The old man read the report, the old guard, loyal but out of touch, he read the words again, Luigi, bring me a brandy, make it a double, are you sure Father, the old man nods, who needs to read this stuff, he throws the paper on the table, grabs the brandy, his young assistant smiles, he didn’t think the old man could move so fast, like a spider about to zap a fly. Man and Woman he cried, what have they got to do with love, it was my creation from the beginning, what do they know. He holds out the brandy glass, Waterford crystal of the old days, heavy lead, not that brittle stuff they call crystal these days.
Men of God, the old man sighed, what had women and men to do with it anyway, they are just instruments, all of them, mere instruments, so they live in harmony when they are good to each other, who in the Holy Name doesn’t know that. In another corner of Rome, two other men sit in front of a roaring fire, sipping old wine. There will be no women in the brotherhood Jack, not after that book you wrote. The Young Cardinal smiles, they are two men tied to an ancient past, but who failed to understand, that God was the Love inside them. They plan on seizing control of the world.
It could be worse, say a big pharmaceutical
research company owning say, an old folks home…well…