Eternal Splendor - XI

Part 2

At that point, Kevin decided to escape to Senator Wollam's mansion, not far from his apartment. The police would not dare to enter the senator's house, which, in a few minutes, would solve everything. However, the senator was having brunch with the head of the city's police department, who was immediately alerted to the confrontation between Kevin and the two policemen. When Kevin arrived, followed by the dog Spitfire and the chicken John, the police commander came out armed. Kevin ran away and the commander fired. Fortunately, the old commander would not be able to hit his 60-inch TV from the sofa and did not injure any of the three. Kevin, the dog Spitfire and the chicken John reached the port and stealthily slipped into the hold of a cargo ship bound for Lagos. The ship's sailors arrested Kevin; they would take him to prison once they arrived in Lagos.

Kevin White was expelled from the party at the suggestion of Senator Wollam who wanted to erase any connection with the boy so as not to affect his honorability. The lower chamber expelled Kevin White by a unanimous vote. Among the most complex and cumbersome procedures in the states' bureaucratic system is surely the international letter rogatory, which would have allowed Kevin White to be brought back to the United States. By an extraordinary coincidence all the people involved from the justice departments of the two states were in high spirits and found no difficulty in communicating with each other. All extradition documents were produced before Kevin White arrived in Lagos. Several officials from both states received honors for their zeal. On the day the cargo ship arrived, American police and Nigerian police were waiting for Kevin White.

The ship's sailors were leading Kevin White off the ship. During the voyage, the dog Spitfire and the chicken John befriended a large painting, 4 meters wide and 3 meters high, which boasted that it was probably attributed to Michelangelo Buonarroti. Spitfire dog and chicken John took the wrapping off the big painting, and the big painting promised to help them. Taking advantage of the wind from the Atlantic, the big painting came between the sailors holding Kevin and the police. Spitfire dog and chicken John exploited the moment of confusion to attack the sailors. Kevin and the two animals, covered by the large painting, escaped between the containers. Chicken John managed to raise some money on the ship, and they used this money to bribe a trader and slip into a caravan bound for Maradi in Niger. The caravan made a pass a few kilometers past the border. The dog Spitfire took the opportunity to make a couple of runs and was caught by a harpy who flew away with him. The caravan traders had some strange ideas and captured Kevin, the chicken John, taking the big painting. In Maradi a trader found a buyer for the painting. This one was Metis, who recognized Kevin White. Metis paid a fee to free Kevin and the chicken John. He had Kevin tell him all about the events that led him there. They joined a caravan headed for Tunis.

**

The dog Spitfire had not been kidnapped by the harpy to be killed and mauled. Spitfire was to help the harpy who was in turn to help the kobolds in the war against the elves.

The kobolds had stolen a bucket of tantalum from the elves and filled the bucket with cow dung. The harpy was supposed to hold Spitfire while it flew, and Spitfire, once above the elves' secret flower garden, was supposed to spill the contents of the tantalum bucket.

The plan worked, and the kobolds, from the hill, laughed like mad. Unfortunately, the guard elves became so angry with the harpy and the Spitfire dog. A myriad of arrows was directed at the two of them. It would not have been possible to avoid them and they would surely have been killed had not Hephaestus' golden dog, who protected the harpy and the Spitfire dog with his armor, surprisingly intervened. The harpy laid on the ground the dog Spitfire far away from the forest of the elves. She decided never to help the terrible kobolds again and exerted the dog Spitfire to avoid the kobolds all its life. Spitfire dog agreed, said goodbye to the harpy and set out to find Kevin White.

**

The dog Spitfire reached Maradi and sold the bucket of tantalum, earning an inordinate amount of money. it tracked down Kevin and chicken John, reached Tunis and took a ship to Italy. From Genoa it reached Florence, where it found Metis, Kevin and the chicken John delivering the large painting to the Uffizi museum. The big painting was being studied and was not attributed to Michelangelo Buonarroti, but to one of his pupils. The large painting puffed, but was happy to become part of the museum. The already award-winning Justice Department bureaucrats received new honors for fruitful cooperation with Italy, so that Italian police showed up undercover and arrested Kevin White. The big picture, the dog Spitfire and the chicken John tried once again to help Kevin, but the police quickly made it clear that the glorious bureaucrats were in contact with all the ministries of all the European countries and that running away again would only postpone Kevin's extradition to the United States.

Kevin decided to turn himself in to the police without resistance. Kevin ended up in prison. Dog Spitfire and chicken John were allowed to stay with him and were adopted by fellow inmates as well. Kevin's father visited Kevin very few times, partly to safeguard his company's interests. Metis, Hidalgo, and Zygastus Avellaneda went once a month to visit Kevin in prison. They gave him a 1:4 scale copy of the large painting of Michelangelo's pupil. Hidalgo gave him The Tragedy of Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare.

"Here's something for another initiation. You were never listening when we were commenting on Shakespeare in class. You won't be left with just the book. Talk about it with your mates here. Talk about it with us when we come back. Write to us."

They hugged Kevin and said goodbye.