Is it a comedy or a tragedy?

- Connie Willis, “All Clear”

I wrote last week that Mr Tuniak's unusual appearance had surprised and distracted me. In retrospect he had looked basically the same way he always does. That, at least, was the thougth that first crossed my mind when I saw him today. The man who was waiting for me...

Mr Tuniak was sitting on the couch in front of the book shelves. His beard was even longer than last week, it reached down to his breast. His hair had also grown longer and appeared unwashed. He wore a grey toga, which had several small holes and was also clearly in need of a cleaning. On the floor in front of him lay a long wooden stuff, at least as long as he was tall.

I greeted him with a short „Ave“ to which he responded with a small smile. I could see that he had even coloured his teeth yellow. „What happend to you?“, I asked.

„Convincing, isn't it?“, a voice said.

Surprised, I turned around to face the desk. I hadn't noticet that a third person was in the room with us. I recognized her immediately as Sarina. She looked to be around sixty years old and wore glasses. She also had, as a joke I presumed, a monocle for her third eye.

„Today we are going to travel to Ancient Rome“, Mr Tuniak said. „But we are going to be as inconspicious as possible there, so we have to dress up.“

„I have prepared a tunic for you“, Sarina said. She pointed at a screen that hid a corner of the office.

I went behind the screen and began to change. The tunic was a big too bit and hung down to my knees. The fabric it was made of felt rough and like Mr Tuniak's toga it had holes and was dirty. No, I must correct myself: It was made to appear dirty. Looking at it up close I saw that the „dirt“ was part of the fabric and the tunic didn't smell either. I also found a pair of sandals, made of some kind of leather that looked like the flip-flops you can buy in shops today (later I learned that those shoes were called solea and were only worn indoors).

„Shall I put on those sandals as well?“, I asked.

„No, just take them with you“, Mr Tuniak replied. „We put those on when we get out of the time machine. I don't find them very comfortable for walking.“

I walked back in front of the screen. Sarina had prepared a huge piece of cloth which I at first thought was a sail for a surf board or maybe even for a small sailing boat.

„What is that?“, I asked

„Your toga“, Sarina answered.

„It's at least three times my size!“

I don't know how she did it, but she wound that toga so many times around me that in the end I really did appear – if you didn't look at it too closely – like someone who had just come from Ancient times. I tried to take a few steps. The toga nearly dropped to the floor.

„Wait a second“, Sarina said and fixed the cloth with a hidden broche. „Now, you should be able to move more easily.“

I tried again to walk a few steps, carefully, and this time the toga did not drop to the floor. „It is... unusual“, I said. „But I guess, if you are used to wear this every day of your life...“

„...it wouldn't become any more comfortable“, Mr Tuniak finished. „I don't know who invented the toga, but I think it is quite obvious that he wanted to torture the Romans. You canj believe me, even in Ancient times, when this was wore by everyone, no one particularly liked it.“

„Then why did they wear it?“, I asked.

„As a symbol of wealth“, Mr Tuniak said. „Come on, let's get to the time machine.“ He got up and took his staff. All three of us then went down to the car.

Exiting the time machine, I found that we had appeared in a narrow canyon, with a small river running through it. Mr Tuniak came after me, but it had been decided that Sarina would stay behind. Mr Tuniak had explained to me that he would be pretending to be an old fortune teller, a seer, and I was to be his dumb assistant. Dumb, because I couldn't speak Latin, of course. But I had a little radio in my ear which connected me with Sarina back in the time machine. Sarina could hear everything I heard and would provide a real time translation of everything that was said. That way I could at least understand what was happening around me.

We went on our way.

We had walked for nearly two hours, before we reached the next city. Mr Tuniak had had to hide the time machine at a safe distance and with our shoes it was impossible to walk at a fast pace. On the street that led to the city, we met several other people, but none of them greeted us. Once we even had to move quickly aside, when a horse drawn-carriage was moving past.

„That's not Rome up there, is it?“ I whispered.

„No, we are south of Rome“, Mr Tuniak replied in a similarly silent voice.

„There seem to be a lot of people around“, I said.

„Yes, today is market day and a theatre has also come to town“, Mr Tuniak explained. Then he gave me a sign to signal that we shouldn't talk any more.

The sign probably wouldn't have been necessary. All around me there was so much to see that I wasn't able to formulate any sentences anyway. The market seemed familiar and strange at the same time. Familiar, because there was basically not much difference between this market two thousand years in my past and the markets one can still find, especially in villages out in the country. The goods at offer were praised in a loud voice, customers tried to get the best price for whatever they wanted to buy and there where stands which offered snacks (although I'm sure they didn't call it 'snacks' back then, but something different). Strange, because the people were talking in a language, I couldn't understand, wore clothes that seemed foreign and old to me and because the smells were unlike any other I had experienced in any market I had been to so far. There were jugglers and musicians. Beggars and preachers. I am pretty sure that there was also a flourishing black market, because several times I thought I saw people who did not want to be seen and who gestured to potential customers to follow them aside.

We were walking towards a temple. Several steps led to the huge main entrance of the building. Even there people crowed and pushed against each other. There were several statues which seemed to guard the temple. I remembered that I had read once that the reason old statues don't appear to have pupils, is that originally the pupils were painted. And the statues I saw there were painted. But only in the face. The clothes they “wore”, the arms or other things they held, all of that was painted in countless colours. Nothing was bleak and white, the way we are used to it nowadays.

I was so fascinated from this new world that I had entered, that I forgot to watch Mr Tuniak for a moment and because of all the people around us, lost him. Looking around, going up and down, it was impossible to find any trace of him in the crowd. For a moment I felt panic. Without Mr Tuniak there was no way for me to return to my time and as much as I liked this old city, as much as I was fascinated by it, there was no way that I wanted to spend the rest of my life there. Luckily, Mr Tuniak had a radio in his ear as well and with Sarina's help we soon found each other again. Afterwards, I never let Mr Tuniak out of my eyes.

We continued walking through the city for about half an hour. The whole time we stayed close to the market. It was obvious to me that Mr Tuniak was looking for something or someone. As we were entering a street with fewer people, I risked it and asked as quietly as possible: “What are you looking for?”

“I'm looking for a young boy who, just like you, has gotten lost”, Mr Tuniak replied. “But I'm not quite sure where...” Then he lapsed back into silence.

We continued. From time to time Mr Tuniak talked to a few people and (I only understood this because of Sarina's translations) offered them his services as a fortune teller. But no one took him up on that offer. I didn't think he expected to. He just wanted to avoid drawing attention to himself by not doing anything, I guess.

Suddenly he stopped. He took my arm and with his staff he pointed to a market stand, several metres in front of us. In front of it, a small, young boy was standing. He must have been four or five years old and he was looking around and searching for someone. It took me a moment, before I realised that the boy was looking for his parents.

Mr Tuniak gave me a sign to tell me that I should follow him, but leave a bit of a distance between us. Then he walked towards the boy. The closer we came, the more I felt as if I knew the boy. But surely, that was ridiculous? I wasn't going to be born for another two thousand years, so whom could I possibly know...?

And suddenly I knew, who the boy was.

Alexander had lost his mothers. Together, they had gone to the theatre, but suddenly – during the play – they had decided to leave and had left their seats. Alexander didn't understand why. They had promised him that they would tell him how the play ended, but he couldn't shake the feeling that they wouldn't. He was sure that something was happening at the end that he was not supposed to see.

As a way to make up for it, they had gone to the market, but because there were so many people there and even though Maria had held his hand since leaving the theatre, he had somehow manage to loose both of them. Now he was alone and didn't know what to do.

“Did you loose your parents?”, a man asked. He was old and dirty and looked like a beggar. Alexander didn't answer and took a step back. “Don't be afraid”, the old man said. “I am a seer and I can see into your future.”

“Nobody can see into the future”, Alexander said defiantly.

“I can”, the old man assured him. “And I can promise you that you will lead a great... no, a fantastic life. I see that you will travel around the whole world. You will see things that no one else or very few other people have seen. You will meet many people and most of them will become your friends... There will be times, of course, when you will feel sad, but I promise you that those times, those moments, are few and will pass quickly.”

Alexander took another step back. The old man had only used general phrases and mentioned nothing specific. The life he described could be true for a lot of people. But in spite of that Alexander felt that the old man knew more about himself than he himself did. “Do you know where my mothers are?”, he asked.

“Yes”, said the old man. “Come!” He offered Alexander his hand, but the boy didn't take it. The old man shrugged and started walking. Alexander followed him. They had only gone a few dozen metres, when the old man stopped again. He pointed to the steps in front of the temple and there Alexander saw both his mothers. They saw him too and came running towards him. Helen took him in his arms and pressed him tightly against her. Maria looked at the old man who had accompanied him.

“He found you”, Alexander explained.

“Did you?”, Maria said. “And who are you?”

“Just an old seer”, the man replied.

“Mhm.” Maria did not sound convinced. She threw him a coin and said: “If you are a seer then tell me this about the life of my son: Is it a comedy or a tragedy?”

“A comedy”, the old man said and disappeared in the crowd.

“I wanted to tell myself so much more”, Mr Tuniak said, as we were walking back to the time machine, the city safely behind us. No one else was close, so we could talk again. “But once I saw... myself, I...”

“Do you remember this meeting?”, I wanted to know.

“Not really”, he said. “I remember having been lost once in a market and that an old man helped me find my mothers, but nothing else.”

“Do you think your mothers recognized you? Or suspected who you were?”

“I think so. Otherwise they wouldn't have asked their question.”

“Comedy or tragedy? You would describe your life as a comedy?”

“Yes, but you have to remember that we are in Ancient Times now. The word comedy has a slightly different meaning to the one you are used to”, Mr Tuniak said. “A comedy isn't necessarily a funny story. It simply means a story with a happy ending.”

NEXT WEEK

Oh, there's just one more thing...