10 Chapter 10 - The Past Came Back Haunted

I looked across the table and I could see that Caroline was deeply curious about my interest, which to tell the truth was something that just came out of my mouth. I do love philosophy and I still read a lot of it whenever I get some free time, if I'm not drunk as fuck that is, but my real passion lies in writing, something that I haven't told anyone yet except Neo. I expected a confused look from Caroline, that she'd be disinterested in such, yet here she was pressing on so I had no choice but to give her an answer.

"No, I didn't have any formal education on it or anything. I just like to read about perspectives in life. It's kinda like therapy for me, it helps me understand some things in life." I kept thinking she'd let the subject go, but instead she held on.

"So who's your favorite philosopher?" The question caught me off-guard. I looked at her and could see her eyes sparkling with curiosity. *She looks so adorable, what the fuck.*

Not wanting to think too hard about it, I gave out a name. "Niccolo Machiavelli, he's not exactly a philospher but yeah."

"The name's familiar but I have no idea who he is. Could you tell me more?" She sounded like a giddy student. I looked at Tony and Chino and though they looked confused, they both gave me a reassuring nod.

I gave her a smile. "Okay, let me tell you about Machiavelli and The Prince."

And so I told her the story of Machiavelli as it was told to me by the man who may not have known it but saved my life, Neo.

**

"Kafka giving you headaches?" He looked amused.

I inhaled and slowly let the smoke trail out. "His writing leaves you oblivious yet sad, how the fuck does he do it?"

"It's a gift, though Kafka saw it as a curse."

Wanting to distract myself from the tragic ending that befell the protagonist of Kafka's novel, I asked him about the book he was reading.

"Oh this? This is Machiavelli's The Prince, a book written down by a man who loved his country so much he was willing to throw away his own humanity to save it." And so Neo gave me a lecture about Niccolo Machiavelli, his rise and fall and the inspiration for the Prince.

"Machiavelli proposes that a leader or rather a Prince must not be shackled by ordinary ethical and moral values. According to him, a leader must possess the qualities of both the lion and the fox." At this, he flips through the pages of the book and reads. "'So, as a prince is forced to know how to act like a beast, he must learn from the fox and the lion; because the lion is defenseless against traps and a fox is defenseless against wolves. Therefore one must be a fox in order to recognize traps, and a lion to frighten off wolves.' The fox represents cunning while the lion sheer strength." At this he took a smoke from the pack on the table. "Machiavelli wrote and modeled the Prince on Cesare Borgia, arguably one of the most controversial man of his time. He was loved by the people he ruled over, though he could be cruel when duty called for it. Suffice to say, the Roman Catholic church did not like him one bit except when he had a hold on the papacy, and perhaps they were right, the things Borgia had done to retain his power were considered unethical and unacceptable. Needless to say that when he was buried, a bishop of Calahorra thought it was unacceptable to have the remains of someone like him buried in the church, and so his monument was taken down and Borgia's remains were reburied under the street in front of the church to be stepped upon by those who walked through the town." He looked wistful, almost sad. Then he recited what I would later find out to be a tribute to Borgia.

"Here lies in a little earth

he who everyone feared,

he who peace and war

held in his hand.

Oh, you who go in search

of worthy things to praise,

if you would praise the worthiest

then your path stops here

and you do not need to go any farther."

When he noticed my silence, Neo laughed. "Machiavelli and Borgia got you eh?"

I gave him the middle finger and finished my coffee and contemplated about Machiavelli's ideal leader and the man who inspired it.

**

When I was done telling her the story of Machiavelli and Borgia, Caroline's eyes were downcast and the curiosity on her face was replaced by melancholy. When she saw the worried look on my face, she gave me a reassuring smile.

"I'm alright. You have a gift for telling stories." She gave a deep sigh. "I don't know what it is but I just felt sad all of a sudden."

"They were both ahead of their time." Chino chimed in and I gave him a grateful nod for that.

Once more, we were all silent. I looked at Caroline and could see her eyes deep in thought. *She looks even more beautiful like this.*

After a few moments, Caroline spoke again and this time she was wearing a smile. "Well that was refreshing, it's not every day that you get a history lesson and a beautiful yet tragic story in one telling."

"I agree, that was one hell of a story Dante." Tony put in.

I felt flattered though I really didn't consider myself as a storyteller. "Thanks, there's more where it came from." I joked.

At this, Caroline smiled again and I could see her dimples outlined perfectly. "Perhaps you could tell me more?"

*Well, looks like she's a story junkie.*

My head was spinning, it's not often that you get someone like Caroline King ask you for more stories. However, there wasn't going to be any more storytelling because at that moment, her phone rang.

After a few moments on the phone, she looked at us with regret in her eyes. "It's my manager. I need to go to a press conference." She looked like she didn't wanna go. "I'll take a raincheck on that story Dante. I'll have to say goodbye to Nica." She waved goodbye to us with a huge smile on her face. I felt empty after, and so did Chino and Tony. I guess that's the effect Caroline King had on men, hell on both sexes.