“I couldn’t get away. I think we’re just about to make a breakthrough in a huge
mystery.”
“Nonsense!”
“It’s true!”
“Did you invite him to your party?”
“Oh no, I forgot.”
“Well, now I insist on meeting him. Tomorrow at the latest. It’s not natural for a
young girl to be meeting an older man like this.”
“You’ve got no reason to be scared of Alberto. It may be worse with Hilde’s
father.”
“Who’s Hilde?”
“The daughter of the man in Lebanon. He’s really bad. He may be controlling
the whole world.”
“If you don’t immediately introduce me to your Alberto, I won’t allow you to
see him again. I won’t feel easy about him until I at least know what he looks like.”
Sophie had a brilliant idea and dashed up to her room.
“What’s the matter with you now?” her mother called after her.
In a flash Sophie was back again.
“In a minute you’ll see what he looks like. And then I hope you’ll let me be.”
She waved the video cassette and went over to the VCR.
“Did he give you a video?”
“From Athens...”
Pictures of the Acropolis soon appeared on the screen. Her mother sat
dumbfounded as Alberto came forward and began to speak directly to Sophie.
Sophie now noticed something she had forgotten about. The Acropolis was
crowded with tourists milling about in their respective groups. A small placard was
being held up from the middle of one group. On it was written HILDE ... Alberto
continued his wandering on the Acropolis. After a while he went down through the
entrance and climbed to the Areopagos hill where Paul had addressed the Athenians.
Then he went on to talk to Sophie from the square.
Her mother sat commenting on the video in short utterances:
“Incredible... is that Alberto? He mentioned the rabbit again... But, yes, he’s
really talking to you, Sophie. I didn’t know Paul went to Athens ...”
The video was coming to the part where ancient Athens suddenly rises from the
ruins. At the last minute Sophie managed to stop the tape. Now that she had shown
her mother Alberto, there was no need to introduce her to Plato as well.
There was silence in the room.
“What do you think of him? He’s quite good-looking, isn’t he?” teased Sophie.
“What a strange man he must be, having himself filmed in Athens just so he
could send it to a girl he hardly knows. When was he in Athens?”
“I haven’t a clue.”
“But there’s something else ...”
“What?”
“He looks very much like the major who lived in that little hut in the woods.”
“Well maybe it is him, Mom.”
“But nobody has seen him for over fifteen years.”
“He probably moved around a lot... to Athens, maybe.”
Her mother shook her head. “When I saw him sometime in the seventies, he
wasn’t a day younger than this Alberto I just saw. He had a foreign-sounding name...”
“Knox?”