just what the Bible contains. It’s like a tumbler has fallen on a cosmic time lock to a holy vault, opening a door to what was previously unobtainable.”
“You’re being a little too cryptic for me, Anthony.”
“We’re dealing with a cryptic subject, Father. That’s why I believe the discovery of the seal and the ancient chapel mentioned in the code was always meant to happen now. Not one day sooner or one day later.”
Leo ordered a second cup of coffee and reclined in his chair while Morelli finished the last of his eggs. “What are you going to do now that they’ve blocked your way into the deeper catacombs?”
“We’ll just have to find another way in,” John interjected. “We still need to check one more section in the grotto, but if we don’t find the seal there, then we have no choice but go down into the area behind the newly constructed wall. Personally, I’m hoping that we do have to go into that deeper region. We were only allowed to explore a small section of it. Imagine what might be down there.”
Leo liked this young man. He had a rebellious streak, and his youth was refreshing in this world of pious intellectuals, even though John was something of an intellectual himself. The enthusiasm generated by these two men gave Leo the feeling that they were all on the threshold of a great adventure. Conversely, it could very well be an adventure that contained a large degree of terror for himself, his friends, and maybe even the whole world.
It was a little after nine o’clock in the morning before they had finished their breakfast and departed the cafe. Leo returned to his hotel while Anthony and John walked to their individual apartments in the Vatican to gather the equipment they would need. Leo hadn’t considered the fact that he would need work clothes for this trip and decided to do a little shopping before he met his friends at eleven for their descent into the tunnels under the Vatican.
Entering through the front doors of the hotel lobby, Leo spotted Arnolfo behind the desk. “
A large smile crossed Arnolfo’s face. “
“I need some jeans and hiking boots. Do you know of a shop nearby that might have them?”
Arnolfo smiled. “So, you are going under the Basilica with Father Morelli.”
Leo was always impressed at the hotel owner’s knowledge of what went on in Vatican City. “Is there anything you don’t know about that goes on across the street?”
“I only listen, Father, that’s all. If people want to talk, I let them talk. Mostly, they see me as part of the room, like a piece of furniture. A chair or a table hears many things not meant for prying ears.” Arnolfo’s last statement had shown that he was much more than just a simple hotel keeper.
“At least I know who to come to if I want to find out what’s going on around here,” Leo said.
Arnolfo winked and wrote something down on a piece of paper before handing it to Leo. “Here, Father. Go to this address. I think this man might have something you will be interested in.”
Leo’s curiosity became aroused. “What does he know, Arnolfo?”
“He knows what kind of clothes you will need. He owns a sporting goods store, Father.”
Leo turned crimson as Arnolfo burst out laughing.
“Nice,” Leo said, smiling to himself at how Arnolfo had led him into that trap. “I’ll have to think of a way to match you for that one my friend.”
“I have no doubt, Father. I will be on the lookout for it.”
Both men continued to chuckle as Leo walked out of the lobby into the bright Roman sunshine. The day was brilliantly clear, not at all like the rainy day before when he had arrived. He walked along the narrow streets before finding the sporting goods store sandwiched between a small, family-run bookstore, and a butcher shop with little strings of sausages and plucked poultry strung overhead in the window.
There was no hint of a mall or chain store here, although in truth, Rome had been home to the first shopping mall in history. Leo remembered the first time he had seen it. Named after its creator, Trajan’s Markets was built in the second century AD by Emperor Trajan and his architect, Apollodorus of Damascus. Together they had built a visionary multistory complex of one hundred and fifty shops, the ancient Roman equivalent of a modern shopping mall. Everything an ancient Roman might want could be found there. The shops sold everything from silks and spices imported from the Middle East to fresh fruit, fish, and flowers. Considered among the wonders of the Classical world, this archeological treasure remains standing today in the Forum area of Rome.
Leo thought back to when America had been a country of small shopkeepers, and the change he had seen over the span of a single generation was not pleasant in his mind. The Italians had their small stores and neighborhoods, with extended generational families kept intact in the same town or village, while America’s families had undergone an enormous change in the moral and corporate explosion that now forced them to endure a commercial landscape run by powerful conglomerates.
The unique charm that had once marked the boundaries of different cultural regions throughout America was being erased, and almost every city and town across the country now resembled every other city and town from one coast to the other. Due to corporate greed, huge box stores covered the land with no respect for individual communities, forcing small family-run businesses to fail and dispersing young people to seek work hundreds or thousands of miles away from their parents and grandparents.
The change had left a barren expanse of sameness and apathy across the nation. The distancing from past values, coupled with dwindling opportunity for working men and women spurred by globalization, unaffordable college tuition, and the widening gap between the very rich and everyone else, was creating a violent underclass that was spreading like a virus across a land previously occupied by a mostly peaceful and moral populace.
Who or what had ushered in this new age was a subject of much debate at the university where Leo taught. He had formed a theory that the Great Depression had so victimized our “greatest generation” that they had unwittingly sowed the seeds for a selfish, winner-take-all postwar grab for material wealth. Their efforts to raise themselves out of poverty and give their children a better life had changed the very core values of an America they had worked so hard to create and left the generations that followed without a unifying sense of community.
In the wake of the country’s newfound wealth, a religion of consumerism had spurred a mindless pursuit for greater corporate profits. This greed-fueled race eventually led to companies sending millions of manufacturing jobs overseas, resulting in the decline of the cherished middle class who made their living making things. For the first time, America’s children were looking at a lower standard of living than their parents. Corporate profit and material possessions were the new idolatry, shoving God’s message of ‘love thy neighbor’ into a dusty corner.
Many of Leo’s fellow professors had begun to agree with him that Europe was also evolving toward the corporate model of profit at any cost. At least their governments provided free healthcare, but in the new Europe, religion was beginning to fade into the background as its small countries relinquished their individual identities and morphed into a giant union more intent on worshiping the Euro.
In America, Leo was seeing the Catholic Church and other religious denominations beginning to wither on the vine in the new culture of every man for himself. He had shocked other priests when he told them that, if it weren’t for the evangelicals and nondenominational mega churches springing up over the land in response to what was happening to individuals and families across the country, he could see organized religion dying out completely over time. Leo knew that, someday soon, something big would have to happen to push the Church and God’s message of love back into the forefront of people’s minds before it was too late.
Father Leo opened the door to the small store and was greeted by a frail man with an innocent smile on his face. “
“
“Yes, Father, we have all of that. Arnolfo called me a few moments ago. We have a special discount for priests, especially priests who are friends of Arnolfo.” The man began scurrying about the store, excitedly gathering up items for Leo to choose from. “Are you working in one of the Vatican gardens this beautiful day?”
Father Leo looked across the aged wooden counter at the animated shopkeeper. “I have a feeling I’ll be doing a lot of digging today, signor.” He tried on some boots and strolled the aisles, picking out a few more things before walking to the front and pulling a credit card from his wallet.
“I’m sorry, but we take only cash, Father.”
“Do you take American money or only
The store owner looked at Leo as if he had just stepped out of a time machine. “We’re part of the European Union now. We take Euros.” Leo peered into his empty wallet.
