while being dead included wandering around, chatting to other souls and visiting countries for free. I had a talked from a soul who converse with Anne Boleyn. Apparently, Henry VII's second wife switched her head with the Queen of Scot to see what their place was like. There were a few souls, however, who invited me to haunt a particular person or to possess a person. These souls weren't like the preacher or brochure man who had some agenda but because they were bored waiting for their purge, that last for years based on the years a person is ignorant to this reality. I've seen how they do it, and it’s quite fun but that meant adding additional years to my wait, but I don't want to risk it. When I died, my guardian angel got a message from Ol'Peter congratulating me that I haven't fallen down the hole.
“So you'll wait here until your twin's dead?” I began a conversation with Laine on my way to the Railway Station. She was known as the infamous Rain Woman who possessed a number of people and forced them to live within Otaki Forest.”
“I got told that I have ten years before my purge would start but I want to stay longer for my twin, you know? So I possessed about seven people and Ol'Peter got angry that he lengthens my year’s base on the total lifetime of the seven people.”
“You sound happy?”
“What's happier than spending time with your sister, teasing her to the point that she annoyed of my very existence? She's over there eating a Subway sandwich filled with pepper. She hates peppers but she does it to avoid since I also hate peppers.”
“I heard you!” Her sister jumped. “Don't think twice ganking me! I'm onto you! I'll buy more peppers this evening! Just you wait!”
“Just don't spend all your money, Lain.” She laughed. “You got to love her. Her name's Lain with no 'e' while I'm Laine with an 'e'. You're Pia right? People been talking that you're wait has been one of the quickest these days.”
“Ah, thanks.”
“Anyway, I wish you a quick purge. If you're finish, send me a message on what's it like up there. I still got more years before Lain's dead. I hope she won't be sucked for killing me but I'll try my best, along with her guardian angel, that she'll be with me for the purge.”
There was always someone in the family who comes to grieve for me. I bet it’s my uncle because it was good opportunity to put the blame on Nello. Losing me was hard since I was the oldest, and my uncle was the one who baptised, confirmed and gave me my first communion. That was what I told Laine as we waved goodbye to the souls who were boarding the ferry on the way to the purge. Paddy the terrier wagged its tail, trying to catch up. I can imagine myself tomorrow being on the ferry's deck accompanied with other souls around New Zealand. I would wave goodbye to the other waiting souls, and to the little planet that I inhabited during my life.
If only Nello would see what the whole earth was like when you're dead. People walked on a black coal surface, and drank water that looked like tar. Numerous temptation demons sprung up from the surface and hooked themselves on each person. Each one debated against the person's guardian angel whether or not they should side with God or not. It wasn't all grim in here. Whenever the moon shone, a choir of angel can be spotted singing on the surface. How the souls danced on the Bay's surface every windy day, and spread themselves on the beach if it’s too hot.
When a person died, they either be congratulated by Ol' Peter or be dragged down the surface by demons. I've seen about fifty and it’s never a pretty sight. It was like watching a surfer dragged under the sea by a Great White, whilst their guardian angel mourns. That was why Laine wanted to stay longer for the sake of her twin.
I could go back to Maremma to visit my parents who planned to bring my body back to Castiglione. I could also go to Nello. No, I want to go to all of them and ask for some prayers but there was someone I want to meet first. She rented an apartment behind a bus stop near the Station were a group of people calmly waited for the bus. I noticed a guardian angel playing vertical chess against the demon on which one they should fill the person's mind: temptations or good conscience.
No one knew I was once a model after one of Nello’s closest friend, Margherita, invited me to model as the Virgin Mary in Giotto’s Ognissanti Madonna. It was for a company that recreated artworks into digital form, she sent me a copy of the final photo shoot, and it gave me a good impression on what I look like if I went to a convent. Nello commented that if my uncle were to see this he would urge me to go to one. So, I kept it a secret from my uncle, who would have been disappointed and continued to model for about thirty or more photo shoots. It was when we left that I had to terminate my contract. My last portrait that I modelled was in Caravaggio’s Judith beheading Holofernes.
Margherita continued sending us copies of her company’s magazine called, “Contrapasso”. Recently, her company started recreate portraits of German Expressionist such as Kathe Kollwitz, Gabrielle Munter, and Max Ernst. Before this I’ve seen Margherita model as Bernini’s Ecstasy of St. Teresa, Titian’s Danae with nursemaid, and Vermeer’s Girl with the pearl earring, but the one that was the most memorable was Raphael’s Catherine of Alexandria.
With her right arm pressed against her right breast; eyes looking up to the left; and the elegant contrapposto of her pose, Margherita was excellent in mimicking the actual portrait. Nello and I was there when they did the photo shoot, and as we stared on her preparing to do the figure, I realized that there was something sacrilegious on the way looked down, and how her opened cherry-coated lips invited us for a kiss, especially Nello, and how she was leaner than the actual saint. It was like Catherine going on a diet, and became a model. Other than Catherine, Margherita modelled religious figures such as nuns, angels, saints and the Madonna. She wasn’t exactly devout but just wanted to make these figures more attractive to people.
When she heard of my death, I heard that Margherita came to New Zealand, so I had to visit since it saves time on going to Florence where she often work. I was guessing she would support Nello since both of them were close friends. Often they get too intimate that I often pulled Nello away from her. I didn’t mind whether they sat close to each other, kissed each other cheeks or even hugging each other but if it gets too suspicious, that was where I intervened.
“What do you mean you found someone to model for Clara Westhoff? I told you that I’ll be back in week’s time. Can’t you just do Otto’s Sylvia von Harden....yes....I know the deadline but do something else. The boss isn’t that fussy....Oh, it’s for a conference but just wait when I come back. A friend of mine just died so...Pia...yes Pia, she used to model for us remember...I know it’s sad...so can you reserve Westhoff for me until I come back....”
I quietly watched her as I sat on her couch, greeting her guardian angel. I wanted to wait for her to take a nap so that I can ask her to remember me. I couldn’t just scare her by appearing in front of her because it would be considered a haunting since it I need inanimate objects such as a vase or a chair to materialize. I simply have to wait when a door opened, and Ghino arrived. Margherita winked at him as he gave him a light kiss, holding her waist and breathed on her hair. Both guardian angels shook their heads while the demons gave each other a high five.
“How’s Nello?” She placed a hand on the receiver.
“Asleep...he’s alright just a little depressed.”
“How long before he wakes up? I want to pay him a visit?”
“In a couple of hours, we still got plenty of time.”
“I thought you were into Pia? Why the switch?”
“Sadly, she’s gone. Pity,”
“Yeah...pity”
As a child, I often have the belief that when two people are together, they stick together. I remembered the words, “to death till we part” from my cousin’s wedding when I was twelve. I began to value that when I started dating Nello when I was sixteen. I knew that bond between him and Margherita, how he always have a crush on her but if I show how I value him, they will also payback. But it slowly decline when you come to an age, you slowly lose each other, and then part away.
When I was at swimming at the springs in Saturnia, Nello confessed that he was attracted to her. I told him if we should part at that moment. If he had answered yes, I would have dated Ghino, but he had never answered even after all of these years. Even during my photo shoots, his attraction to Margherita was obvious when he looked intently at her but he stuck with me. I calmly walked out of the apartment when Margherita put the phone. I promised to go back after their little intimacy, and decided to visit Nello.
I want to tell him that Ghino was attracted to me, but at the same time, Margherita didn’t come here simply to see me or Nello. It was the other way around. Most of all, however, I want to thank him. My belief of a couple being together was still there even though one of us is dead.
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