novel 88 - 4. mary

by nick nelson

part 4 of ?

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pope innocent xx wakes up in the middle of the night and decides he does want to be pope any more. he gets up and gets dressed and packs his smallest suitcase. he leaves his room. outside in the corridor, the swiss guard appears to be asleep, as usual. pope innocent scribbles a note on a piece of paper from a small notebook he always carries in his pocket and slips the note into the shirt pocket of the sleeping guard. but the guard is not really asleep. she has been briefed by the vizier that the pope will try to escape and to let him get away. the guard keeps her eyes closed until the sound of the pope’s shuffling footsteps die away. she opens her eyes and the pope is gone, presumably down the stairs of the emergency exit to the right of the elevator. she clicks a red button on a phone attached to her left wrist, and then falls asleep, this time for real. the guard’s name is mary real, and she was born on a mountaintop in china, when the world was young, or at least younger than it is now. when she was six tears old, all the members of the village except herself were killed by a mysterious disease. news and details of the disease were hidden from the world by the rulers of the earth, and mary was kindly taken in by the pope - at that time pope john xliv. john xliv was a kindly soul who spent his days baking chocolate cookies - many of them in the form of saints and emperors and other heroes and heroines of humanity’s glorious history. the years passed peacefully until mary was twelve years old, at which time the old pope died, genghis iv invaded europe and civilization collapsed for the seventh time. a stable boy named gustav, who had sung in the choir with mary, was named pope by the local government appointed by genghis iv. mary and several other children who had sung in the choir and been tutored by the old pope, were placed in the swiss guard. life went on more or less peacefully until gustav, now pope innocent xx, fell in with a bad crowd who plotted against the new government of genghis iv. pope innocent xx was placed under house arrest and told he could keep his title and be given three meals a day as long as he played ball with the new government who meant business and did not give out second chances, not even to popes. in addition to her duties in the swiss guard, mary lived a secret life. next