Mary Reed: Two for Joy

Anatolius wondered how Isis would manage to earn a living with her house in ruins and her girls scattered about the city.

John laughed. “If she did not have more than a few jugs of nomismata buried under her cellar floor I would be very surprised. They’re safe enough for now, under the rubble. But what of yourself? You have doubtless already been informed your appointment to the quaestor’s office has been withdrawn?”

Anatolius couldn’t help smiling. “To be relieved of that is almost worth the time I spent imprisoned.” His expression grew more somber. “Although I would burden myself with the law in the wink of an eye if it would bring my father back.” There was longing in his voice. He wiped tears away.

“I am sure whatever you do, Anatolius, you will conduct your life in a manner that would have made him proud,” John said.

Anatolius finally took a sip of the raw wine. “Do you think my parents could be watching us even now? I myself believe that the dead can observe and even speak to us.” His haggard face lit up with a sweet smile as he continued. “Do you recall that I dreamt my mother’s shade appeared in my dreams and warned me to be vigilant, to guard my back against the blade?”

John replied that he did, adding that it was certainly good advice.

“But was it more than that, John? Because what was at my back and all around me as I dozed in my father’s study?”

John considered for a moment, remembering the room whose decoration had been overseen by Anatolius’ mother. “The walls were painted with cupids!”

“And Darius was at the banquet in the guise of Eros,” Anatolius pointed out. “Do you think…?”

John silently reached for the wine jug.

They sat for a long time, passing it back and forth to refill their cups.

A smile seemed to flicker on the face of the mosaic girl Zoe when the lamps were lit. As darkness advanced over the city, rain began to beat on the window panes.