Tomas wandered over to the gate of his vineyards. The day had become stifling hot. He walked to the top of a small hill, crunching rock and sand under his boots. He wanted to look north, to the deep blue sea. For some reason, Frederico's words bothered him, like giant gnats flying into his face when he fought so long ago in Cadiz. These gnat-words would not leave his memory. Tomas did not respect Frederico, except as a solider respects another soldier who is more proficient and skilled in swordsmanship. Frederico had enough medals, which he kept in a drawer, to decorate half of the large wall of his small apartment. But, the ribbons and accolades lay in dark and in silence.
Tomas could not understand his brother. He could never understand his brother. Perhaps the priests got to the youth too early and perverted Frederico's imagination with views of heaven and the love to come.
Tomas liked to be loved now, and he distrusted dreams. He rarely remembered his dreams, as he slept so soundly, and so quickly, like an experience soldier in the field. But, today, looking over his vineyards to the deep sea, Tomas remembered a dream. It happened the day Immanuel was born, in July, on one of the hottest days of the year. Immanuel's mother had sent word to Tomas that her time for birth was happening, and the Knight rushed to the capital, to a small apartment near the village of Floriana, to watch his son being born. Mother and father had agreed that if the child was a girl, the mother would keep the infant, being supported by Tomas, but if the child were a boy, Tomas would come and take the child when he was weaned.
This child was a boy, handsome from birth and strong. As he was born on the feast day of St. John the Baptist, all thought Tomas would name him John. But, for some strange reason, Tomas chose an usual, albeit Catholic name for the infant, Immanuel.
Some thought the name seemed presumptuous. But, Frederico heartily agreed with the choice and prophesied, like the father of John of old, that Immanuel would help to save his people in the future.
Tomas liked the boy so much, that he took him everywhere. On his sea voyages, Tomas wrapped Immanuel in the best clothing, as if he were a little prince. In fact, the boy's nickname was "Prince." No one seemed to mind.
The night of the boy's birth, Tomas dreamt of Claire. She had drowned five years before, and the last view of this young beauty had been her terrified eyes and uplifted hands, as the currents pulled her down, down into the deep sea. Many tried to save her, but she was never found. Those Knights who jumped into the cold waters to save her could not believe how fast she sunk, so far beneath their abilities to breath. She was so small, so thin, and yet, she sunk as if being pulled by unseen hands.
In his dream, Tomas saw Claire in a field of wildflowers unknown to him. The flowers resembled those in paintings from England, where, Tomas was told, someone had written a book about gardening. None of the flowers in Tomas' dream would be found in Città Umilissima.
Claire walked among the flowers, picking a few to make a small posy. Her dress was white lined in red, and on her shoulder was a star embroidered in gold. As she walked, she sang. Then, suddenly, she stopped and turned to face Tomas, who was watching this charming scene. Claire reached out and gave the posy to Tomas, and then, she disappeared, like a small cloud fading on the horizon. But, when Tomas looked at the posy in his hand, it had changed into a large basket heavy and overflowing with fruit and vegetables, some he did not recognize.
Tomas thought of this dream in the context of Frederico's words about Immanuel. On the day of the youth's birth, did Claire come and give a sign to Tomas as to the boy's future? Why did the flowers, so small, so strange, turn into an abundance of food? Why flowers to fruit? Why on the day of Immanuel's birth?
Tomas had a painter paint the vision dream shortly after Immanuel's day of weaning, when the boy was four and came to live in the villa.
The artist had strict orders from Tomas to paint the flowers exactly as he saw them. Tomas made the painter create the largest, most abundant basket of fruits and vegetables one could imagine.
And, Claire? She looked like an angel.
Many years later, Caravaggio would see the painting in Valletta, and use the idea for one of his paintings of a boy with a basket of fruit. But even Caravaggio's painting could not match the splendor and excess of the unnamed painter from Sicily who worked this piece for Tomas.
The painter refused to put his name on the painting for one reason. He said it was not his creation, but a creation of God's, a vision, a dream.
Tomas thought about all of this today, on the hill overlooking his vineyards in Gozo. He resolved for the first time in his life to heed Frederico's words. When he returned to his house, Tomas wrote and sent a letter to Immanuel in Milan. The youth was to return immediately and help his father with the three estates.
But, Tomas rationalized that he was not listening to Frederico, but to Claire. Perhaps, although Tomas did not yet understand this, both Frederico and Claire had listened to a Higher Voice, the Voice of the Holy Ghost.
to be continued....
