The Octopus at the Vatican

# 26 - duplicate

Friday 22 - the Vatican

After the call, Luciani had second thoughts. Was his duty not to stay at the helm? Does a captain leave a ship when it's sinking? For the Church was truly sinking morally. He hovered between his will to live and his commitment as a shepherd.

If he stayed, he would die without changing anything. His death would be pointless. It would be spectacular but serve no purpose. And if I changed one thing before disappearing? It's all so confused. Yet I know who the most corrupt ones are, Marcinkus, Mannini and de Strobel. I'm going to oust them, and place my successor before they can even blink an eye.

He prepared the paperwork to sack three people and nominate another three with the help of his Secretary of State. After that, his sense of guilt lessened. It was too late for birth control. The upturning of the papal encyclical, Humanae Vitae by Paul VI would not happen in a jiffy.

Friday 22- Rome

 "It's ready. It's just like him. Beyond my wildest hopes! It's a perfect illusion. You can come and collect it when you like, said an excited Aldo Bonassoli on the phone!"

"Wow! I'm leaving today. Can you put me up, Vittorio Petri answered?"

"We'll set up an inflatable mattress under the proton console, do come!"

"See you tonight."

Saturday 23 - Lurano

Vittorio was spending time with his cousin Aldo Bonassoli in the village of Lurano, between Bergamo and Milan. The journey from Rome had seemed long and he enjoyed a restful night. The evening before, they had admired the model of the pope lifeless; then dined on excellent dishes they had prepared together.

They wrapped the fake body with care. The material had been extraordinarily successful, elastic and already simulating body stiffness after embalming.

"It's extraordinary, the texture of semi-flexible skin, it really looks like Albino, a work of art", exclaimed Vittorio!

"Thank you. The mixture worked, in one week exactly. It's a better likeness than Tussaud's and Grévin Museums where it takes twenty people and six months. I worked day and night and I'm exhausted, but proud!"

"Pity it has to end up inside four coffins in a funeral crypt. No-one will know . . . if it goes all well."

"Anonymous glory, the best! But you and Albino will know, it's enough to satisfy my enormous ego!

Aldo explained to Vittorio how to fit different parts of the body. How to match parts like the head and the hands closely and invisibly."

"Albino will be alone when he does it. And it's heavy, it's his weight. You will show him well in advance, so he can practice like you now. He must put it together on the bed. To avoid having to carry the whole body.

Then they put Albino Luciani's facsimile in separate parts into two big bags."

"It's heavy, as you say, said Vittorio, carrying one of the bags over his shoulders."

"The composite material and the latex weigh next to nothing. But it is the ballast. The weight must be the same as Albino's. Thank God, he's light. Arrivederci Vittorio, don't drive as fast as I do, I don't have another model! Ah, and should we agree a code? A silly phrase he would say on the phone, like the free French did on the radio during the war?"

"'Why are you coughing', for instance?"

"That reminds me of something, he smiled. Yes, 'why are you coughing?' He would just say that and hang up. That's all. We would know he is alive and he's still able to dial a friend. And say a 'break a leg' from me."

Sunday September 24

When Albino Luciani appeared at his window for his last Angelus, he put his heart into it. There were many pilgrims on St. Peter's Square. A sign of a friendly farewell, he thought with emotion.

Tuesday 26 - the Vatican

 At 9 at night, Vittorio, loaded as a donkey and trying not to be seen, slipped into the gardens of Chateau Saint-Ange. He operated the secret passages and found himself on the aerial medieval path above the city. Then, he did a second trip for the other bag. Sitting on the floor, he waited in the half-light behind the papal library.

At 9:30, the panel slid open and the pope appeared. Vittorio told his uncle what Aldo had shown him. They tried putting together and dismantling the replica, first both of them, then Albino on his own. He was flabbergasted by the quality of the look-alike.

They agreed on the code: Why are you coughing?

"Don't forget to flush your chamomile down the loo, tomorrow evening, advised Vittorio!"

"What do you think I have been doing for a week", smiled Albino? "I couldn't forgo Sister Vicenza's morning coffee, I took the risk. While imploring the Lord."

They hid the bags behind the library, then Vittorio disappeared the same way.

Wednesday 27 - the Vatican

 At his last general audience, the pope refused again to be carried by other men on the Sedia gestatoria seat. Every week, it was presented to him with great compunction and obstinacy by the Curia's fundamentalists. As he stepped in, he grinned. The crowd cheered him. His entire charisma was required to heat a room with such hideous architecture. He spoke of charity, read out a poem by Trilussa in romanesco, the Roman dialect, and chatted with a child. He felt good. He was going to be free.