The Thief Lord

"And you, Ernesto," Ida replied, "probably have a wallet where other people have a heart."

Barbarossa just shrugged impassively and reached into his elegant new jacket. "Speaking of wallets," he said, producing a well-filled billfold, "I would like to ask one of you to regularly check on my shop over the next few months, in return for an appropriate fee, of course. You know, keep an eye on it, and clean it -- that sort of thing. And I also urgently need a saleswoman who knows her job and hasn't got her fingers in the till all the time. That won't be easy, but I have complete confidence in you."

They all looked at him in total surprise.

"You think we're all your servants now?" Riccio replied angrily. "Why don't you do it yourself?"

Barbarossa's mouth screwed into a very pompous expression.

"Because, you spiky airhead, tomorrow I will be boarding a plane with Signora Hartlieb," he replied with a swagger. "And my place of residence will be outside this country. My future foster mother will call Sister Ida tonight and ask for her approval of my adoption by the Hartliebs. A lawyer has also been hired, who will remove any remaining legal obstacles. My future parents don't know about my shop, and I would like it to stay that way. I will try to open an account into which the earnings may be deposited. After all, I do not intend to live off allowance alone."

Riccio was so startled he dropped his cards. Mosca took the opportunity to quickly check Riccio's hand.

"Congratulations, Barbarino," said Hornet. "Seems like you've got quite a pleasant life ahead of you."

Barbarossa just shrugged disdainfully.

"Well," he said, casting a disgusted glance around Ida's living room, "more comfortable than yours, that's for sure." Then he turned on his heels and strutted out of the room. Bo stuck out his tongue as the redhead left. The others gazed thoughtfully at their cards. "Ida," Mosca said finally, "Riccio and I are leaving as well, probably at the end of next week or so. Riccio has found an empty warehouse, over in Castello. It's right by the water, and there are even moorings for my boat."

Ida fiddled with her earrings. This time they were tiny golden fish with eyes of red glass.

"How are you going to get by?" she asked. "Life in Venice is quite expensive. The Thief Lord won't be looking after you anymore. Are you going to start stealing again?"

Riccio fiddled with his cards, pretending not to have heard Ida's question. Mosca, however, shook his head.

"No way. We've still got some money to start with from our last deal with Barbarossa. If that's not fake money as well."

Ida nodded. Then she turned to the other three, Prosper, Bo, and Hornet, one by one.

"What about you?" she asked. "You're not going to leave me all at once too, are you? Who's going to eat all the food Lucia has bought? Who's going to tease her dogs, read my books, and play cards with me?"

Hornet smiled. Bo knelt down next to Ida. "We'll stay with you," he said, placing one of his kittens on her lap. "Hornet told me she wants to live here forever."

"Bo!" Hornet went bright red with embarrassment.

Ida, however, let out a big sigh. "Well, I'm relieved!" she said. Then she leaned over toward Bo and whispered, "What about your brother?"

Prosper looked at them sheepishly.

"He wants to stay too," Bo whispered back. "But he's too shy to ask you."

With a groan, Prosper buried his face in his hands.

"Well, it's just as well that he has a brother who can do the talking for him," Ida smiled. "So, Ida and Hornet, Prosper and Bo. That makes four!" she said. "A good number, especially for playing cards. But we may have to explain to Bo again that he can't keep making up his own rules."

The next day, Barbarossa got on to a plane, just as he had planned. Of course Ida had promptly approved of the adoption and Esther Hartlieb's lawyer had sorted out the rest.

On the boat-taxi to the airport Barbarossa was very quiet, and when Venice disappeared behind the horizon he let out a deep sigh. But when Esther asked him apprehensively whether there was anything wrong he just shook his head and claimed that he had never really liked boat trips. That was how Barbarossa said farewell to Venice, but inside his stubbornly greedy heart, he resolved to return one day in his brand-new life.

Two days and two nights later, as the sun was already disappearing behind the roofs, Mosca and Riccio packed the few belongings they had managed to salvage from the movie theater into Mosca's boat. They said good-bye to Prosper, Bo, Hornet, Ida, and Lucia, who also gave them two plastic bags full of provisions. Then they cast off toward Castello, the poorest part of Venice, but not before giving a promise to get in touch as soon as they were settled.

The other three children missed the two boys badly. Bo cried his eyes out even though Hornet tried to tell him that they were, after all, staying in the same city. To take Bo's mind off things, Victor took him to St. Mark's Square to feed the pigeons. Ida showed Hornet the school she and Prosper would be going to in the spring. But every evening before going to bed, Prosper stared out of the window, wondering what Scipio was up to.

Prosper wasn't the first one to see Scipio again. One evening, as he returned from shadowing someone, Victor went past Barbarossa's shop to put up a sign Ida had written:

Salesperson required, experience preferred. Applications to: Ida Spavento, Campo Santa Margherita 11

The sticky tape kept wrapping itself around his thumbnail and Victor was cursing quietly to himself, when suddenly a tall figure approached him.

"Hi, Victor," the stranger said. "How are you? And how are the others?"

Victor stared at him quite dumbfounded. "Heavens, Scipio! Did you have to creep up on me like that?" he spluttered. "Appearing here like some ghost -- I nearly didn't recognize you in that hat."

"Yes, I know. This hat was the first thing I bought." Scipio lifted it off his black hair. "Since then I've only been greeted three times a day as Dottor Massimo."

"Ida wrote a card to your father." Victor tried once more to stick the note to the shop's door. This time it worked. "She wrote that you are fine and that you won't be coming home for the time being. Did you see your father's appeal in the newspaper?"

Scipio nodded. "Yes, yes," he muttered. "Having a son is really quite a nuisance. And now, on top of everything, he's also missing. I went home last night to get my cat. Luckily, nobody saw me."

They both stood silent for a while and gazed up at the moon. Finally Victor said, "Your idea...you know, the one about Barbarossa ... it worked."

"Really?" Scipio put his hat on again and pulled its brim down over his face. "Well, I knew it was brilliant. Are the others still at Ida's?"

"Prosper, Bo, and Hornet are," Victor answered. "Mosca and Riccio are now living in an empty warehouse in Castello. But how are you?"

He looked into Scipio's face carefully. As far as Victor could make out in the dark, the Thief Lord did not really look very happy. He looked rather tired.

"If you're not doing anything right now," Victor continued when Scipio didn't answer immediately, "you could walk with me a little and tell me on the way what you've been doing. It's too cold to be standing around here and I've got to get home. I've been on my feet all day, and I'm starving."