Musei e Cornetti

Sophocles and Suitcases

Yay, another chapter! Thanks so much to my reviewers: Swimmer girl 17, omgringo, IcedFireFrenzy, Macca40, Sunderious, MaccasWeirdFriend, ThisBirdHasFlown, PurlyandGirly, NJ2001, anakinbridger541, StormerBeatsBad, and leah9712

Several miscommunications and unexpected detours later, John Lennon and Ringo Starr hopped off a dirty city bus onto the cobblestones of Fiesole's main square.

John shook his hair out of his eyes and pulled the map out of his back pocket with a flourish. He peered at it, pretending not to notice Ringo's loud groan.

"So, we go down that street," directed John, pointing vaguely to their right, "And then we take the second left, and the third building on the right is the entrance to the theatre."

Ringo closed his eyes and took a deep breath before replying, "John, Fiesole isn't even on that map."

"Yeah it is!" defended John, pointing to a spot on the map.

"If you put on your glasses, you'll see that that really says 'S.S. Annunziata,'" Ringo informed John, snatching the map from the latter's grasp. "And from now on, I'm the official navigator."

"Does that make me the groovy action hero?" inquired John eagerly.

"But I want to be the groovy action hero!" moaned Ringo.

"Then can I be navigator?" said John shrewdly, adding, "Hey, look, that sign says 'archeologico' on it. Sounds like an archeological ruin to me!"

John led the way across the almost empty square to the sign. Ringo followed in his wake, miserably failing at correctly folding the map.

John leaned on the ledge of the ticket window. The large-nosed young woman inside quirked an eyebrow suspiciously and leaned away from him a little.

"Two tickets, one adult and one child," said John confidently, winking at her.

The ticket seller opened the cash register drawer and pulled out the tickets John had requested.

"2500 lire," she requested, glaring at John expectantly.

John smiled innocently and batted his eyes at her for a second. Then, he flipped his head around to stare at Ringo.

Ringo sighed and fished around in his pockets for the required change. With a weary smile, he stepped forward and handed it to the young woman.

She frowned at him.

"Wait, are you . . ." she started in a surprisingly good English accent.

"Yes, we're Herman's Hermits, glad you recognized us," interrupted John with a cheeky grin. "We've been on television, you know."

With that, he grabbed Ringo's hand and dragged him into the archeological area.

John and Ringo found themselves at the top of a small hill, which sloped gently down to a line of dark green cypress trees. Built into the side of the incline was the ancient Roman theatre. Its worn, stone steps curved in a perfect semicircle down to the stage, a semicircular slab of the same cracked, white stone. Little tufts of moss and grass grew in the crevices and pockmarks of the step-like benches.

Ringo scratched his head. "This is a theatre?" he wondered. "Why isn't there a roof?"

"Romans didn't need roofs," replied John confidently, strolling across the grass to the theatre.

Ringo followed him. "But what about when it rains?"

"They'd put on a play about rain, then," said John. "Obviously."

"That doesn't sound right . . . ." replied Ringo thoughtfully.

"Come on, we have to find the next clue!" shouted John, leaping down the stone benches two-at-a-time. Ringo remained at the top of the otherwise empty theatre, scanning it for any clues. The drummer's eyes came to rest on a small, grey-green lizard scampering across the ancient stones.

"Look, it's a little lizard!" he called down to John.

"To be or not to be, that is the question!" proclaimed John from the stage, holding out his arms to an imaginary audience of ghosts and falling to his knees. A wisp of velveteen cloud drifted across the sun, and the Romans and Etruscans rose for a standing ovation from the curved benches, their ghostly togas tossed by a slight gasp of wind. The cloud slipped away from the sun, and the ghosts vanished from John's mind.

"I don't see any clue, do you?" called Ringo.

"Maybe he hasn't placed it yet," replied John. The guitarist's voice bounced off the steps up to Ringo, who marveled at the theatre's acoustics.

"Or you were wrong," snorted Ringo. "Let's go back to Florence and tell him we give up."

John shrugged. "Fine by me."

He leapt back up the steps and followed Ringo back to the ticket booth, where another tourist was purchasing a ticket.

"Grazie mille," said the tourist softly, pushing his aviator sunglasses up the bridge of his nose a little and straightening the cufflinks on his grey suit. He picked up his stainless steel suitcase from the pavement with his right hand and strolled toward the archeological site.

"Get out the bus map, then, navigator," John said snidely to Ringo.

Striding quickly toward the entrance to the archeological site, the tourist bumped into John's shoulder abruptly.

"Oi, what was that for?" complained John indignantly, glaring at the tourist's back. The tourist ignored him, putting his hands into his pockets and strolling on.

"'Ey, John, look!" interrupted Ringo softly, pointing at John's feet. The stainless steel suitcase had been dropped there, a letter tied to its handle.

John glanced around furtively before picking it up and untying the letter.

"Congratulations," he read aloud. "As Sophocles said, 'What is unsought will go undetected.' Now, however, we must ask you to seek something again – the combination for the lock on this suitcase."

"But where is it?" interjected Ringo in a loud whisper.

"I'm getting there, I'm getting there!" John shushed him. He continued reading, "As you're in Florence, you may want to see the sights. I suggest you take a bird's-eye view from the centre of things."

Pigeons cooed in the square and fluttered away from a frustrated orange tabby cat. A shopkeeper strolled across the square to reopen his bakery after the midafternoon siesta.

"Is that it?" wondered Ringo.

John nodded. "Well, one thing's clear, at least."

"Really?" asked Ringo. "What's clear?"

"We're going to have to get back into the centre of Florence," replied John.