Luciano breathed out a huge sigh of relief. As he turned to the gate, something inside him told him to pause. Slowly, he changed course and walked unsteadily to the sweet-briar and rose filled graveyard. It was an inviting and meditative area, not at all like the floating graveyard of Bellezza, that still hinted of the plague. He was inexplicably drawn to a far, shady corner, knowing what he would find.
When he reached his own grave, he knelt down and closed his eyes. Outside the high walls, a car rushed by, and a bird sang. Such normal things, and yet here he was staring at the words "Lucien Mulholland/1988-2003" etched into a stone. He knew it was not enough. Drawing his merlino dagger from his belt, he gently moved aside a fresh bouquet of white roses and carved, ever so lightly, a verse he remembered like an echo from another life:
Tell me not, in mournful numbers,
Life is but an empty dream!
For the soul is dead that slumbers,
and things are not what they seem.
Stepping back, he admired his handiwork, then walked briskly towards the exit without looking back.
oooooooooooooooooosection breakoooooooooooooooooooo
A short while later, Luciano found himself on the main shopping and dining boulevard of his area. His destination was the bookstore on the corner, but he gave himself some time to amble about first. Because of his odd apparel, he thought it best to use the old trick of studying the ground to be inconspicuous.
And then, there was the unmistakable glint of a metal coin. Luciano smiled as he ran to pick it up. Even after all these years away, he could still spot a one-pound coin from yards away.
It turned out to be more than one coin, and after counting out his prize Luciano realized that, as he had to spend it here, he might as well blow it on something desirable. As he had done so many times in the past, he entered the coffee shop in the region that carried peppermint ice cream.
It seemed that he had come on a quiet morning, and Luciano wasn't recognized. As he prepared to hit the street once more, a couple in a far booth caught his eye. Tiptoeing up to them, he saw them to be none other than Georgia and Nick, who had once been Falco.